May 2012 Newsletter

Welcome to Outmere Direct Mail’s May Newsletter. Or should we say welcome to our newsletter for the rainy season -come-drought?! Actually the weird weather we’ve been having recently (which enables us to mention “rainy season” and “drought” in the same breath…), ties in quite nicely with what we want to tell you about this month: Our environmental credentials.

 

Outmere has a new Environmental Management System

At Outmere Direct Mail, we’ve been working hard over the last year or so to improve our environmental credentials, and now we are ready to shout about them!

We have implemented a number of simple new green working practices and have developed an Environmental Management System in line with ISO 14001, the internationally recognised Environmental Management Standard. Amongst other things, as a result of all this work:

• We have reduced the amount of waste paper we generate through our “print friendly policy”. This means we proactively manage as much information electronically as we can, and wherever possible use “waste” paper to print documents for internal use.

 

• We have always offered a data cleansing service to our clients, but we are very keen for more clients to use this service. It will save money and the environment in the long term as “cleansed data” creates less waste and lower postage costs.

 

• We have reduced the amount of waste we send to landfill by introducing plastic and metal recycling bins throughout all our units.

 

• We are now in the process of reviewing all our current suppliers to establish their environmental credentials. Wherever possible, we want to work with people who take the environment as seriously as we do.

 

• We are in the middle of having water meter meters installed in all three of our units, to ensure we are always using water responsibly.

Due to our efforts, we are also now the very proud holders of the Bronze Ecostep Award, following an external assessment by the Centre for Environment and Safety Management for Business at Middlesex University.

 

Twitter  

Many of you already follow us on Twitter, but we’d like to see more of you there. You can follow us (if you’re not already doing so) by clicking here. We’re about to start tweeting our A to Z of Direct Mail. It is definitely not to be missed and will tell you all you ever wanted to know about Direct Mail and were too afraid to ask!! Not only that, the first person to tweet us and tell us what the C of Direct Mail is, will win a bottle of bubbly!

Welcome to Outmere Direct Mail’s spring newsletter.  And what a spring we’ve had so far.  Fabulous weather (unless you live north of Watford!) and even more fabulous sport.

By sport, here at Outmere we obviously mean rugby, and what a great start to 2012 we’ve had:

• The 6 nations with England coming second, led by Harlequins Chris Robshaw!
• The Mighty Quins have had a brilliant season and are now top of the Aviva Premier League with a 6 point lead.
• Nicks’ son Oscar (along with Nick) has just got back from an exhausting Rugby tour in sunny (but freezing cold) Hastings!

But enough about that.  There are some interesting developments in the world of Direct Mail, we thought we’d share with you.

 

Increase in postage prices (or maybe not)

Much has been made of the hike in postage prices, what with second class stamps rising for Joe Public to 36p! However, what most people are unaware of is that if you use Outmere the price is still 28p and doesn’t rise until the END of April (to 31p).

 

Direct Mail is increasing

A recent report compiled by Nielsen for Marketing Magazine has shown that the top 100 brands using direct mail to reach their customers has increased year-on-year by 6%.  That’s not to be sniffed at when these brands are spending nearly £9 million on direct mail a year EACH.  This is because direct mail works.  The biggest brands in direct mail use it as a vital way of retaining their customer base, as well as seeking new clients.  Virgin Media, the biggest DM spender in the UK says that “…DM is the most effective channel from both a customer and prospect perspective. If we want to drive results and business performance, DM is the medium that gets the cut-through and efficiencies.”  Enough said!

 

Social media and Direct Mail

Use of social media is pointless without back up from a well-crafted direct mail campaign.  A new report by the Mail Media Centre shows that combining these two very different approaches in one integrated campaign will boost product awareness and drive sales.  Data shows that, 8.3 million social media users responded to some sort of direct mail over the last 12 months.  No wonder social media companies like Facebook and Google use DM as a part of their marketing portfolio. They know it works.

 

With great power comes great responsibility

The above sentence is not only a popular quote from many super hero movies, but a motto which every single business should comply with in terms of their environmental responsibility. To prove we’re one of these businesses which really CARE about the environment, we’ve won a long battle to achieve a Bronze EcoStep Award for our environmental commitments. (click here for more info)

We’re more then pleased to announce this achievement, a truly another ‘EcoStep‘ to become a fully environmentally friendly Mailing House, which focuses on being ‘green’ in every aspect of its operations.

