Citing Direct Mail Rise, USPS Gives Success Tips

The U.S. Postal Service is happy to cite a report from the Magna Advertising Group that direct mail spending rose to $21 billion in 2011, up 2.9% from 2010. Tom Foti, manager of USPS Direct Mail and Periodicals, urges business mailers to jump on the bandwagon with the following praise of direct mail effectiveness: “Direct mail creates a one-on-one connection that’s hard for other media channels to match.The average household receives only two pieces of direct mail a day compared with 157 emails. It lets you incorporate coupons, reply cards, mobile barcodes — such as QR codes — URLs and other response mechanisms. Direct mail is a workhorse for generating leads, traffic and sales.” The pitch may be a bit self-serving for the cash-strapped USPS, but it is still good advice. Foti even provides five basic tips for direct mail success, including use of the Postal Service's new Every Door Direct Mail service, which allows mailers to reach every address in a neighborhood without the need for names or addresses. For more, see the release at http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2012/pr12_096.htm