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The difference between multi-channel and omnichannel (omni media)

In our industry, we often find that “multi-channel” and “omnichannel” are not only used interchangeably but are perceived to be the same concept. From our perspective, that’s inaccurate. Yes, we said it!

What is multi-channel marketing?

This is when a brand is utilizing multiple independent channels to interact with its customers. Each channel operates independently. With multi-channel marketing, the brand is focused on providing customers with several different ways to engage with them.

What is omnichannel marketing?

This strategy takes a more integrated approach, aiming to provide customers with a seamless, consistent, and unified brand experience across all channels. With this strategy, customers can transition between digital and offline channels effortlessly – with their interactions and preferences being recognized and remembered. With a successful omnichannel strategy, channels are interconnected and share data and insights to deliver more personalized experiences. Think in terms of integrating online intent with offline channels such as direct mail.

Why omnichannel works:

While multi-channel marketing focuses on providing multiple independent channels for customer engagement, the actual customer experience may not be seamless or consistent across these channels. In fact, they’re often treated as entirely different campaigns or initiatives.

In contrast, an omnichannel strategy facilitates a fully integrated experience. The customer experiences all touch points in a cohesive manner – both offline and online – the creative format and content all flow together.

For example, a customer may begin their shopping journey by receiving a postcard in the mail, continue browsing on the website, and make a purchase in-store, with the brand maintaining a cohesive understanding of their preferences and history throughout. Because of this, a successful omnichannel strategy helps with attribution and thus, more effective marketing techniques to ultimately grow the brand.

How can you be more omnichannel-focused?

Align company goals

Talk to each other internally! Offline, digital, sales, and operations should all be working together. For example, the offline team is reading results from their campaigns while the digital team is doing the same – and they’re not syncing up external efforts (or even internal communications for reading results). Don’t fall into this habit!

Be aware of changing consumer behavior, and get more familiar with your audience

Consumer behavior is consistently changing – make sure you’re staying top-of-mind with your top spenders in terms of brand benefits (loyalty programs, offers) and mission.

Identify key channels and be strategic with them

Ensure you’re being consistent yet innovative across channels. This doesn’t mean serving all the same content – it means presenting cohesive messaging that is complimentary to the branding.

Did you know that “direct mail” is a channel? Make sure you’re not excluding offline channels. The more each channel “talks to each other,” the more successful your campaigns will be.

Integrate your tech stack

Remember that integrations are not one-size-fits-all. Take time to determine the most important tools for your brand and integrate them strategically.

This includes offline! The power of print is real; integrate online intent with direct mail.

Optimize social media

Don’t forget that social media can support your broader business goals such as attracting new customers, building brand loyalty, and promoting brand awareness.

We recommend thinking of an omnichannel approach as customer centric. An omnichannel strategy starts with the customer and ends with a purchase. In fact, it can start offline and end online; or vice-versa. It ensures a smooth, convenient, and unique shopping experience.

Omnichannel is a powerful strategy; in fact, we think it’s THE most powerful. Not only does it help provide a seamless and personalized experience across all channels (both offline and digital), but it can help brands differentiate themselves. Whether it’s building stronger relationships with its audience, figuring out a more effective way to spend your marketing dollars, or testing a new channel (offline or digital!), it will ultimately drive growth and profitability for a brand. Not convinced? Let’s discuss in more detail why omnichannel is the way forward! 

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Tom Says… Here’s What You Need to Know About the July USPS Increase

Thanks for bearing with us this month with this two-part post! We thought it would be helpful to refresh everyone about how postage rates are charged. Now, we can get to the super important details: this month’s USPS rate increase.

Effective July 9, 2023, the USPS has put into place the following increases in their postal categories. Keep in mind that while these percentages are overall changes, specific sortation increases will be larger in some areas than others creating fluctuations from these announced increases.

