How Direct Mail Can Boost Digital Marketing Power

Direct mail is becoming a key player in the digital marketing world, as Christopher Karpenko, executive director of brand marketing at the U.S. Postal Service, recently argued in an article for the Association of National Advertisers. His points are worth summarizing and support our own belief in the response power of combining direct mail with digital marketing channels, such as opt-in e-mail and social media, as we do in our Digital2Direct program. Karpenko points out that direct mail has evolved and now achieves even greater response power via technologies such as Augmented reality (AR), near-field communication (NFC), and quick response (QR) codes. These technologies bridge the physical and digital gap by launching a website, a video or an interactive experience right from a paper mailing piece. "These can be powerful ways of sparking product discovery and drawing consumers into the digital ecosystem of a particular brand," he writes. Technology is also removing the "snail" from "snail mail," with real-time delivery scan notifications already sent within a few minutes and now an "Informed Delivery" service on the horizon from the USPS. Informed Delivery will allow consumers to check their e-mail inbox, social media and mobile apps to actually see the front of most mail pieces coming to their physical mailbox before they arrive. To read our complete blog post, including how direct mail can leverage social media engagement, go to our website's full-length version, which also includes a link to Karpenko's article, with an interesting Chick-fil-A case study: http://www.acculistusa.com/how-direct-mail-boosts-digital-marketing-power/

Direct Mail's New 'Moment' in the Digital Age

It's no surprise when the CEO of the powerful McCann ad agency, which manages $10 billion in annual marketing spend, stands up to champion direct mail at the recent National Postal Forum. McCann is the U.S. Postal Service's agency of record, paid to push the advantages of mail. But that doesn't diminish the value of the insights offered by CEO Harris Diamond, as reported by Direct Marketing News magazine's Senior Editor Al Urbanski. Arguing that "in a world in which people are endlessly bombarded with electronic messages, direct mail is now the most welcome house guest," Diamond backs up his belief in mail's value by citing a McCann finding that the average American spends 25 minutes out of each busy day with mail. Diamond calls that 25-minute opportunity "The Mail Moment." And he offers five creative principles McCann uses in marketing campaigns to maximize results from that precious Mail Moment. First, he advises, go to the customers to understand their perspectives, looking beyond traditional assumptions; he holds up the example of Pope Francis going out at night, dressed in street clothes, to spend time with the homeless. Second, use direct mail's unique physical properties to engage in ways unavailable to digital, and he cites an Australian Air Force recruitment piece that mailed radio parts sans instructions to prospective engineers and offered a commission to any who could build the radio and tune into a dedicated station. Third, put new technologies to work with mail to enhance engagement and branding, such as using augmented reality (AR) to add a digital experience to paper. Fourth, realize it's not about mail tweaking; it's about "reinventing" the mail medium, using technology creatively to drive action and leverage the Mail Moment to the max. And, finally, make mail a tool for developing a relationship in the digital age, using data to target, personalize and touch audiences. For more details of Diamond's remarks, read http://www.dmnews.com/direct-mail/mccann-ceo-direct-mails-moment-has-come-again/article/485318/

USPS 2016 Programs Incentivize Innovative Mailers

The U.S. Postal Service is luring direct mailers toward creative and technology innovations that promise to punch up response this year. It's a siren song hard to resist in an election year of intensified mailbox competition. Target Marketing magazine recently outlined five key USPS promotional programs incentivizing 2016 mailers, especially those embracing print technology. For example, from March 1 to Aug. 31, an "Emerging and Advanced Technology/Video in Print Promotion" gives a 2% postage discount on First Class, Standard and Nonprofit letters, cards or flats using interactive technology: standard NFC, Video in print (ViP), beacon technology or "enhanced" augmented reality. During the same period, the "Tactile, Sensory and Interactive Mail Piece Engagement Promotion" offers a 2% postage discount on Standard and Nonprofit letters or flats offering special visual, sound, scent, or texture/tactile effects, as well as interactive dimensional features such as pop-ups. Another 2% postage discount can be earned for First Class Mail with the "Personalized Color Transpromo Promotion," starting July 1, just by adding a color sales message to a statement or invoice. Also starting in July, the "Mobile Shopping Promotion" gives a 2% postage discount to Standard and Nonprofit letters or flats using a mobile bar code or other print-to-mobile technology. Plus, the spring "Earned Value Promotion" rewards each piece of returned First Class Business Reply and First Class Courtesy Reply mail with a $0.02-$0.03 credit. For links to details, go to http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/5-usps-direct-mail-promotion-programs-2016/

