FY12 PQ2 Business Connect Kit Leave Behind Brochure 508 Every Door Direct Mail™ The Direct Mail Hub™ Can Help Tool to Reach More Customers Two simple solutions. One powerful way to market. Building business with the help of mail and the U.S. Postal Service®. The Direct Mail Hub™ Can Help Every Door Direct Mail™ The Tools Direct Mail: One powerful way to market. Reach the customers you want. Every person with a need for your product or service has one thing in common: a mailbox. And research shows that 81% of households read or scan their mail daily1 – while 76% of consumers have been influenced to purchase from Direct Mail2. This is why Direct Mail is such a powerful way to speak with customers. To help you promote your business with mail, the U.S. Postal Service® has developed Every Door Direct Mail™ service and the Direct Mail Hub™ website. Every Door Direct Mail makes it easy to reach every address near your business, while the Direct Mail Hub offers simple tools that let you create a mailing for a specific target audience. You’ll find more about these solutions on the following pages of this brochure. 81% of households say they read or scan their mail daily - 2010 Household Diary Study 1 2010 Household Diary Study 2 2009 ExactTarget Channel Preference Study Benefits of Direct Mail for your business. Direct Mail is targeted. Unlike TV, radio, and other mass advertising, mail lets you reach a very specific audience with your message. This “targetability” allows you to focus your marketing dollars on existing customers and targeted prospects who are likely to have greater interest in your products and offers. Direct Mail is tangible. Mail puts your message directly into your customers’ hands. They can keep it for future reference or share it with others who may be interested in your products and services. It also lets you include coupons, QR codes, URLs, and other elements to help induce response. Direct Mail is measurable. Mail gives you the ability to track the success of your marketing efforts. It can be as simple as counting the number of coupons that are redeemed from your mailer. Direct Mail is easy and cost-effective. Thanks to Every Door Direct Mail™ and the Direct Mail Hub™, you don’t have to be a Direct Mail expert with a big budge to advertise with mail. These two solutions provide simple, cost-effective ways for you to take advantage of one of them most powerful marketing channels available to your business: Direct Mail. Learn more about Direct Mail at usps.com/mail 76% of consumers say they read mail from retailers. - 2010 DMA Response Rate Trend Report Steps to help you create an effective mailing. 1. Identify the goal of your mailing. The more specific you make your goal, the easier it is to determine the right audience, message, and offer. You goal could be to promote an upcoming sale, find new customers, drive traffic to a website, or introduce a new product. 2. Choose your target. Mail allows you to pursue the people most likely to be interested in your product or service – your “target market.” You just need to identify the audience you want to reach. Existing customers? New ones who mirror your current customers? Or a brand-new set of customers? 3. Establish your offer. Your offer is the reason for your mailing. With the right incentive, you can attract attention, drive store traffic, and compel customers to respond. It could be a savings incentive, a special event, or a free product trial. Your offer should include a “call to action” that tells the recipient how to respond (e.g., bring in a coupon), and feature an expiration date (typically 30 days) to create a sense of urgency. 4. Set your budget. Setting your budget during the planning stages helps you to stay on track and to determine the most cost-effective ways to create and deliver your message. Potential costs include: • Mailing list rental – If you want to reach a specific audience and do not have any customer addresses, you will need to rent a mailing list. • Format – What kind of mailing do you want to send? Obviously, a simple postcard will cost less than a multipage catalog. • Postage – How many mailpieces are you sending? Each will require postage. 5. Create your mailing. Both Every Door Direct Mail and the Direct Mail Hub provide a solution for getting your promotional mailing into the homes you want to reach. Turn the page to see the unique benefits of each. The Direct Mail Hub™ Can Help Tool #1 Use this service to target a specific audience. The Direct Mail Hub™ Can Help Create Mail Build Business Create targeted Direct Mail easily and affordably at the Direct Mail Hub™ website. At the Direct Mail Hub website, your business has a simple, cost-effective way to tap into the marketing advantages of Direct Mail. The Learn More Center provides helpful tips and articles, while the online solutions offer two ways to create Direct Mail: a do-it-yourself tool with easy-to-follow templates and a supplier-network tool that lets you get competitive quotes from providers that can create a mailing for you. Let’s take a look at both of these options. Supplier-network tool: Locate a mail service provider to create a mailing for you. • Get competitive quotes. By answering a few questions on the supplier-network tool at the Direct Mail Hub website, you can get competitive quotes from vendors that can develop a complete mail campaign for you. • Vendors can do it all – or just some. Whether you are doing a large mailing or small and need a lot of help or a little, the supplier-network tool puts you in touch with vendors