We just updated our blog software.  Looks like it re-fed the entire blog on the RSS feeds.  Sorry for the info overload and the Spam.

When discussing various forms of marketing I like to break them down a bit. One of the big distinctions I make is, are they Active, Passive or PR. If you are going to be successful you need to consider all three.

I was going through some of our old marketing materials and came across a gem of a newsletter article written by my wife in the early 90s. I think it’s particularly apropos, given the recent economic climate. So… here it is with a few minor edits to bring it into the current century.

Looks like prices will be staying the same next year.  This is great news for Direct Mailers!

After 28 years in business, I have seen my share of both good and bad times as far as the economy is concerned.  However, economic downturns have never effected me too greatly. 

Why not?

I occasionally run across interesting statistics on direct mail, the following two are from the May/June edition of one of my trade publications, "Mail:"  I'll try and share them here as I find them.

• More than 8 in 10 recipients review their mail daily and most prefer it to electronic media.  (DMNews survey.)
• Consumers reviewing mail for promotional offers increased 64% in the second 1/2 of 2008. (Pitney Bowes Research.)

Merry Christmas Everyone! 

And a happy New Year!  
May we all have a prosperous and wonderful 2009!

Wishing you the best this holiday season:

I received an email notice from the Post Office today.  They are proposing major changes to the tabbing requirements for booklets & self mailers.  The proposed regulation will require that most booklet and self mailer designs be run through our mail equipment 3 times rather than being able to be done in a single pass.  This will greatly increase the cost of processing this type of mail piece.

Federal Register Notice

The post office is changing the requirements for where you can place the address on a flat sized mail piece (Flats are usually larger than 6-18"x11-1/2")  For most of the magazine style pieces that we produce we will now be required to print the address upside down. 

The new location choices are:  Upside down or sideways on the bottom half of the front cover or right side up or sideways on the top half of the back cover.  The changes are a bit more complex than that, but that is the gist of the change.

We have a bit before this goes into effect, this won't be a requirement till March 29th, 2009.

 Federal Register Notices

Nothing final yet, but the Post Office is looking into changing some of the requirements for booklet style mailers.  If you do a large volume of these types of pieces, you may want to look in to this:

Federal Register Notices