Category Archives: Blog With BEB

BBB Honors BEB

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We are so excited receive an Awards for Excellence from the Houston BBB for the fourth year in a row!

In 1992, the Better Business Bureau Education Foundation and the University of Houston Bauer College of Business Administration formed a partnership to recognize area businesses for their commitment to quality.  Initially called the Spirit of Texas Awards, the Awards for Excellence are modeled after the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award.  Today, the BBB Awards for Excellence continue to recognize businesses and non-profits in the Greater Houston area for their achievements and commitment to overall excellence and quality in the workplace.

Applications are judged by volunteers with the Silver Fox  Advisors, a group of former business owners, entrepreneurs and CEOs dedicated to sharing their knowledge, experience and skills, allowing clients to improve their growth and profitability in a cost-effective manner.  All applications were reviewed and scored by a minimum of two different judges.  If additional information was needed customer and vendor referrals were surveyed.

We are one of the oldest members of the Houston Better Business Bureau and we very proud and appreciative of this distinguished honor.

Run for Rama Details

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WHEN:

Saturday, May 5, 2018

WHERE:

MD Anderson Mays Clinic | 1220 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030

TIME:

6:00AM : Event Opens

6:30AM – 7:00AM : Team BEB Meets for pictures near registration and starting line.  We will have signs so it should be easy to find us

7:30AM : 5K Run/Walk Begins

8:30AM – 9:00AM : Presentation and Award Ceremony

9:00AM – 10:00AM : Post-Race Party

10:00AM : Event Closes

PARKING:

FREE PARKING AT MID CAMPUS GARAGE

7007 BERTNER AVENUE, HOUSTON, TX 77030

PACKET PICK UP:

Starting on Wednesday, May 2 thru Friday, May 4, 2018

From 8:30AM to 5:30PM

AT Business Extension Bureau | 4802 Travis St, Houston, TX 77002

COURSE:

CLICK HERE FOR COURSE MAP

WHAT I NEED TO BRING:

  1. Have race packet in your possession PRIOR to the Saturday event
  2. Pin your bib onto the white & purple Run for Rama T-Shirt
  3. Wear comfortable, loose clothing and walking or running shoes
  4. Wear the Run for Rama T-Shirt with your bib
  5. Arrive between 6:30 and 7am, Saturday, May 5, 2018
  6. FREE PARKING at Mid Campus Garage – 7007 Bertner Avenue
  7. You’ll see all of us near the starting line and registration area (we’ll have signs)
  8. HAVE A GREAT TIME!

DONATE TO THE CAUSE:

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

See You There to Celebrate the Life of Our Rama Moore!

The Bureau – April 2018

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Heading to your desk right now, we hope you enjoy the latest version of The Bureau, our award winning company newsletter.  Inside this issue:

Super Charged Informed Delivery

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SUPER CHARGED INFORMED DELIVERY

Informed Delivery allows users to see images of their mail in the form of an email.  The USPS is hoping that marketers will Super Charge those images by bringing them to life through interactive Informed Delivery campaigns.   Interactive campaigns allow you to create a custom image that can be linked to a URL within the recipients email.

Each unique set of customized supplemental content is associated with an individual mail campaign.  Multiple campaigns can be conducted at one time for a single mailing. Each campaign is triggered by and mapped to a single Mailer ID (MID) that is used on the mail piece and can be customized to be active during a defined date range.

The USPS is very excited about this program and hope that marketers take advantage of this new digital channel that ties hardcopy mail to digital content. Because multiple people within a single household can sign up; you get an extra bang for your mail as additional digital impressions will be fed to the other  household members when they open their email. So far, the USPS is experiencing high email open rates, up to 72% daily as of March.

Informed Delivery interactive campaigns provide additional benefits, allowing mailers to enhance the presentation of the scanned mail piece images that consumers are already receiving.

It gives the mail recipient or other household members the opportunity to take action immediately on the     mail piece by clicking on a campaign image/website link –regardless of whether or not they retrieve mail from the physical mailbox.

You can coordinate multi-channel campaigns, and collect information on campaign reach and results (e.g., open rates, click-through rates) through data analytics too.

Virtually any mailer can conduct an Informed Delivery campaign if the following criteria are met:

  • Mail pieces must be automation compatible
  • Mail pieces must contain a valid IMb
  • Mailer or MSP must be IMb certified

At this time, there are no fees associated with conducting  an Informed Delivery campaign.

There are a couple of drawbacks to the program though.  Not everybody is jumping on the bandwagon to opt-in yet.  So far, 50,000 users in the Houston metropolitan area have signed up and 12 million have opted-in to the program nationwide.

Also, packages and flats are not available yet; but should be coming online very soon.

The USPS is leading a huge push to get people signed up and are courting marketers across the nation to experiment with this technology.

Ironically, after signing up some people have reported that they have stopped going to the mailbox every day.  Instead they are using the email to determine the priority of the contents and visiting the mailbox less frequently.

A lot of people are really excited about this program and believe it will “deliver” the post office into a healthy state.  At least it is good to see the USPS  heading in the right direction to try and make mail and digital a powerful and sustaining combination.

 

 

The Bureau – Letter from Ron

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The first quarter of 2018 has been a wild ride.  The S&P 500 Index looks like a Swiss mountain range with  dramatic ups and downs, and the US Postal Service is focused on some pretty exciting programs that could give a lift to direct mail marketing.  However, at the same time, the USPS is also considering implementing a new rate increase structure that threatens the very livelihood of the industry.  It is as nerve racking as a super fast roller coaster, and makes for exciting times.  Especially because our client base is using direct mail more today than they did 5-years ago.  We continue to see increases in print and mail, and our digital media clients have started to experiment with smaller, very targeted and personalized mailings and getting excellent returns.

