Greetings from Houston! We hope that 2023 was a good year for you, and we thank you for your business and partnership.
The renovation of our building after the fire on Veteran’s Day 2021 was completed and we took occupancy in April of last year. It is quite a different look than before, and we absolutely love it. We hope that you will come by for a quick tour when you can.
2024 marks our 75th year in business and we start the year with cautious optimism. Throughout 2023, the economy avoided a recession, consumers reportedly continued to spend, and inflation slightly cooled. Seemingly, those are signs of stability. However, the threat of a recession still lurks, and many of us anticipate a bumpy year ahead.
The Conference Board (a global, nonprofit, business think tank) published a survey of the biggest risks for businesses in 2024. They surveyed more than 1,200 US executives and learned that recession is their top concern. 37% of executives surveyed said that they are bracing for a recession in the coming year.
Households are acquiring more debt as they begin to deplete the “free money” collected during the pandemic. Meanwhile, banks are toughening their lending standards.
The second biggest concern is inflation. Inflation has retreated since exploding nearly three years ago, but remains above anything we were used to before the pandemic.
The direct mail and printing industry continues to struggle with higher labor costs and finding qualified candidates for job openings. The “work from home” profile doesn’t fit within a manufacturing environment and we find that our teams work better when we are together and exchanging ideas.
Then there is the US Postmaster General who continues to deploy his “Delivering For America” plan by redefining delivery standards and raising postage rates.
The thing is; direct mail still draws a higher ROI than most other platforms. Point in case, we conducted an ROI analysis for one of our non-profit clients last year. Their investment of $110,000 (which included postage) resulted in collecting over $700,000 in donations. That is a 536% return.
We are committed to finding new ways to partner with our existing and future clients. During the process of expanding our products and services we have become the premier marketing production company of Houston. Our offerings have expanded to include data compilation, analysis, digital, offset, envelope, and label printing, promotional products, signage, digital marketing, email blasts, social media, hand fulfillment and even websites and SEO.
As we celebrate our 75th anniversary, we thank you for your patronage and trust. We look forward to serving you with new and innovative ways, and we hope to continue to serve Houston area businesses for another 75-years.
Sincerely,
Ron Royall
President