Direct Mail Still Key Insurance Acquisition Tool

In providing targeted lead lists to insurance marketers, we've seen the continued acquisition power of direct mail over the years, so it's nice to find an Insurance Journal article supporting our experience. Speaking to independent property and casualty insurance agents (but with arguments that apply to mailings for other insurance types), author Michelle Peel of IWCO Direct printing, cites four key reasons direct mail should be part of customer acquisition plans. No. 1, statistics show that consumers prefer direct mail for branded promotions, she notes, citing Experian's 2012 Channel Preference Study finding that 73% of Americans prefer direct mail for brand communications. And that preference extends across generations to include millennials, with 57% of younger buyers saying they have made a purchase as a result of a direct mail offer. Direct mail acquisition also continues to have a higher response rate than digital channels such as e-mail, per the latest Direct Marketing Association (DMA) data (1% for mail prospecting compared with 0.1% for e-mail). No. 2, creating the relevant, personalized and timely messaging that makes direct mail succeed is easier than ever with online marketing tools and templates from many insurance providers and, we would add, variable data printing to fill rental list data into custom-targeted, personalized creative. No. 3, the U.S. Postal Service is on the side of direct mailers and continues to develop products such as Every Door Direct Mail for blanket area coverage, as well as print-to-digital technology promotions of Quick Response (QR) code and Augmented Reality (AR) use. No. 4, direct mail drives traffic to online channels, too; Peel cites DMA data that 44% of mail recipients visit the company website, 34% search for the company online, and 26% save the mailer for future reference. Of course, using personalized urls (PURLs), QR codes and AR will further help boost online traffic. See http://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/features/2015/03/09/359395.htm

Add Digital Power to Direct Mail to Rev Results

If your direct mail is plodding along its traditional response path, it may be time to give it a digital technology boost. A recent Direct Marketing News magazine article cited five tech trends for energizing mail strategy: triggered digital content, delivery-triggered campaigns, retargeting, enhanced personalization, and marketing automation/CRM. Trigger digital content with a scan, swipe or tap of a mobile device by enhancing physical mail with QR codes or other mobile bar codes, augmented reality (AR) video, and even near-field communication chips (NFC). Delivery triggering uses delivery tracking based on conventional or USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode data to automatically launch relevant multi-channel contacts, via mobile text, e-mail or app inbox, and can make use of location, time-of-day and other context-sensitive delivery data for extra impact. Retargeting will boost long-term mail results by going beyond immediate response and conversion to track pURL, QR, site visits, searches and other unique digital actions of non-buyers so that they can be modeled and retargeted for sales. Enhanced personalization means more than printed data fills today; pURLs or unique bar codes in the mail piece can lead to customized, personalized online content. A custom AR app can even be promoted digitally after the mail is sent. Finally, marketing automation and CRM systems can be leveraged to individualize messaging and sync channels around a direct mail campaign, including insight from social media analytics. For more detail, read http://www.dmnews.com/direct-mail-goes-digital/article/400201/

Is USPS Planning New Mail Technology Discounts?

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) may be considering more discounts for direct mailers who use emerging mail technologies -- at least that's the implication of a "Mail Innovations" report just released by the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG). The report details and encourages use of 10 types of innovations, hinting that these may also come up for promotional discounting. Three tools listed under "Connected Mail," meaning mail that incorporates digital via Internet-enabled devices, already get discounts from the USPS: QR Codes, Augmented Reality (AR) and Near-Field Communication (NFC). The OIG report adds Webkeys, which can be plugged into USBs to launch web pages, to the Connected Mail category for potential promotion. The OIG report also discusses three technologies in an "Electronic Mail" category, meaning direct mail with an embedded electronic component: video in print, which creates a screen on paper that can play up to five videos; mobile in print with call or text buttons connecting directly to the marketer; and conductive ink mail that can link to an electricity source such as a battery or processing chip to do things like light a bulb or create a noise. Finally, the OIG report looks at "Dimensional Mail" innovations, such as "interesting links" that allow consumers to interact with mail by making colors appear or disappear; customized MarketMail that uses shape, size and texture, often without an envelope; and 3D mail that folds or pops into a message, similar to a pop-up book. For more on the new USPS OIG report and emerging mail technologies, see the Target Marketing magazine post at http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/usps-new-direct-mail-discounts-innovators/1

Augmented Reality Challenges QR in Print-to-Mobile

With print-to-mobile marketing growing, the scale and engagement of "augmented reality" image recognition is wooing some publishers and advertisers away from QR codes and tags. Augmented reality certainly has a fan in publisher Meredith Corp. A recent Mobile Marketer story quoted Doug Crichton, director of mobile engagement at Meredith: “Digital watermarks unduly complicated our editorial production processes, and QR codes/Microsoft Tags weren't moving the needle. So far, augmented reality is driving more reader engagement than QRs/Tags did.” Earlier this year, Meredith rolled out a branded augmented reality application for editorial and advertising in its four parents network titles: Parents, American Baby, FamilyFun and Ser Padres. Meanwhile, Time Inc.’s lifestyle group is using digital watermarks in several publications, including watermarketing a MyRecipes cook book so consumers can save recipe info for grocery shopping. Similar to augmented reality, the draw of the digital watermarks is that they do not cover up the images on pages, which suited Time's reliance on big pictures in recipes. That's not to say that QR codes have fallen by the wayside, especially when the goal is to drive traffic. QR codes immediately signal consumers that there is a mobile component to a printed piece for quick lead generation. As a result, many marketers are balancing the advantages of print-to-mobile options by using different forms of technology at the same time, the Mobile Marketer story notes. P&G’s CoverGirl recently used a combination of QR codes and augmented reality on pages within Condé Nast’s September issues of Allure and Vogue, for example. See the complete story at http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/software-technology/16338.html