Companies team with mailing services for outreach

Don’t throw the dirt over the snail mail grave just yet.

While correspondence via traditional mail may be down, representatives of small businesses and mailing services say direct mail is catching a second wind, and finding its place alongside the Internet.

“Most people are wanting to get a bigger presence online, but we find when we combine online with offline marketing, we get better results,” said Brett Curry, president of Curry Marketing Inc. Curry uses a direct mail service for marketing his own business and to help his clients spread their messages, with many of the mailings directing recipients to Web sites or online videos.

The volume of mail pieces sent via the U.S. Postal Service has dropped four straight years through 2010, when USPS reported mail volume of 170.6 billion pieces, down 3.5 percent from 2009.

Steve Counts, president of Digital Print Ink, a printing and direct-mail company, said that although his direct-mail volume has dropped in the last few years, he thinks the decline is leveling off.

“E-mail is a smart strategy, but I think people are getting so many e-mails that they’re starting to peak and pull down,” Counts said. “(Direct mail) still very effective. Many people don’t even look at e-mails, but people will look at direct mail and interact more.”

According to Springfield Business Journal’s 2011 listing of the area’s largest mailing services, Digital Print Ink processes 10,000 pieces of mail a month, down from 15,000 a month reported in 2010. (See this year’s full list on page 16).

Counts said his mailing business fell about 30 percent since 2008, and he cites both the economy and a push in online marketing as factors in the drop.

“We’ve seen our mailing service business go up about 5 percent in the last three months, so things are starting to pick up again,” Counts said, though he didn’t disclose specific volumes.  

In business since 1979, Counts said 90 percent of his customers are small businesses, and mailing comprises about 10 percent of overall sales.

Other services include offset printing, graphic design and bindery services, Counts said, noting that technology has made it easier for companies to use targeted mailing to reach customers.

“We can easily personalize mailings now with people’s names and even tailor a mailing to a specific medical condition,” he said.

In the mail
Depending on negotiated contract and package rates, costs for using a mailing service vary, but for some businesses, convenience is a key factor.

“If I’m sending out a large mailer of more than 50 pieces, it’s just easy to work with a mailing service,” said Aaron Jernigan, president of mortgage banking for OakStar Bank, a Digital Print Ink client.

Jernigan said his department sends between 5,000 and 10,000 pieces of direct mail a year on average, primarily to let existing and former customers know about new products or interest rates.

“We might do a real small mailing in- house, but if it’s more than 50, it just becomes too big,” Jernigan said. “We also save money in bulk mail rates, and mailing services know the restrictions and what qualifies.”

Counts said there are several rules including size, number of pieces, weight and bar codes for bulk mail rates, but there are benefits, too.  

“It can save up to half in mailing costs, and in many cases, pay for the printing,” Counts said.

Return on investment
For OakStar, the key to using direct mailings is to make them count.

“We try to design pieces that have some shelf life, something someone might keep around on their counter for a few days,” Jernigan said, noting that direct mail accounts for about 5 percent of his marketing budget.

Curry, whose full-service agency works primarily with small businesses, said several of his clients send out a combined 5,000 pieces of mail each month.

“I have some clients that spend $2,000 a month on direct mail and still see it as very effective,” Curry said. “The ROI is different for each, depending on what their goals are for the campaign.”

Typically, Curry said, a response rate between 1 percent and 2 percent is considered strong for direct mail.

“My philosophy is at worst case, a company breaks even on a campaign or makes a little, but the good news is that the business has made a new client that can be sold to again,” said Curry, who spends about $2,000 a year on direct mail – often to targeted potential clients – for Curry Marketing.

He said very targeted business-to-business mailings often bring him better response rates – between 15 percent to 20 percent – than mass direct mailings. Marketing campaigns, however, aren’t the only use for traditional mailings. Neil Duvall, owner of NDC Mailing Service, which processes about 150,000 pieces of mail a month, said many of his customers, many of which are nonprofit and religious organizations, send out monthly or quarterly newsletters via snail mail.

“Some of these organizations have donor bases who are still not online,” Duvall said.[[In-content Ad]]