– First Class mail has increased on average of 5.38%

– Flats (catalog) mail is increasing 7.38%

– High Density / Saturation Flats is increasing 3.07%

– Carrier-Route mail is increasing 7.39%

– Letters is increasing 5.20%

– High Density / Saturation Letters is increasing 5.06%

– Periodicals (Magazines) is increasing 8.12%

– EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) is increasing 4.76%

Letter Mail

Most letters mail optimally at a 5-Digit/SCF entry mail. The 5D/SCF for-profit rate has increased 5.82% to $0.291/pc. With non-profit rates increasing 6.25% to $.136/pc. Saturation & high-density mail offers lower rate possibilities, but they are very difficult to achieve in national demographic programs.  Commingling offers cooperative solutions to help minimize postage costs and should always be considered for pieces that do not qualify for 5-Digit/SCF entered rates.

Drop Ship SCF discounts for letters is increasing to $0.035/pc vs $0.030/pc & NDC discounts are now $0.027/pc vs $0.023/pc. Non-profit rates are increasing at a higher percentage than for-profit rates.

NEW: Effective with the July changes, the USPS is now offering a SCF entry Discount for 5-Digit & 3-Digit sorted mail. A similar discount was introduced for Flat Mail in July 2022, and it will offer some postage relieve for SCF pallets. Each qualified piece can earn $0.003/pc discount.

Flats – Four Ounces & Under

Basic Carrier Route mail will see average increases (6.82% at the SCF entry level), and High Density Plus and Saturation entry mail will see below average increases. High Density/SCF mail will see no increase after seeing much larger than average increases in the last several postal changes. Origin entered mail will see larger increases. 

As with letter mail, drop ship discounts are growing, $0.091/pc for SCF entry and $0.071/pc, over all sortation levels.

Non-profit rates four ounces and under will also see larger increases that for-profit mail. We have seen this common occurrence with non-profit rates happen over the past several postal changes as they are trying to narrow the gap difference.

The USPS is also increasing their 5-Digit Scheme Pallet and SCF Pallet Discounts to help minimize increases. The discounts are the same regardless of for-profit or non-profit qualified mail.

Flats – Over Four Ounces

There are significant changes taking place with flats mail over four ounces. Previously, postage for pieces in this rate category received a piece postage charge PLUS a pound postage charge applied on each fraction of a pound mailed. The new rates continue to apply a piece rate, but the pound rate will only be applied for each fraction of a pound over 4 ounces (0.25#). Comparing rates from January 2023 to July 2023 will look odd (see chart below) because the new rate structure is pushing more postage in the piece portion and less in the pound portion, it is comparing apples to oranges. Drop ship discounts for pieces over 4 ounces used to be discounted from the pound portion of postage, but it will now be discounted from the piece portion of postage. You can see the differences in the chart below.

To better understand the comparison of before and after rates, here are a few for-profit sortation scenarios calculated at different piece weights:

There are three scenarios above, High Density, Basic Carrier Route & 5-Digit flat postage. As the piece weight grows, the impact of the increase also grows at a substantial rate.  Heavier pieces are seeing much higher than average postal increases.

The same Pallet Discounts as outlined for Flats four ounces and under apply to pieces over four ounces giving some relief.

First Class Mail

– A stamped 1-ounce letter has increased to $0.66/pc from $0.63/pc (4.76% increase)

– First class flats have increased 7.15%

– First class postcards have increased to $0.355/pc from $0.352/pc (<1% increase)

USPS Promotions

As a general best practice, we advocate that all direct mail customers take advantage of the discount promotions that the USPS offers. The USPS has made the approval process much easier and more responsive with the addition of the Mailing Promotions Portal (MPP) on the USPS Gateway. The USPS is managing all inquiries and approvals through the portal, so it is imperative to sign up for the service.

