New year, new resolutions, new business cards

Who needs business cards?

In this technological age, most business is conducted digitally so surely business cards are throwbacks to an earlier time - fast becoming as extinct as dinosaurs?

No they're not! They can still play an invaluable role in your working life and the very best of luck to you if you decide to do without them.

Why do they matter?

They matter because our brains are constantly bombarded with information and our memories may let us down. How many times have you been at a networking event and talked to people who could be brilliant business contacts and then, five minutes after the meeting, you can't even remember their names or, still less, the relevance to your work?

Just think, if you don't hand out your business card, this could be you and your company....Instantly forgotten.

Business cards serve as a fail-safe physical record of your contacts, allowing mutual follow ups at a later date. Who knows what wonderful opportunities could come your way as a result? 

Couldn't I just use my smartphone instead?

You could - but what happens when you get your phone out and look down to tap in the information? You lose eye-contact and connectedness and it can seem rude. Much better to keep talking, keep smiling, be related and hand out a card. Quick, simple and effective.

Remember, business cards are there even when there's no signal or the internet is down!

And business cards, unlike an entry in a phone contact folder, can be designed creatively to express your brand personality. 

How can Mailing Expert help you?

Business cards, if professionally produced, give an excellent first impression of your company - a first impression that lasts.

They're not expensive either.

Here at Mailing Expert, we offer 100 digital business cards from £35+VAT (excluding delivery) or 500 litho business cards from £59+VAT (excluding delivery).

We can design them too, from £55+VAT, but if you want to do that yourself, see our next blog for top tips!

6 Hotsted Square, Bellbrook Business Park,
Uckfield, East Sussex, TN22 1QG

Tel: 01825 983033

Email: info@mailingexpert.co.uk

DMA and CTG score a hit with HMRC over VAT!

We love acronyms - but for those of you who don't, all will be revealed below!

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), working with the Charity Tax Group (CTG), was pleased to announce recently that an agreement had been reached with Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) over a number of issues concerning Value Added Tax (VAT).

The problem was this: the HMRC Guidelines were misleading, so some charities and direct mailing companies were including the cost of postage in zero-rated print supply deals, thinking it was perfectly acceptable practice.

When this was discovered by HMRC, they wanted to charge retrospective penalties to any organisation which had failed to adhere to the rules, despite the fact that the DMA and other organisations had sought clarification early on and no response was forthcoming.

So here's an early Christmas present for all of us, delivered by the HMRC on December 11th! They have agreed that there will be no penalties, for which our industry can heave a huge collective sigh of relief since the demands amounted to hundreds of millions of pounds which we can ill afford.

Secondly, HMRC have agreed to new and fairer rules  and given an implementation date of 1 April 2015 to give all of us time to make alternative plans or renegotiate contracts as necessary.

See Mailing Experts' next blog, after all the seasonal jollities, when we'll explain the new guidance to you in a language that won't make you lose the will to live…

In the meantime, have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Royal Mail changes to Business Reply Devices

Business Reply devices (such as envelopes and cards) can be a fantastic resource for your mailing campaigns, encouraging responses from potential customers, because it doesn't cost them anything but time!
If you're not sure how it works, you apply to Royal Mail for a licence number and have this - and of course, your address - printed onto the reply device. There's an annual licence fee, but postage costs are discounted and you only pay postage on envelopes which are used.

BUT

On November 7th, 2014, new regulations about the design of the reply device come into force.

Each reply device must be printed with a 12-character barcode, fully compliant with Royal Mail specifications. The barcode contains the first 6 digits of your licence number as well as other coded information such as the delivery speed. If your current licence number is less than 12 digits, you may have to apply for a new one.

Remember, remember the 7th November!

You have plenty of time to exhaust your supply of existing reply devices before that date. You also have plenty of time to call on our services!

We can help you through the licence barcode maze and have new reply devices printed for you which will be fully-approved by Royal Mail - not compromising the success of your Direct Mailing campaign.

Don't delay - contact us today on 01825 983033 or info@mailingexpert.co.uk

Oh, and here's a link to the relevant page of the Royal Mail website, for your convenience.

http://www.royalmail.com/marketing-services-regular/deliver-your-campaign/business-reply-freepost-plus

(Snappy little web address, isn't it?)