A large portion of this issue of The Bureau is dedicated to bringing you up to speed with the latest happenings in Washington surrounding postal topics.  We will define informed Delivery and introduce you to the interactive campaigns available.  We will outline Geo Framing, a cutting edge technology that tracks latitude and longitude from electronic devices and we will highlight IOT, The Internet of Things. 

We have included a schedule of our award winning Marketing for Local Business classes for the balance of 2018.  We have several guest lecturers this year and our previous four series have sold out.  We  update content  prior to each class to keep it fresh and relevant and as a result, I’ve noticed that several of our past graduates have attended classes on multiple occasions.

We are working on an educational series that is dedicated specifically to nonprofits; if you or your staff have an interest, please let us know as we can bring the seminar to you as well.  Click here for more information.

We are joining MD Anderson’s Sprint for Life 5K on May 5, 2018 as we are walking to honor the memory of our beloved Rama Moore who fought and lost a valiant battle with ovarian cancer this past Christmas.  We are trying to raise $1,500 and every dollar counts.  If you would like to donate please go to runforrama.com.             Employees and their families from every department within the company will be there.  It will be a great time and is supporting an excellent cause.

We hope that  you find the content of this newsletter informative and helpful, and if you have questions about anything contained within, please don’t  hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your business and partnership.

 

 

Ron Royall, President

Jaw Dropping GeoFraming

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What would you think if someone told you that they could give you the addresses of 85% of the people that have entered your store over the past six-months?  On top of that, what if they could tell you who entered your competitors stores   during the same time-frame?  They Can!

Welcome to JAW DROPPING GeoFraming

Whenever a digital ad is pushed to your phone or other mobile device, the advertiser uses a unique Advertising Device ID (Ad ID).  It is the industry standard for all commercial ads airing in the US.

GeoFraming captures the Unique Ad ID of mobile devices present at a specific location using latitude and longitude data, then maps it to the home.  Let that sink in for a minute.

Third party data providers are supplying anonymous unique AD ID data for devices that have been present in specified locations for marketing companies to target.  Data is obtained in as little as 72-hours (soon to be within 24-hours) after a device was in the targeted location, such as a shopping mall on Black Friday or a car dealership. This allows for timely data without personal security or privacy hurdles associated with real-time location data.

Data derived from GeoFraming will not include names, email addresses, or report the specific matching of devices to the household.  It will provide you with a list of addresses from the devices present at your GeoFramed Event or locations.  From there you can overlay information from a consumer database by matching the address to create a profile of the audience that includes names, estimated incomes or any other demographic available.

Not only are advertisers using the cutting edge technology to help define their audience; they are also using it to see who is shopping at their competitors location.  Imagine the  jeweler who can identify the couple that  visited their engagement ring sale from the week before, and be able to determine that the same couple visited other jewelers as well.  This would signify a couple that is intending to buy and very soon.  That is a hot lead.  

Collection of Ad IDs and location data is, of course, limited based on users that have opted-in or have the appropriate settings running on their apps.

Don’t confuse GeoFraming with other GEOMining; check out these other jaw-dropping products used today:

Geo-Fencing: Drawing a virtual fence around an area or location and showing your ad, to people inside that “fence.”
Geo-Retargeting: Following people AFTER they leave the geo-fenced location and continuing to show them your ads.
Geo-Retargeting Lookalike: Following people AFTER they leave the geo-fenced location and continuing to show them your ads as well as showing their neighbors your ads.
Geo-Framing: To go back in time to previous events where we have captured people’s mobile Unique Device ID’s, map those Unique Device ID’s to their homes, and show those people ads now through the Household IP technology on all devices.

 

 

 

 

Marketing for Local Nonprofits

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We have had an overwhelming response to our award winning Marketing for Local Business Seminar Series.  In the process; we have had several companies request that we develop a series focused on nonprofits.  We are in the process of creating that series now.  We have reached out to national influencers to contribute and partner with these presentations.  We will review:

  • The impending USPS rate hike for nonprofits – Leo Raymond of Mailers Hub
  • How to compensate for upcoming postage increases through grants and other measures
  • What prompts people to donate – tips on creating your direct mail campaigns
  • How to use your direct mail campaign content in the digital realm through blogs, email marketing and social media

This series will be conducted at an offsite facility from 10am – 3pm with lunch included to be scheduled in mid-to-late September 2018.  If you have an interest in this series, please click here and we’ll contact you with details.

Postal Reform Act of 2018

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Today, the Postal Reform Act of 2018 (a bipartisan bill), was introduced to the Senate.  It has similarities to the bill introduced last year, which has not advanced to a floor vote yet.  The new Postal Reform Act will include:

  • Elimination of the statutory payment schedule to prefund future retiree health care costs, cancel any outstanding payments, and amortize payments over 40-years.
  • Allow a one-time 2.15% across-the-board rate increase, representing half of what was authorized for the “exigent surcharge”, while freezing any further rate increases until the controversial new rate setting system can be finalized by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
  • Require “strong service reforms”:
    • By improving mail service performance across the country
    • Require transparency and enforcement to ensure the USPS’ accountability
    • Service performance would be stabilized by preserving current services standards for at least two-years.
  • Introduce new non-postal products and services; allow the shipment of beer, wine, and distilled spirits; and urge partnership with state and local governments in offering government services.

Leo Raymond, President of Mailers Hub (a industry advocate) said; “That the bill was introduced is a good sign of awareness among legislators that action is needed to restore the USPS to financial stability, but it’s only one step in the process.”

Both chambers of Congress need to pass the same measure which would be sent to the president for signature.  Given the precarious and combative nature of Washington; we will have to see what becomes of the bill.  We’ll keep you posted!