2024 USPS Promotions

– Tactile, Sensory & Interactive – 5% USPS incentive for Marketing Mail & First-Class Mail – 2/1/2024 – 7/31/2024

– Personalized Color Transpromo – 3% or 4% USPS incentive for First Class Mail – February 1st – July 31st

– Emerging & Advanced Technology – 3% to 4% USPS incentive for Marketing Mail & First-Class Mail

*NEWDirect Mailer can pick the 6-month window they would like to use this promotion

– Reply Mail IMbA – 3% USPS incentive for First Class Mail – July 1st – December 31st

– Informed Delivery – 4% USPS incentive for Marketing Mail & First-Class Mail – August 1st – December 31st. The mail preparer also receives a 0.5% incentive from the USPS

– Retargeting Mail – 5% USPS incentive for First-Class Mail – September 1st – November 30th

Not only can we help you take advantage of these USPS promotions, but together we can add strategy and innovation to your print marketing efforts. Additionally, with our network of printers & suppliers, we’re bound to solve challenges together that you may not have known you even had! We look forward to helping you navigate these updates and most importantly, use them strategically to ultimately grow your brand. 

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Tom Says… Here’s How Postage Rates Are Charged

We know you’ve been waiting for Tom’s latest update! So much has happened with the USPS in the last 1+ years, but we’re here to help you navigate this unchartered territory. Before we get into the actual updates that occurred this month, Tom wanted to be sure you understand the structure on how postage rates are charged.

A basic knowledge of sortation and destination entry will help with an understanding of the current rate structure.

Postal Sortation Qualification Requirements

The USPS offers discounted pricing for brands to sort the mail rather than having the USPS manage the sortation process. The higher the sortation level achieved by the brand, the lower the overall postage costs that are charged.  Achieving sortation levels to minimize postage costs are totally reliant upon where pieces are going and what volumes are going to those destinations. Common sortation qualifications include:

From top to bottom, the deeper sortation requires less USPS processing results in lower postal rates to the customer. For mailers to achieve high density & saturation postal rates, there either must be a significant volume of mail, or it must be a very regional mailing. 

Letter mail is sorted to the 5-Digit scheme rather than to the Basic Carrier Route level. The reason for this is because the USPS automation equipment will sort mail at the 5-Digit level, and they do not want mail in carrier-route bundles. The higher postage costs for Carrier-Route Letters discourage Carrier Route mail. There is an advantage for letter mail to sort to the HD, HD Plus or Saturation levels. However, it is very difficult to achieve without significant volumes. Sortation to more efficient levels is why cooperative mailing programs such as co-mail (flats & periodicals) or commingle (letters) exist and should be part of every mailing program.

Destination Entry

The USPS also offers discounts from the base rates if the mailer coordinates dropping the mail into the USPS at the destination rather than dropping at the mailer’s location. This is called destination or drop ship entry.  For this to make sense, the mailer will determine where pieces are mailing to and calculating if the USPS postal discounts exceed the additional freight costs, that the customers will be responsible for paying, in transporting and dropping to USPS facilities at the destination.

From top to bottom entry levels, origin mail is simple, but offers no discounts because the USPS must take responsibility to ship pieces to their destination while progressively larger discounts are offered for NDC, CSF & DDU entry.  DDU entry is difficult unless there is significant mail going into a specific (regional) area.  Most larger mailers will enter mail at the SCF level.

This is just a quick snapshot of how postage rates are charged. However, we felt it was important to reiterate some of these details. We all read headlines about “rate increases” and industry-wide postage changes, so we thought it would be helpful to set the stage. Stay tuned for part two highlighting the actual increases from the USPS this month!

Next up: The July 2023 USPS Increase – what it is and how you can combat it.

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How to Add Innovation to Circulation Planning

As we know, direct mail works. It’s a proven strategy for acquiring new customers. In fact, 74% of marketers say direct mail delivers the best ROI of any channel (source: Lob). However, with today’s economic landscape, we understand that budgets are top-of-mind.

Tighter budgets mean working diligently to keep innovation in your print marketing campaign, which begins with circulation planning. Circulation planning has the power to help clients reach customers effectively, efficiently and strategically.

We thought it would be helpful to share a few approaches to consider.

