Tag Archives: Texas

BEB TAKES HIGHEST HONOR

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2014-05-01 HERMES PLATINUMWe are very excited to announce that Business Extension Bureau has earned the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) highest industry honor, The Platinum Hermes Award.  We proudly accept this honor for our entry of our quarterly newsletter, The Bureau.

This year’s competition was fierce, with over 5,500 entrants from all over the world vying for top honors.  The annual contest is for creative professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of traditional and emerging media. Entries came from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers.

NEWSPAPER BOY GRAPHIC BEB HERMES 2

Click the photo above to see a video on our winning entry

The AMCP is an international organization that consists of several thousand marketing professionals.  The judges look for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.  Winners were selected from 195 categories and only 15% of the entries won top honors.

We are thrilled to receive this prestigious recognition, especially from the traditional media category and for a direct mail marketing piece.  Last year we received a Gold Hermes in the emerging markets category for our Twitter campaign, @BEB-Bob.  Click here to see last year’s winner.

Calculating Your Return

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one half of a percentInvite Them InNot only do we sell direct mail marketing, we also use it.  Why?  Because it works.  Figuring out how well it works can sometimes be a challenge.  Make sure you review the whole picture and don’t be blinded by what may seem like a light return.

We conducted a prospecting campaign targeting churches in our area.  We sent two postcards over a 3 week period to the same recipients.

The graphics we used for our 6 X 9 postcards reflected multiple generations and cultures, and conveyed a very simple message.  Use direct mail to invite your neighborhood to worship in your church.

The mailing brought 3 new clients or .56% of our universe; which seems like a very low return!  That’s because it’s only part of the equation.

The campaign generated $4,450 in new business within 30 days of the first mailing.  The retail charges associated with mailing both cards, including postage is $1,530 which equates to a $2,920 return.  We anticipate the new clients will generate an additional $9,000 in revenue over the course of the first year.

Direct mail marketing works – let it work for your business too!

 

2015 APRIL POSTAL RATES – NON PROFIT LETTERS & FLATS

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2015 BEB USPS RATE CARD NON PROFIT RATESWould you like a 2015 BEB POSTAL RATE CARD?  These cards are double sided with nonprofit rates on one side, and for profit Standard & First-Class rates on the other.  They also include handy dimension minimums/maximums and other mailing requirements.  Printed on sturdy card stock and measuring at 9″ high X 8″ wide, these cards are excellent reference material and they are FREE!  If you would like one mailed to you, click here.

2015 APRIL POSTAL RATES – STANDARD & F/C RATES

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2015 BEB USPS RATE CARD SIDE 2Would you like a 2015 BEB POSTAL RATE CARD?  These cards are double sided with nonprofit rates on one side, and for profit Standard & First-Class rates on the other.  They also include handy dimension minimums/maximums and other mailing requirements.  Printed on sturdy card stock and measuring at 9″ high X 8″ wide, these cards are excellent reference material and they are FREE!  If you would like one mailed to you, click here.

HAPPY POSTAL CUSTOMER COUNCIL DAY!

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2013-09-18 PCC DAYThis week is National Postal Customer Council (PCC) week!  Our local chapter (HPCC) celebrated with a great event today at the Bayou City Event Center from 10am – 2pm and featured an “all star” line up of speakers, special sessions and a vendor show case.

The conference included a presentation on the USPS Incentives and Promotions for the balance of year and special guest Pritha Mehra spoke about acceptance, payment and delivery using iMB. US Postmaster General, Pat Donahoe addressed all PCC participants nationwide via satellite, and discussed the five-year USPS business plan.

The New BEBTEXAS.COM

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BEB BLOG LOGO We’ve 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!

Check out some of our more popular blogs below!

The Current State of the Economy

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From the August edition of our bi-monthly newsletter, The Bureau

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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

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2013-08-14 HEADER PHOTOWe 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.

2013-08-14 CONF REGISTRATION CHARTGeneric 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.

2013-08-14 WEBSITE ACTIVITY CHARTIn 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.