All the best from Mailing Expert

Delivering Communications

Are you ready for D-Day?

As from next Monday (6^th July 2013) you will have to use the new Royal Mail PPI on your envelopes (that's the one with the "Delivered By" next to the PPI). If you are still using the old style PPIs from the 6^th of July your post could be returned to you as the Royal Mail will not accept them.

If you need further information, or to arrange a new supply of envelopes (with the new PPI printed on them), contact Mailing Expert on 01825 983 033.

Mailing Expert – Delivering Communications

 

Mailing Expert - Proud Members of the DMA!

Do you believe in professional excellence? Mailing Expert does! That's why we're proud to announce that we are now members of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

Most industries have a professional body that upholds standards and seeks to inspire the very best from members. For professions such as solicitors, accountants, architects, bankers, insurance and finance, membership of the professional body is a legal requirement. The printing and direct mail industry are unregulated, and membership of the professional body (DMA) is optional.

At Mailing Expert we are committed to delivering the very best service to our customers. We believe that our customers deserve the highest standards of care for their direct mail projects and marketing campaigns. That's why we are very happy to work to the exacting standards of excellence required of members by the DMA.

If you are looking for the very best in communications you need to talk to a DMA member. Call 01825 983 033 now and find out why Mailing Expert will deliver more for your Direct Mail campaign

All change at the Royal Mail!

There has been a lot of press coverage this week of the price increases at the Post Office.  The new prices are effective from 2nd April 2012 and see an increase of between 1p to 3p on a standard letter postal costs depending on which letter service you are using.

As part of the price review VAT is now being charged on all bulk mail. This means that if you are currently using a Royal Mail account to send your office mail, then you will now have to pay VAT on this.  If you are in a non-vatable business, for example insurance, council run gyms or an industry where VAT is only partially recoverable i.e. charities , trade unions or associations then it might be cheaper to revert to a franking account for the time being as VAT is not being charged on as many franking services.

There are a number of views as to why the service is making this radical change to the postage pricing structure.  Some schools of thought are suggesting that the imposition of VAT on mail services is driven by Europe and merely brings the Royal Mail in line with the Downstream Access providers to promote competition and level the playing field, whereas others see more sinister moves afoot - harmonisation of service prior to the eventual denationalisation and postal service sell off.

Other changes that have received less mainstream press coverage relate to the change is the actual services themselves.  Many old familiar services have been renamed - almost it seems in an attempt to confuse rather than assist the buyer.

For example Cleanmail could now be classified as Business Mail or Advertising Mail (Unsorted).  Walksort is being disbanded as all mail centres now have the technology to walksort.  Mailsort has been simplified into two categories Highsort or Lowsort depending on the sort level being used.

Sustainable Mail, one of the innovative new products that Royal Mail introduced a few years back is now only available on Advertising Mail and therefore will no longer apply to mailings which are only eligible for the Business Mail category as opposed to the Advertising Mail option.

In the Business Mail category you can now only send out letters or large letters under this heading - packets are no longer eligible for this service which means that large items won't qualify and will have to be sent using Business Mail First Class or Business Mail (not sure what the logic is here as Advertising Mail is Advertising Mail whether it's first or second class - why should Business Mail be different to everything else?) or Packetsort which has less of a discount.

As ever with the Post Office the devil is in the detail and it's worth consulting an expert about your postal needs for the coming year before you put in too much planning.  Mailing Expert is on hand to help clients old and new with the changes.  Please call Mailing Expert on 01825 983 033 and we'll be happy to help with all your mailing needs.

Beat The Vat Man – Post Early For The Best Price

During 2011 there were a number of changes to the way in which the Royal Mail are regulated. A small number of services are now subject to VAT and this is due to be extended during 2012 across the piece. By 2^nd April just about every Royal Mail service used by businesses will be VAT rated.

Although the change will not affect most businesses who are VAT rated, the change will have a major impact on small businesses, insurance brokers and financial institutions who are not able or are only partially registered for VAT.

Mailing Expert understands that services such as 1st and 2nd Class stamped and franked mail, Special Delivery, Next Day (Stamped and Franked), Standard parcels and Keepsafe will continue to be VAT exempt for the foreseeable future.

Some services such as Recorded Signed For will remain exempt from VAT only if purchased with an exempt service.