  1. Back to Basics – As more data about your customers becomes available, selections can create more confusion than clarity. Take a step back and simplify selections. Some things to consider are:
    1. What are you looking for with the segmentation? Over-segmentation can impact the statistical significance of results and make future forecasting difficult—segment for a reason.
    2. How are priorities being assigned in your merge? Prospects should allow for random allocation of duplicates unless there is a specific reason not to do so.
    3. Are you accounting for list fatigue? Remember that even the best models can experience fatigue and diminishing results. Have a plan for resting lists and implement depth tests to have results before needing to increase quantities.
  2. Don’t Outsmart the Model – Although we may develop personas to understand how various markets are addressed, selection models are designed to find commonalities that we weren’t aware of. To do this, providing as much transactional history as possible is critical as is allowing the model to do its job without over applying what we think it should be returning.
  3. Know What the Models are Based On – While we are discussing the use of models, ensure you understand how the models are being built. Coming out of the pandemic, this distinction is critical. Is it looking at the same season in the prior year or the last three to six months? There could be a monumental difference in your outcome. Work closely with your modeling partner to avoid unexpected consequences.
  4. Use All Available Channels – There are more ways to speak to a customer (or potential customer) today than ever before – use them! Studies show that converting a prospect to a customer can take 20 or more touches, so use all the options available to integrate multiple touches (both offline and online), while taking care to create a cohesive and consistent customer experience across all channels (source: Comscore). 
  5. Remarket Prospects Who Raise Their Hand – Has a potential customer spent time on your website? There are programs that help you target this prospect that came in digitally with a piece of direct mail to increase conversion. These qualified prospects can prove valuable!
  6. Test, Test and Test Some More – This is often the first thing to be cut when budgets get tight, but finding opportunities to test campaigns, selections, messaging and formats is essential. Customers and the marketplace are continually changing, so don’t be afraid to repeat tests that have “failed” previously. From our perspective, one of the most dangerous thoughts in business can be: “We tried that before, and it didn’t work.” Clearly define the success parameters of a test and remember that they are not always the same.
  7. Don’t Sleep on Multibuyers – Unless you have only one source of names, you will have multibuyers. Make sure to use them! This may not seem “innovative,” but the effective use of these names is often overlooked. Even a brand with heavy seasonality can use these names to target customers out of season and improve their acquisition.

There’s never been a better time to invest in your circulation plan. A successful circulation that targets the right audience and hits a brand’s budget will ensure that campaigns deliver maximum revenue and improve lifetime value. Get started with an audit today.

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Tom Says… Here’s What You Need to Know About the Latest USPS News

Recently we sat down with our colleague, Tom VanWestrienen, also known as our resident USPS expert. We thought it would be helpful to share that latest USPS news with you – and what this means for your direct marketing efforts.

On January 22, postal rates for all classes of mail were increased. Average increases by class were +4.20% (First Class), +6.25% (Marketing Mail Flats), +3.29% (Marketing Mail Letters), +4.20% (Periodicals), and +20.49% (Parcels).

While we know this news is less than ideal, we’re here to help you optimize your direct marketing strategies in the most efficient way possible. In fact, we are excited to share several incentives that would help offset some of your clients’ new costs. Check out our recommendations here: 

  • The USPS is offering a 5% postage discount for their Tactile, Sensory and Interactive promotion from February 1 – July 31, 2023 on First Class and Marketing Mail products. The USPS has approved this promotion for mailing direct mail on coated paper stocks (coated gloss, matte, soft gloss, SCA, etc). 

Our recommendation: All direct mailers should consider applying for the promotion to mitigate the recent January 2023 postal increases.

  • Adding to the Tactile, Sensory and Interactive promotion to maximize postal savings, direct mail marketers should plan on seeking the 2023 Informed Delivery promotion running from August 1 – December 31, 2023. As with 2022, the USPS is offering a 4% postage discount for using Informed Delivery. This provides direct mailers with an effective USPS promotion strategy spanning all of 2023.

