Since 1982 the price has postage has tripled with nearly 40% of that increase in the last decade. On July 10th, the price of a first-class stamp will be 60¢. Inflation is only part of the story as direct and indirect competition impact the direct mail category of marketing spend. If mailing services are part of your bread and butter, think about what your business can do to add value and increase efficiency. First, take stock of your workflow and service offerings, keeping in mind these three concepts: innovation, capacity, and value-added services.
Innovation does not have to mean a capital investment in technology and equipment (though it could). Consider innovation as a way to reduce friction in the lifecycle of a mailing project. Poll your mailing support staff to find out what are known pain points for the majority of jobs. For example, think about a customer’s mailing list. It likely arrives and requires some list hygiene. One clear way to innovate starts with creating a best practices flyer to share with your clients. These best practices come from within your department. It is those tasks that the mailing technician does to every list that that does not require special knowledge (quick deduping of a list, sorting the list by zip code, formatting the file properly). Small changes early in the lifecycle can have a big impact on the bottom line and on efficiency.
Capacity can be found in all sorts of areas beyond simple production hours. With the way our industry has run these last several years, there has been little opportunity for thoughtful analysis. With your core clients, are there opportunities for print and mailing projects that are going elsewhere? Are there opportunities to expand your services to offer more such as kitting and fulfillment services?
Value-added services continue to be poised to be a growth-driver for the print industry over the next 5 years, though it may require a shift in your sales team’s selling philosophy from order taker to true solutions-based selling and working closely with clients to understand their needs (and additional outsourcing) throughout a direct mail campaign’s lifecycle. A combination prepress/designer could offer design services for smaller clients that may be outsourcing design anyway. Data management and list hygiene are challenges that all organizations face. Providing back CASS-Certified and/or NCOA-Certified lists back to a client is invaluable.
