In Remembrance of 9-11
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Tag Archives: Direct Mail
Calendar QR Code – September
Have you scanned the September QR Code from your BEB – Business Extension Bureau 2013 Calendar? We have a special message for you. You can also click here to see where it takes you!
Happy Labor Day
Have a safe and happy Labor Day!
The Future of the Postal Service
Recently I had the pleasure of hearing our current US Postmaster General & CEO of the US Postal Service, Pat Donahoe, give an update on the state of the Postal Service. He noted that the shrinkage of First-Class Mail is driving the continuing trend of operating losses, and even though the USPS shipping & packages segment is growing, it’s not sufficient to replace the previous First-Class profits. Additional operational cuts, efficiency improvements and legislative action are needed to help shrink the gap between expenses and revenue. $19.7 billion in savings from proposed operations and workforce incentives, along with aggressive benefit changes, are on the table to combat the 79% of the total USPS cost base dedicated to labor today.
$11.1 billion of the proposed savings require legislative action that will give the Postal Service authority to generate new revenue and adapt to changing business conditions.
A key legislative point is allowing the USPS to manage their own health care plan which is facing resistance as people on the hill are concerned that health care costs to all other government employees will significantly rise as a result of the USPS’ departure. Items such as refunding the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) overpayment and controversial 5-day delivery debate are also crucial to the USPS Business Plan financial projections that show a debt-free entity by fiscal year-end, 2017.
Getting the current group in Washington to act on these points will be a challenge to say the least. The economic and structural hurdles that the USPS faces can be cleared with action from Washington. All of our businesses rely on the USPS’ mission to provide secure, reliable and affordable universal delivery services, and our Representatives must stop stonewalling this imperative legislation and take action now.
By Joy Zerbach – Vice President, Marketing
The Current State of the Economy
From the August edition of our bi-monthly newsletter, The Bureau
Ron Royall, President
At the start of the third quarter, I’m still uncertain about our current economic climate. Recently I saw a monthly economic index from the NFIB that showed a drop in June indicating confidence among job creators isn’t there. On the other hand, I just read an article about an analysis conducted by Bloomberg BNA that said the US economic recovery is expected to accelerate beginning in the 2nd half of 2013.
The one thing I am certain about is our commitment to you, our clients, vendors and partners. As we continue to weather this economic storm, we have seen a tremendous amount of activity and change and are honored to work for, and with, so many great companies and people.
Our extended issue of our newsletter covers a very exciting 2nd quarter for us. As one of the articles says; BEB has been “On A Roll” winning six awards from local, regional and national organizations, and for a wide variety of items such as our interactive holiday cards, twitter campaigns and our newsletter, The Bureau!
We’ve also launched our new website, bebtexas.com, and cordially invite you to take a tour. It’s a living site that is in a constant state of renewal. In addition to the traditional details of our service offerings, we share our rich and unique 64-year history while offering the latest postal and marketing news through our blog. There are links to our Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook pages, and we’ve added a career page too! Most important, we are connected to our clients through this interactive site and appreciate all of the feedback, suggestions and kudos received so far!
Other articles enclosed a summation of stats from a multi-channel marketing campaign, highlights from a meeting with the US Postmaster General Pat Donahoe, and outline of postal promotions for the remaining year and more photos showing our personal side on “The Back Wall”.
The balance of the year holds more excitement and education too. We’ll be at several industry trade shows, we have several client trips slated on the calendar and lots of industry events (including the big PICG Oktoberfest) and soon we’ll be working on our 2014 Calendar.
No matter how bumpy the economic climate is for our businesses, BEB will continue to search for new ways to better serve your needs. Thank you for your continued support and thank you for your business.
Sincerely,
Ron Royall
DIRECT MAIL HIGHEST RETURN
We were recently asked to assist a regional industry association with marketing their annual conference. We created a multi-channel marketing campaign strategy that included direct mail, e-mail, tweets & Facebook posts, and video marketing.
Our audience consisted of the association’s current membership, lapsed members from a three-year period, and two targeted lists of prospective companies. Prospects were identified through a partnership with a similar industry association and targeted businesses based on SIC codes within a five-segment, geographic area.
The campaign rendered attendance from over 30 companies, across the nation and Australia. Twenty percent of the companies were first-time attendees and eight percent of the lapsed market was recaptured.