Our recommendation: With USPS increases happening twice a year for the foreseeable future, it is critical for customers to come up with an effective strategy that provides savings opportunities throughout the year. Many direct mailers embraced the Informed Delivery promotion in 2022 and this promotion should be mandatory in 2023.

  • The USPS is again offering the Emerging Technology from May 1 – November 30, 2023 (3% or 4% incentive). If customers opt for this promotion, the USPS is offering a new promotion called Retargeting, which provides a 5% incentive from September 1 – November 30, 2023 for Direct Mailers sending out First Class postcards to recent visitors to their website or mobile apps that did not convert.

Our recommendation: There has never been a better time to explore retargeting as an acquisition tactic. If you are not currently retargeting your website visitors, get in touch with us to implement a solution

It is important to note that registration for these promotions needs to take place in the Business Customer Gateway (BCG).  Many of these promotions require advanced USPS approval to ensure the mail pieces meet the requirements of the promotions. Located within the BCG is a Mailing Promotions Portal (MPP), brands can seek approval for individual mail pieces. Refer to the guide here.

Insider Tip: The USPS encourages all approval requested to be entered through the MPP. All samples being sent for USPS approval must be shipped through USPS products, UPS and Federal Express packages will not be accepted.

Unfortunately, Tom says to expect another postal increase in early July. At this point, the impact of this increase is unknown, but changes in the 3-6% range should be expected.

Considering this news (and anticipating more changes!), there’s never been a better time to explore relevant digital channels to help maximize your offline investment. We can help support with various audits to provide valuable insights and recommendations. Diversifying your media mix will propel your business forward.

As always, we asked Tom to describe today’s print marketing environment in one word. For the beginning of Q1 2023, he said “defensive.” Specifically, Tom shared, “It feels like one on one basketball right now. We’re all trying to react effectively while not knowing what challenges the USPS is going to drop on mailers’ laps these days.” Let the teamwork continue so we’re all shooting nothing but net with our marketing campaigns!  

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2022: A Year in Review…

Here’s what we think: 2022 was anything but 2020-Too. If you caught our post last December, we were cautiously optimistic about this year. Bricks-and-mortar continued to hold their own, marketers weathered the storm of privacy concerns and iOS updates and navigated more media channels than ever before.

When we look back at 2022, there are some key trends that come to mind… and get us excited for 2023! Let’s review:

  • Paper Is on Its Way Back!

In July, we reported that paper supply remained tight, and prices were continuing to climb due to steady demand, reduced capacity, and high input costs. Today, demand is softening somewhat, prices are holding steady, and paper is generally becoming more available. Whereas most paper mills have been on allocation or even moratorium, these supply restrictions are easing and the global paper shortage that we have been experiencing is abating. 

That said, so much capacity has come out of the market in the past decade that pricing is expected to remain at elevated levels, especially if demand stays steady in the first half of 2023. Graphic paper supply will continue to decrease in the coming years as mills continue to diversify their product mix. Several mill conversion announcements have already been made that will significantly impact supply going forward. Aligning with strategic suppliers will be paramount for end-user customers.

As direct marketers, we believe in the power of offline media. In fact, marketers have combatted paper challenges with increased use of direct mail, clever interplay between offline and online efforts, innovation with page count and circulation, and more. We’re excited to see where offline media goes in 2023.

  • Shifting Consumer Behavior

While we haven’t been surprised by many trends that have soared in popularity in 2022 – the power of personalization, volume of online shopping and an interest in sustainability – there is inarguably power in consumer behavior. In many cases, changed interests and values have resulted in brands shifting their retail strategy and product innovation.

However, what has also resulted in brands’ shifting strategies? Inflation. “Inflation has driven up the cost of all goods by 8.2% between September 2021- September 2022,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (source: Nerd Wallet). It’s important to note that inflation has affected some categories more than others, such as food versus clothing prices. Will there be any relief in 2023? Will supply chain issues resurface? We’ll all have to stay tuned.

