New Year, New Postal Rates

Direct mail is a powerful medium. A personalized mailer connected with a PURL speaks directly to your customer and drives strong response rates. Even with the new postal rates and regulations effective in January 2013, direct mail remains a flexible and inexpensive way to physically place your message in your customers’ hands.

Mailer for Stonycreek Farm Nursery & Landscaping (front)

Mailer for Stonycreek Farm Nursery & Landscaping (back)

Key changes may affect your direct mail campaigns.

• The single-piece postcard rate, which already increased by 3¢ in January 2012, will increase by an additional penny to 33¢.
• Automation discounts will be limited to letters, flats, postcards, Business Reply Mail and Permit Reply Mail with the Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb). The new barcode holds all routing, sorting and additional services in one place, freeing up valuable space on your envelope for your marketing message. Automated address correction will ensure that your material reaches the right recipient at the right time, improving response rates and increasing revenue.
• Self-mailers are subject to new requirements for size, paper weight, folding and tabbing. Failure to comply will result in a significant postage increase.

There are several steps you can take to control the impact of the postal changes.

• Merge and purge your mailing lists to ensure clean data. Target customers who will buy.
• Review your existing stock of printed materials for compliance with new regulations before your next mailing to avoid any surprises when you receive your postage bill.
• Reduce the size and/or weight of your direct mail package. For example, instead of mailing an 8 x 11″ piece at the “flats” rate, fold the piece to 5½ x 8½” to qualify for the lower letter rate.
• Creatively embrace the changes. Develop a multi-touch strategy by using the tracking function in the new IMb to trigger email blasts. Modify and test different formats that comply with the new regulations.
• Review the calendar of promotional events at www.usps.com to learn how you can save on postage throughout 2013 by integrating mail with mobile and emerging technologies.

If you have questions about how the new rates and regulations will impact your business, call or email us today. We can help you design your mail piece, choose the correct paper stock, and prepare your mailing to meet the revised standards and secure the lowest postage rates available.

Click here to view a comprehensive list of the new USPS rates. Additionally, click here for a PDF guide for the new folded self-mailer regulations.

Lessons of an Intern

Each summer, Maverick PR welcomes to its staff an intern from one of the area colleges or universities. This year we were pleased to have Erin Paybody join our team. Erin, a Taylor University student, played an integral supporting role in the planning and preparation for Prevail, Inc.’s 9th Annual Reds, Whites and Blues fundraising event. Prevail educates and engages the community to prevent crime and abuse while helping restore the lives of those who have been affected.

Erin worked on putting together media lists for press release distribution, attended planning meetings with the Prevail staff at their Noblesville office, communicated regularly with members of the media to ensure consistency and accuracy in the flow of information, and assisted with media placement for the event. Erin says the entire process helped her have a better understanding of what goes on behind the scenes of such a large event including how to raise funds in an effective yet entertaining way, keeping the clients target audience in mind at all times in the planning process, and working in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines.

Erin says she returned to her college campus with improved organizational skills and more self-confidence in reaching out to people she doesn’t know, something she’ll have to get used to as she pursues her own career in public relations.

Maverick Public Relations is proud to provide these internship opportunities for tomorrow’s generation of public relations experts as another way of giving back to the community.

Congratulations Erin on an outstanding summer internship, and thanks for all your help!

Erin Paybody, Maverick PR 2010 Summer Intern