How The Mother
of All Postage Rate Increases
Can Make You Rich
In this issue:
- Direct mailers feel the effects of the mother of all postage rate increases …
- The type of mailer that will get hit hardest … and what you can do to help them and profit in the process …
- The five things direct mailers can do to lessen the affects of skyrocketing costs …
- The mass exodus to the web that opens up a wealth of new opportunity for “Internet Marketing Specialists” …
- And much more!
Dear Business Builder,
Happy Friday and welcome back to the In the ‘Net Trenches. This week I want to veer off the subject of Internet marketing just a bit and talk about direct mail. But don’t worry, because I promise to bring it right back around to the net.
There’s a storm brewing in the direct mail industry and whenever there’s trouble you can assume the US Postal Service is to blame. It’s time to increase postage rates again … and I’m sure you’ve heard the price of a first class stamp is going up from 39 cents to 41 cents on May 14th – just over a 5% increase. “Big deal” you say, so I pay 2 cents more to mail Mom’s Mother's Day card. Or, I buy a roll of those forever stamps I’ve been hearing about and lock in the current rates until I run out …
Unfortunately, that’s only one small part of the story.
One class of mail is going to get hit especially hard with an anticipated 41% postage increase. This is the class of mail that includes catalogs, magalogs and tabloids … large format flats are going to get clobbered. It's the single largest percentage rate increase of all of the categories of mail accepted by the Postal Service. It's the single largest percentage increase I’ve ever seen in my almost 15 years in the business. Has the USPS gone loco?! Direct mailers that use this category have no choice but to suck it up, accept it or make some big changes.
What’s a flats mailer to do?
It’s not the end of the world, but mailers will have to adjust. Mail pieces will have to work harder, and copy will have to be even stronger, to capture the extra sales needed to maintain positive ROI in the mail after the increase.
And, it will be back to the drawing board for businesses that mail heavily (or exclusively) in the flat category. My guess is we’ll see a resurgence of smaller sizes in the mail. Slim Jims (6×11), digests or bookalogs (8 ½ x 5 ½), 6×9 envelopes and the good ol’ #10 envelope packages will reign supreme.
Many mailers will fold larger size pieces and tab them closed to push them from the flat category into the letter category. They’ll decrease page counts or paper weight to bring the overall weight of their flats down. They’ll look to reduce costs elsewhere … such as in printing, fulfillment or product production costs. And lastly, they’ll mail less, they’ll prospect less and they’ll refocus a good percentage of their direct mail budget elsewhere.
As I’m sure you can see, this rate increase has vast implications (good and bad) all across the direct response industry. Businesses such as printers, mail houses, list managers, manufacturers and fulfillment houses will be hit extremely hard. Even the USPS that started the problem will feel the effects when mailers pull back … perhaps enough to rethink this ridiculous increase.
A beeline to the web …
It’s hard to imagine any direct response business not taking advantage of the tremendous marketing opportunities on the web. But, I kid you not when I say they’re out there. I see them all the time. They know they need to start transitioning a portion of their marketing budget to the web – but for one reason or another – they haven’t done it.
Don’t be fooled, because many of these companies have websites. They’ve dabbled in the medium, but have never really been able to make it work for them. They never hired the human resources they needed to really get it going. In many cases, they ended up with no more than a wimpy online product brochure completely incapable of converting even the warmest prospect.
But the rate increase will be a catalyst that will drive many of these businesses back to the web and fast. They’ll be confused by the technology, they’ll be green to the marketing techniques, and they’ll be looking for you … will you be ready?
Calling all Internet marketers …
The Internet marketing industry is a small one … it has really only been around 10 years. In fact, “Internet Marketing Specialist” –and everything that encompasses – is on the list of the top 10 fastest growing jobs. And there aren’t enough experienced people to meet demand. Imagine the potential for freelancers and consultants in this category.
If you’re a web copywriter, web programmer, web media specialist, e-mail marketing specialist, affiliate marketing specialist or search engine specialist, the grass is about to get even greener and the stars even brighter. The pool of potential clients is about to open up considerably.
And, here’s a few ways you can find them …
- Directory of Major Mailers at www.majormailers.com. This is an online directory of thousands of the top direct mail users in the U.S. The searchable directory includes key contact profiles, contact information and what they mail. You can search through thousands of categories to create lists of exactly which types of prospects you’re looking for.
- Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS) Direct Marketing List Source at www.srds.com. This is the top source of list information for the direct mail industry. This unbelievable resource will give you information on every list that is available on the market and the company that owns it. Search for lists by business category and find a wealth of potential new clients for your web business.
- Oxbridge Communications, Media Finder at www.mediafinder.com. The media finder database gives you access to over 700,000 U.S. and Canadian magazines, newspapers, newsletters, journals, catalogs and other periodicals. You can search the database by business category, publication type, company type, key contact, target audience and even keyword. Their inexpensive monthly membership option makes this a fabulous tool in your prospecting arsenal.
So, if you’re an experienced web marketing specialist, a web copywriter or web programmer, now’s your chance to start helping these direct mailers make lemonade out of lemons and finally make the web work for them …
You’re a hot commodity … so armed with this new information, it’s time to get out there and do something about it! And for Pete’s sake, let us know how you do!
Hope that helped and stay tuned …
Because next week I’ll reveal what I learned about web media marketing from a 7-foot tall, anatomically correct statue of a gargoyle.
Until next week,
Julie McManus
Editor, In the ‘Net Trenches
THE TOTAL PACKAGE™
And Web Media Goddess
P.S. Are you in the net trenches? Do you need help? Send me an e-mail to AskJulie@MakepeaceTotalPackage.com and I just might answer your question in an upcoming issue.
Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these.
Looking for more of Julie's articles? Check these out.
Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.
Related posts
No Comments »
Join the Discussion!
Let us know what you think. Or ask us anything. Or offer your own sage advice.
The only rule: RESPECT THIS HOUSE! Postings that contain abusive language and/or personal attacks will be cheerfully VAPORIZED. One cross word and – POOF! – your well-thought-out post will be gone in a puff of smoke.
– Clayton
Comment by Julie McManus — April 27, 2007 @ 11:56 am
SRDS is an expensive resource, but is the premier resource for the DM industry.
I should have mentioned that you should be able to find hard copy of the SRDS books in the reference section of your local library.
Hope that helps,
Julie
Comment by Mark David — April 29, 2007 @ 9:01 am
Julie,
Do you use PPC or Pay Pay Per Click Search engines to advertise?
Do you use the Google Adwords program?
Please let us know as I don\’t recall you ever talking about PPC & it\’s ROI.
Thanks,
Mark
Comment by Ron — May 2, 2007 @ 4:41 pm
Hi folks, yes SRDS does cost $600 (about $800 in Canada) but it is well worth getting it. My library never carried a recent version of SRDS and you really want it to be up to date, otherwise you are likely really old data which doesn\’t really help you when you actually go to do a promotion. Thank you for the Oxbridge resource Julie!