COVID19 Modern Mail Update

Dear Customer,

As of March 25th, Pinellas County Commission made the hard decision to enact a “stay at home order” for businesses and residents countywide. We wanted to reach out to all of our valued customers to inform you that Modern Mail & Print Solutions has been classified as an essential business and will continue to keep operations open during this time.

Here is how it impacts our customers and business:

– Updated our business hours Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 3 PM

– Reduced staff hours to practice safe social distancing

– Because of this, please include the email info@modmail.com on all orders as well as your representative’s email to ensure it’s received by us in a timely manner

– Remember, if you’re sending anything over 10 MGs, please upload it to www.modmail.com/upload or we will not receive it

– For questions or concerns about USPS, please refer to this letter

We understand how hard it must be as a business owner in this trying time. If you have any questions, concerns or would like to discuss your future print and direct mail projects, please give us a call at 888-430-6245.

We have been servicing this community for over 46 years and are here for you. We hope this message gives you some certainty in an uncertain time.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those impacted or affected by the Virus.

Stay Safe and God Bless.

Kindest Regards,

The Modern Mail & Print Solutions Family

Keeping Up With the Times: Understanding the Future of Direct Mail

Which is more fun; checking your inbox or checking your mailbox?

With the rise of the Internet age, email, and messaging services, it may seem like regular, old direct mail should be obsolete. But, the future of physical mail is looking brighter than ever before.

Think a direct mail marketing campaign isn’t worth your time anymore? When used correctly, direct mail can be more powerful than any digital ad campaign you could devise.

Don’t quite believe that? Allow us to convince you.

Here’s everything you need to know about the future of direct mail, and how you can use it to your advantage.

The Future of Direct Mail By the Numbers

First, the seemingly bad news; mail volume is declining.

Since 2006, mail volume has dropped over 30%. That may look like a shocking statistic, but don’t write off old-fashioned letters just yet. Let’s take a look at what that number means — and how you can use it to your advantage.

In our digital age, several tasks that once relied on the USPS have found new, and slightly more secure homes online. Things, like paying bills, depositing checks, and ordering goods, have all moved into the digital space.

So, while this shift left consumers with emptier mailboxes as the volume of post sent dropped, it doesn’t mean direct mail as a whole is on the decline.

The drop in volume presents marketers and business owners with a significant opportunity.

Mail Goes On

Studies show that consumers tend to trust physical mail more than email or other digital campaigns.

What makes the Internet so fantastic is also its greatest weakness; everyone can use it.

Because everyone is online, consumers have tens of thousands of online ads thrown at them every single day. This constant bombardment has decreased the emotional value of online ads.

And this, in turn, has made direct mail campaigns that much more valuable. Although the volume of direct mail has decreased, response rates have exploded.

While a social media campaign may return a 1% response rate, direct mail has skyrocketed 173% to a whopping 9% response rate since 2006.

So, if you want to engage with your customers, old fashioned direct mail is the way to go.

Crossing the Streams

So, odds are your customers will respond better to a direct mail campaign than a digital one. Does that mean you should shut down your email and social media campaigns?

Not so fast!

Direct mail and digital marketing are two sides of the same coin. By using one, you can strengthen the other.

With digital marketing, you can track user reactions in real-time to figure out what works with your customers.

You can then use that information to craft direct mail campaigns your customers won’t be able to ignore.

Thanks to the internet, you can track customer data better than ever before. That means you have the tools to customize and tailor your direct mail campaigns to better suit each customer.

Mailing Forward

As we said before, the future of direct mail is looking bright. And, if you want to take advantage of all that it has to offer, we can help.

Contact us for more information about our services, or to start your next direct mail campaign today!

Slow and Steady Wins the Marketing Race — Take Advantage of Direct-Mail Marketing

How many people do you think look forward to checking their email inbox each day? How many actually pay attention to pop-up ads or digital advertisements?  Even in our digital world, 40% of people under the age of 30 look forward to checking their mail on a daily basis. True, no one likes getting bills in the mail, but physical mail has become especially powerful in a world of constant, unrelenting, instant communication. That’s why direct-mail marketing continues to be a proven marketing technique that gets people’s attention. Continue reading about how you can take advantage of direct-mail marketing.

Taking advantage of direct mail to boost sales and engagement can be a fantastic strategy that’s not going out of vogue any time soon.  The misconception is that direct mail is too expensive to implement, and is why some companies don’t try it.  However, research shows that direct-mail marketing campaigns actually cost a fraction of what digital ad campaigns costs.  By using printers that know mailing services, you can save even more by reducing the hard cost of postage.  Utilizing a full service commercial print and mail house can make your direct mailers a breeze to execute and save you money.

