2. Advertising Mail, Standard Mail
Standard Mail is the primary class of mail for delivering advertising content to the mailbox. It is a valuable medium for the distribution of information about products and services (catalogs and direct mail), organizations (fundraising), and individuals (campaign materials). It can target the right audience, it can deliver personalized messaging, it allows for testing of different creative and mailpiece elements as well as the entire advertising campaign, and it delivers these benefits within the framework of the security and privacy of the U.S. Postal Service. These attributes position Standard Mail as a cost effective and efficient advertising medium.

To better serve our customers, Product Development has refined the already successful www.uspsdirectmail.com website to better fit the corporate look and feel of www.usps.com. The improved website launched this spring and continues to offer on-line help to businesses interested in adding to their customer base and/or better meeting the needs of their existing customers. New for this year is the addition of five Authorized Affiliate Merchants that can help the new mailer with any or all of their mailing needs.

Working closely with the Sales team, new and improved materials were developed to support local and national sales personnel in their pursuit of new customers. These materials were developed with a corporate look and message so that all core products are presented with uniformity. Product Development is working closely with many other functional areas in the organization in to provide an integrated offer that will meet all the emerging needs of the small business and mid-market customer segments.

Product Development conducted more than forty direct mail seminars that provided the small business owner with all the tools necessary to begin using the mail to advertise their product or service. These seminars are provided in conjunction with the local district offices and members of the mailing community.

Working with Operations, industry associations, and the direct mail and mail order industries, increased attention to service, improvements in delivery predictability and better coordination with the mailing community at large was achieved.