Direct Marketing spend up despite economic gloom

According to an annual  ‘Top 100 Mailers’ report produced by Marketing Magazine which ranks UK brands, spend on Direct Mail has risen by 6% in 2012 -  compared to a mere rise of 1.5% the year before. It’s absolutely great news considering the struggling economy and marketing spend being cut to it’s bottom line.

This clearly shows how important channel Direct Marketing is, and how big a role it still plays among other marketing activities.

 Social Media doesn’t pay off? Try combining it with Direct Mail for a success story!

Another report, prepared by Mail Media Centre states that ‘social media users are 30% more likely to be a frequent responder to Direct Mail then the average British adult’.

Whereas recent price hikes and introduction of VAT might give ‘a green light’ to more spend towards social media, it is still Direct Marketing which helps to bring more audience to Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

Speaking of social media, you can try to catch few of Nick’s tweets at twitter.com/Outmere

Direct Marketing’s Return on Investment (ROI) is still among the highest, but in order to benefit from it you need to follow just four simple rules:

1. Get a Quality Mailing List

The most important factor of  your Direct Mail campaign is a high quality mailing list. Be sure you target your customers properly. Without a list (judging you want to target new clients), you are in line to lose hard-earned money bringing your ROI down. Make sure you choose a well-known list broker with a track record of satisfied clients. Include a tracking code somewhere on your return slip to be able to analyse what lists work better for future mailings.

2. Make it catchy but without much noise

We’re being bombarded with masses of e-mails, direct mail and social media spam everyday. It is crucial to make your mailshot simple, easy-to-read and visually attractive. Make sure your piece offers a clear, quick message which tells why someone should buy your product or services you provide. An offer or a unique discount code won’t go unnoticed in the current economic climate. At the end of the day, we’re all looking for better value for money, especially when it’s being given to us completely free of charge.

3. Use Appropriate Postage Discounts

Every single DM campaign is different, so are the postage costs associated with it. Royal Mail and other postage carriers offer a wide range of postage discounts, including Mailsort , Advertising Mail, Walksort among others. These are very important to both understand and being able to effectively use.

For someone not deeply involved in the industry it might sound like rocket science, but with the right expertise and relevant know-how, appropriate postage discounts can be achieved (and clearly explained!) with ease…

4. Use a well-established Mailing House

Over last 36 years Outmere has helped thousands of companies to bring their marketing efforts to life.

We know the industry inside-out, with proven record of returning (and most importantly satisfied!) clients, among which are galleries, international institutes, embassies, housing associations, councils, luxurious clothes’ retailers and a growing number of small companies looking to maximize ‘the bang for their buck’  and a way of gaining new business.

With so much experience comes a huge responsibility for every single mail piece being mailed in a perfect condition. We’re good at what what we do which is why we’re still here and the business is increasing.

We use our expertise to advise clients before, throughout and after a completed campaign making sure they benefit from ROI time after time. Having said that, it’s worth reminding you that all of our pre-mailing expert advice is absolutely free of charge, so are all obligation-free quotes.

According to Royal Mail’s recent newsflash, along with the proposed VAT introduction in April, some postage prices will go up as well. They insist increases are crucial for new investments and future of the company as well as well-needed improvements in services they provide already.

As bad as it might sound (undoubtedly any increase is bad news), there’s a brighter side to this upsetting scenario.

Firstly, majority of prices for sorted items will go up for by an average of 5% (exact numbers are yet to be confirmed by RM). Standard stamp prices will be increased by a significantly higher number, however this won’t affect our prices, as we have some extraordinary discounts, available only to mailing houses across UK.

Secondly, to balance the scales, RM will introduce some interesting, discount-offering products. Let’s now quote here their own source:

We are introducing an unsorted option for our Advertising Mail™ product – suitable for smaller mailings which don’t qualify for sortation discounts.

There is also a new machine readable large letter format within Advertising Mail™, with the option for polywrap – great for catalogues and large format acquisition mailings.