Keep reading to discover the benefits of this tried and true marketing technique. Learn how you can take advantage of direct-mail marketing!

Why Is Direct Mail Marketing So Effective? 

With the rise of the Internet, some over-eager futurists expected direct-mail marketing to go the way of the phone book. And even though digital marketing can be an effective and necessary part of any marketing strategy, sometimes a more classic approach is still the best way to reach new prospects.

Indeed, direct-mail marketing provides about a 13-1 return on investment on average. Online, there are thousands of ads and spam messages competing for attention, but that’s not the case in your customers’ mailboxes. Over 90% of shoppers say they would rather receive direct mail in order to make purchasing decisions, while 65% are more likely to remember to use a voucher if they received a physical copy like a coupon to carry with them.

Overall, the average household response rate for direct mail campaigns is almost 4%. This is especially impressive, given that the response rate is only .2% for mobile, .1% for social media, and .02% for online advertisements.  In fact, this technique can be so effective that even digital-first businesses use direct-mail marketing to great effect. USPS conducted a study that showed over 60% of those who received direct mail visited the website being promoted, and it had the most effect on first-time shoppers.  So marketers are realizing by combining direct mail with an internet presence, that the direct mail can drive their prospects exactly where they want them to go online….increasing relevancy and response rates.

But How Can I Save Money on Postage? 

As you can see, direct-mail marketing is an effective tool for marketers. Naturally, you want to try and keep your costs down, while increasing your response rates.  With postage going up semi-regularly, marketers can be anxious about using direct-mail as their marketing means. However, there are ways to save on the hard cost of postage and generate higher ROI’s!

The first way to save on postage costs is by utilizing standard class/bulk mail services.  The United States Post Office offers a bulk mail/volume discounts for large mail jobs. If you’re mailing 200 pieces or more, you can save as much as $.28 in postage costs by mailing standard class.  When mail houses are able to presort your mailing, the post office gives certain discounts on your postage.

Another key way to save on postage costs is by utilizing the services of a commercial mail house to drop ship your mail.  Drop shipping your mail to the Bulk Mailing Facilities is a great way to achieve postage discounts that most direct mail companies don’t offer with their package prices or even know about.  In this situation, mail houses will process your mail and leverage shipping companies to delivery your mail directly to the local postal facilities close to the final destination…saving you postage costs while expediting your mail.

Finally, you should find reputable printers near you that have their own mail house.  Using a turnkey operation for your projects will not only save you time and money, but it will cut the middle guy out that typically is making money on your postage savings…putting your money saved back in your pocket!

Target Your Direct-Mail Campaign 

Don’t market to everyone; target specifically those that are your best prospects.  New digital tools make it so easy to identify those target consumers. Don’t just send out a massive number of mailers to potential customers. Instead, send them to your best consumers. Your best prospects are similar to your current customers, therefore leveraging experienced list companies allow you to target and identify your best prospects in your markets.  Then once you’ve identified your market, sending a personalized direct mail messages to them via a postcard or letter has shown to increase customer engagement and response rates.  Variable data direct mail allows you to send personalized commination to the right prospect at the right time.

Don’t discount the powerful effects of a direct-mail marketing campaign can have on your business. You might be surprised at the results!

Looking for printers in Tampa? Get in touch with our marketing experts today for help with all of your printing and mailing needs.

Modern named Small Market Business of the Year!

The Tampa Bay PCC has recognized Modern Mail & Print Solutions as the 2013 Small Market Business of the Year! This is a tremendous honor for us and we are extremely grateful for the recognition. The reason for our success though is because of our great and loyal customers like you so a big THANK YOU for helping us achieve this great honor! We are excited to build on this success with you in 2014!

Modern Mail & Print Solutions moves to Full-Service

Effective January, 2014, the use of the Full-Service Intelligent Mail service is required for all mailers to qualify for the Automation Discounted prices. With this ruling going into effect by the US Postal Service, Modern Mail & Print Solutions will be transitioning into Full-Service capabilities to ensure our customers will continue to achieve the best postage prices available. “This is a huge process and transition for our company, but one that was necessary.” said VP of Operation Shane Cosser. “With this move to Full-Service, we will be more efficient from a mailing stand point and be able to continue to service our customers the way they’ve become accustom to.”

Modern Mail & Print Solutions named Print Sponsor for National PCC Day

The Tampa Postal Customer Council has name Modern Mail & Print Solutions this year’s Print Sponsor for the National PCC Day held on September 18th. For more information on this event, please visit www.TampaPCC.org