that do everything from mailing list development to creative design to printing. • Want to see what the supplier-network tool can do for you? Simply visit the Direct Mail Hub website at uspsdmhub.com and click on the Get Started button in the “Have It Done for You” section. Do-it-yourself tool: Create a professionally printed mailing – right from your computer. • Templates make it easy. The do-it-yourself tool features easy-to-use templates in many popular mail formats – from postcards and letters to self-mailers and brochures. Even if you have no previous design experience, you can create a professional-looking mailpiece in very little time. • Pick from a library of photos or use your own. On the do-it-yourself tool, you’ll find industry-based photo options for each format. You can select the photos that make the most sense for your mailing, and these are placed into your layout. You can also customize your piece by adding your own photos and company logo. • Not a copywriter? No worries. To add to the ease, prewritten messages eliminate the need for you to write your own copy. What’s more, you can edit the copy to make the message appropriate for your mailing and personal to your business. • Rent or upload a mailing list. If you already have a customer mailing list you want to use, you can upload it to the do-it-yourself tool. You can also rent a mailing list right on the tool. You can select your list based on the demographics of the audience you want to reach (e.g., age, income, ZIP Code™). • A printed piece in the hands of customers. Your mailing is professionally printed and in homes in just a few days. • Ready to get started with the do-it-yourself tool? Go to uspsdmhub.com and click on the Get Started button in the “Do It Yourself” section. Every Door Direct Mail™ Tool #2 Use this service to reach every address on a street. Every Door Direct Mail Retail™ Every Door Direct Mail™ service gives you a simple, cost-effective way to get promotional mailings to every address near your business. There’s no need to print names or street addresses on your mailpieces. We deliver your mailing to every mailbox during daily mail delivery. Our Every Door Direct Mail – Retail™ (EDDM Retail™) version of this product offers added benefits designed just for smaller businesses. It doesn’t require a postage permit, so you don’t pay any annual postage-permit fees. You can bring as many as 5,000 properly prepared mailpieces to the Post Office™ that serves the neighborhoods you want to reach. And you have three easy ways to pay for postage – cash, check, or debit card. Postage is as low as 14.5 cents per piece. We even have a tool that helps you determine the number of mailpieces you’ll need and how much postage will cost. You can access it at usps.com/eddmtool Key benefits of EDDM Retail service. • No postage permit required. This saves you the annual cost of purchasing one. • No addresses needed. Instead of printing names and street addresses, you use the approved Simplified Addressing format (“Local Postal Customer”). • Lots of message space. Because Standard Mail® flats are the required format, you get the space to include coupons, maps, photos, and more. Further details on a flat are provided on the next page and at usps.com/everydoordirectmail • As close as your local Post Office. You or your printer can submit your mailing at the Post Office that covers the area you want to reach. Want to send more than 5,000 mailpieces? Our Business Mail Entry Unity option for Every Door Direct Mail™ is designed for mailings that exceed 5,000 pieces. Learn about this option at usps.com/everydoordirectmail How can EDDM Retail™ benefit your business? Make your businesses the center of action by targeting consumers in your surrounding area. Spend as little as 14.5 cents in postage per piece. Build more traffic, find new customers, and increase revenue while reducing mail preparation costs. Spread the word about grand openings, new locations, seasonal sales, and much more. What is a flat? Every Door Direct Mail – Retail™ service utilizes the many benefits of a Standard Mail® flat. With its broad range in size and thickness, a flat can deliver your message on a single sheet or as part of a catalog. Benefits of a flat. • Cuts through the clutter. A flat gets directly into the homes and hands of consumers. It will showcase your message, and your message alone. • Meets the specific needs of your message. Need to make a quick sale announcement? Or provide an in-depth product description? Alter the mailpiece, not your message. A flat’s size is flexible and can be adjusted to fit the message you need to deliver. • Helps your message work harder. Includes coupons, certifications, event calendars, and more – a flat lets you create a powerful promotional offer that will help you drive store traffic and sales. See a helpful how-to video. To help you put EDDM™ to work for your business, we’ve created a series of short videos. To view them and to learn more about this product, visit our website at usps.com/everydoordirectmail Flat Dimensions Approved Postage Indicia PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID EDDM RETAIL Acceptable EDDM – Retail Addressing *****************ECRWSS**** Local Postal Customer Address Orientation (top half) Height Length (longest dimension) Minimum: >11.5” LONG or >6.125” HIGH or >.25” THICK Maximum: 15” LONG or 12” HIGH or .75” THICK The dimensions above show the size range available with a flat. The shape of flat must be rectangular. 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