  • Data Is Everything

At Media Horizons, our “secret” is placing emphasis on intensive data and analytics to grow our clients’ businesses. Today, online to offline attribution is a major pain point for many companies. That said, without a quality attribution model, upper funnel media has been intensely impacted. Check out more reasons why data (and attribution) are everything!

  • The Future of Paid Social

In 2022, Facebook and Instagram targeting saw a greater impact from Apple’s privacy restrictions that went into place in 2021. Advertisers have had to experiment with a variety of targeting tactics, including broader targeting and more tightly targeted ad copy.  

Audience targeting challenges will continue into 2023, but Facebook and Instagram’s automated targeting has been yielding success in the absence of audience targets that have been removed.

We recommend that advertisers test newer Paid Social platforms like TikTok and BeReal. to see what kind of traction they can get, and diversify their ad formats, such as expanding to Instagram Reels.

  • Postage Updates on the Horizon

In 2021, the industry saw two significant postal changes resulting in double-digit increases for catalogs (Marketing Mail flats) and near double-digit increases for Direct Mail (Marketing Mail letters). In case you didn’t catch the exact percentages, get familiar with them here. The USPS has recently announced their next increase, which will take place in January.

There’s never been a better time to be strategic about your direct mail strategy. Consider changing to a different format – encourage creative thinking with your vendors – and add innovation to your strategy accordingly. Stay tuned for our next “Tom Says…” in which we’ll share everything that you need to know about the USPS updates.

When we look back at trends from this year and ahead to 2023, there is one key theme that comes to mind: omnichannel. The value of an omnichannel strategy is unmatched. If your media mix does not include both online and offline channels (that are working together!), your brand is not as strong as it could be. Be the change and future-proof your business. Connect with us in 2023 to propel your business forward.

 

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Why Is Insert Media Still So Relevant Today?

With 2022 well underway, there are still so many unknowns in terms of post-pandemic consumer behavior — are changed behaviors here to stay? Brands continue to launch omnichannel strategies hoping for the best possible outcome with growth and sales.

Insert Media has been a highly responsive media channel for over half a century. It’s a tried-and-true channel that is not only reliable, but it’s cost-effective. However, here’s why it is still so relevant right now:

1. The Tight Paper Market

With press and paper shortages, companies utilizing catalogs and direct mail face several macro challenges today (in addition to those mentioned above!). In fact, leading supplier of print and packaging, Lindenmeyr Central, recently reported: “Paper supply has never been tighter.” Brands that rely heavily on direct mail for Acquisition need alternative solutions. Since Insert Media involves smaller formats and therefore uses less paper, it is easier to get paper for this channel than others.

2. Cost-Effective, Targetable and Measurable

In marketing, response is everything. After all, our goal is to earn your brand more revenue — in a cost-effective way. Moreover, a brand’s performance with Insert Media is similar to Direct Mail at a fraction of the cost. Insert Media is targetable based on a brand’s audience. It can then be measured to determine the impact of the media on a brand’s campaign. This high-level of traceability will ultimately help your bottom line.

3. Implied Endorsement

In our post-pandemic world, partnerships are more popular than ever. Not only do they offer exposure to new audiences, but the shared resources are ideal. Helping brands with category or product expansion and customer loyalty, the power of partnerships is real (source: Shopify). With Insert Media, there is an implied endorsement — like partnerships — and trust is further established given that your brand’s insert is included in another company’s communications.

4. No Privacy Concerns

In today’s marketing landscape, privacy concerns are top of mind. As we continue to navigate our way through privacy issues with other channels, the great news is that there are no privacy concerns for Insert Media.

5. Different Types to Fit Your Brand’s Needs

From catalog blow-ins, package inserts, shared mail, onserts, and single-sheet inserts to statement inserts, there are many different types of Insert Media. Whether you’re a high-end retailer or mid-ticket company, there are Insert Media strategies for each brand. Whether you’re a high-end retailer or a mid-ticket company, there is an Insert Media strategy that fits your brand.

If you’re looking for new channels for your brand, get in touch with us today and discover all that Insert Media has to offer.