Direct mail brought the largest returns as 57.5% of the total registrations occurred within 10 days after a mailing and 57.1% of first-time registrations occurred within the same time frame. We also saw that 33% of our total webpage traffic occurred within a ten-day period after a mailing.
E-mails that emulated the mail pieces and followed a mailing brought the second highest amount of activity. Within 72-hours after a direct mail/e-mail, 23.1% of our total website hits occurred and 12.1% of attendees registered.
Generic e-mail blasts brought also brought 12.1% of the total registrations and comprised 15.8% of the total website activity within the 120-day campaign.
The social media component brought interesting results as well. Nearly 25% of all website activity (24.7%) occurred on the day of positing on Facebook or Twitter, using a link connected to the website. We noted that 14.6% of registrations occurred on days where social media was the only form of marketing used.
Seven videos were created and uploaded onto YouTube during the 120-day campaign bringing 399 views. One-third of all views came from the inaugural, two-minute, introduction video that outlined location, topics and speakers. Daily, 30-second spots, highlighting schedules for the three-day conference were watched by 18.7% of the registrants and accessed from a QR-Code conveniently placed on the cover of the conference program.
In conclusion, the conference was a profitable and successful venture for the association. Revenues were 13.4% higher than the previous year and first-time attendees were up 3.9% from 2011.
August PostScripts Magazine
We were thrilled to see that we were included in this month’s National Association of Marketing Service Providers (AMSP) publication, PostScripts!
The August edition features the year’s winners from the Awards of Excellence program. Each year the AMSP holds a gala, celebrating excellence and innovation in the marketing service provider industry, Companies across the nation compete within eight categories and are measured by an independent panel of judges. Winners are revealed and awards distributed during the association’s annual conference in June.
BEB (Business Extension Bureau) took home the top prize as we accepted a first place win for the Ed Sisk Excellence in Education Award for our internal PRC (Postal Certification Certification) program. The program’s purpose is to raise competence of postal compliance with our staff. Required participants include sales, client service representatives, operations managers and company executives. We encourage all BEB employees to enroll in the class, which is available to staff twice a year.
Recent graduate Kristin Howell (DP) shows off her framed PRC certificate. Kristin participated in the inaugural class and scored the highest within her class on the final exam!
The course covers 12 modules and classes are conducted in 10, 90-minute intervals over a period of 8 weeks. The course is completed after participants pass a 100 question written test, and an 80% accuracy rate must be met to earn a diploma.
Creation and execution of this program has brought a level of postal knowledge confidence throughout the company. Because the course is comprehensive and participants must make a significant amount of commitment time, we have a high success rate. Also, we must use the program as a means to recognize and praise our employees. Certificates are awarded in a ceremonial setting in front of the entire company and each certificate is personalized, framed, and presented by the president of the company (who also earned his certification)!
Graduates overall confidence level and comprehension of postal regulations has increased significantly. They are able to identify when to ask questions, and are comfortable with how and where to find answers. Through our increased postal expertise, our clients use us an information source more often, and we’re included earlier in the planning stages of programs.
Calendar QR Code – August
Have you scanned this months calendar QR Code? The landing page has a link to a funny video of a father-daughter moment amusement park ride that gets colorful to say the least.
Hope you’re having a great summer!
You can also click here to access the August landing page from the BEB 2013 Calendar!
USPS Tech Credit a “NO GO”
The Postal Service announced today that in light of the PRC (Postal Regulatory Commission) June 10 decision and the current financial condition of the USPS, they will not proceed with the Technical Credit Promotion.
Conference Hosted by BEB Makes National Publication!
During the 2012/2013 term, our President Ron Royall, served as President of the Southwest Chapter of the Association of Marketing Service Providers. This prestigious chapter has a 50+ history and is part of the national AMSP organization. AMSP has been in existence for over 90-years and is dedicated to the education and legislative advocacy of the print, mail and fulfillment industry. As Chapter President, Ron was responsible for the planning, promotion, sales and implementation of two regional events during his term. We are thrilled to report that both events were successful and the national association featured our BEB Hosted Annual Conference in this month’s PostScripts Magazine! At the close of the conference in April, Ron handed over the President’s gavel to the 2013/2014 incoming Chapter President, Stan Hastings (Commercial Mail Service). You can read the feature in it’s entirety here. It is our second mention in this month’s, nationally published, PostScripts magazine!