We are also introducing a packet format within Advertising Mail™ to help you optimise ROI on your creative direct mail. Typical price increases for Advertising Mail™ are below 5% for letters, with some as low as 1%. Large letter increases are mostly between 4% and 7%.

To sum it all up – with clean, suitable database, relevant expertise and some forward-thinking, it’s quite possible to escape a massive increase in a direct mail budget. We always advise clients to let us cleanse their databases before running it through sorting software. It might involve a small additional charge but in most cases will significantly decrease postage cost – the exact scenario we all would love to see after all.

 Please feel free to give us a shout if you require any further information. We’ll try to make April’s price hikes as smooth as possible and hopefully completely painless. Stay tuned for this post to be updated, we’ll make sure you’ll stay informed ASAP.

According to recent survey by Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), only 23% marketers believe that social channels will positively impact in getting new customers.

The CIM’s study, which looked at Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn also found that over 30% of the 1,500 marketers polled suggested that their social media activity in 2011 was “not at all effective”.

With Direct Marketing still being on the top of every marketers’ agenda, what for some seems to be an ‘old school’ method, for most is still the most reliable, value-for-money and trustworthy way of gaining new customers and bringing more business in current challenging economic climate.

A special direct marketing report in Marketing Week has highlighted that direct mail is still very much alive and kicking.

Despite the recent mail strikes and rise of online communications, research shows traditional direct mail is still very popular with marketers and can be used effectively to drive traffic, especially when combined with new media initiatives.

A healthy 62% of digital campaigns are seeing an increase in return on investment when combined with direct mail according to research carried out by media group OMG. Research also shows that direct mail campaigns motivate consumers to buy and ask for information online.

But simply putting a website URL at the bottom of a direct mail communication is not enough any more. Direct mail needs to be smart, relevant and add value. With so many upcoming tasks to fill people’s minds, businesses need to think creatively to motivate consumers to take the communication further.

Unilever recently launched its largest integrated campaign for Surf washing powder to promote its new fragrance, Twilight Sensations.

The marketing drive will use targeted direct mail to reach half a million people in the UK. These consumers will be directed to the website, which provides laundry and fashion advice.

Understanding when to strike with direct mail campaigns such as the Unilever Surf promotion is a vital consideration when planning a direct mail campaign. Recent research carried out by GI Direct shows that 70% of UK adults were between five and ten times more likely to respond to personalised offers.
The timing of the campaign is also essential. More than half (66%) will be more likely to respond to direct marketing if it is received at the right time.

For advice about how to use direct mail effectively in your marketing campaign, give us a call.

We are delighted to announce that Outmere is now able to help you design and produce your direct marketing campaigns.

Through our creative partners, we are able to deliver great design and persuasive copy to ensure your direct marketing really positions and promotes your brand and increases response rates to drive more sales.

As direct mail marketing experts, we have a good understanding of what makes people tick. We know that it’s not good enough to simply make something look good.

Our design partners will work with you to establish a strong proposition and recommend the most effective creative approach, formats and messages for your budget giving you the measurable results you’re after whether for print mail or email marketing.

Contact us now or read further information on how we can build your direct mail or email marketing campaign.

From designing your emails to building your contact list and tracking and analysing results, Outmere can manage your entire email marketing campaign from start to finish.

Our email marketing service allows you to send newsletters and promotions quickly, simply and securely.

Getting the message right Email is a very personal form of one-to-one communication and has it own rules that are different to ‘paper’ direct mail. We can ensure you get your message right for email and ensure your campaign is pitched correctly to your target audience.

Design services Emails need to catch the eye of the recipient and intrigue them enough to take action. However, even the most fantastic design will fall short of expectations if no one sees it. Our specialist design partners will design and produce HTML emails that get opened, read and clicked on.

Contact list build and management Sending your mailing to a poorly managed and incomplete mailing list is a waste of time and money. Outmere can help you build and manage your contact list through our data management service so that your database is always up to date.

Sending and tracking Our rigorous data cleansing process and anti-spam protection will ensure that spam filters don’t block your email. In addition, our tracking system will allow us to see who opens your email, which links they read and when they read them. We can provide this information and campaign statistics to you in a detailed report.

To find out more about our email marketing service, contact us now.