Financial institutions that are not VAT rated and have financial statements and the like to send out at the end of March will face a twenty percent hike in their costs unless they are able to get produce and send these out before the 2^nd April when the changes take place.

After 2^nd April Royal Mail pricing structures will be on a level playing field with downstream access providers  who currently are not able to compete with the Royal Mail on price for non VAT businesses. It is likely that many businesses will move away from Royal Mail to use these cheaper services.

Mailing Expert is helping a number of businesses that want to beat the VATman by booking in mailings for February and March. We can also help those unrated businesses access the postage discounts available from the alternative providers. Call Mailing Expert on 01825 983 033 for further details.

Direct mail fulfilment – customer satisfaction guaranteed!

As we get closer to Christmas mailing rooms around the country start to get a little bit fraught. It's great to have the orders rolling in, however managing your customers expectations can be key to getting repeat business next year.

According to the Royal Mail "Delivery Matters Survey" carried out in 2010, 50% of customers like to be kept up to date with where their goods are. One of the most helpful things that you can do is to keep your customers as well informed as possible about the status of their order.

SMS text messaging can be used to great effect in your direct mail fulfilment process. The Mailing Expert online automated SMS system can be used to send text messages to customers to update them on the status of their order. This can help to reduce calls to your customer services team when they are already at maximum capacity.

If you are looking for help in getting your orders out Mailing Expert can offer you a range of direct mail fulfilment services that will ensure your customers orders are met on time. We can help with straight forward direct mail fulfilment and despatch services, send items on your behalf using services like Royal Mail Tracked, or help with clever ideas like our SMS and Email services.

The Mailing Expert SMS Success service is available for customers to use as part of their own mailing program or in conjunction with any direct mail or fulfilment services that Mailing Expert provides on your behalf. Click here to sign up for a free trial on the Mailing Expert sms success system.

For help with all your direct mail marketing, printing or fulfilment requirements call THE direct mail company Mailing Expert on 01825 983 033.

CyberMonday – are you ready for the rush?

Monday 28^th November is projected to be the busiest online shopping day in 2012 as customers rush to get their orders delivered in time for Christmas. On the same day in 2010 Visa Europe recorded an average of 156,000 hourly transactions, which equated to a total spend of £264,960,000 over the 24 hour period.

Don't miss out! 25% of purchases made on line are prompted by a catalogue or letter that's been received in the post by direct mail. Now is the time to send out your Christmas reminders, catalogues and mailshots.

If you want help and advice on what to send, or just a quick turnaround on your job to ensure that you get the maximum advantage from your mailing, call Mailling Expert on 01825 983 033.

Last Posting Dates – Christmas 2011

There are just 8 weeks left to get your messages and cards in the post to be sure of delivery before Christmas! The Royal Mail has confirmed the last Christmas posting dates for the UK and Chanel Islands as 20^th December 2011 for first class items and 17^th December 2011 for second class. For corporate customers using Mailsort three the last posting date for guaranteed delivery before Christmas is 15^th December.

So with just 40 days to go now is the time to be thinking about your final mailing campaign for 2011. There are lots of ways that you can get in touch with your customers and remind them that you are there.

From leaflet door drops, to personalised mailings, email greetings to text messages, Mailing Expert has the communication solution for you!

Over the next few weeks we'll be posting some tips and ideas to give your Christmas orders a real boost, so make sure you check back every day to see what's going on, or call Mailing Expert on 01825 983 033 to find out how we can deliver your communications this Christmas!

Prices Up! Prices Down!

The bad news for all businesses that use the post to communicate with customers is that, wef 9^th May 2011, the price for sending letters is going up. This is the second set of price rises from the Royal Mail so far this year and has to be described as inflation busting at a time when many businesses are struggling with costs.

There is however some good news. No doubt recognising the important part that Direct Mail plays in their own turnover, the Royal Mail (RM) have introduced a special scheme specifically for customers that send advertising material. Called Advertising Mail™, the new service offers a good discount for customers using this service on the new enhanced rates. Whilst the discount on offer doesn't quite take the costs back down to those available prior to the price increase, Advertising Mail is certainly going to help those business who use and rely on Direct Mail to get their message out to customers.

There has been some confusion about what does and doesn't qualify for Advertising Mail and as ever with these services the devil is always in the detail, so here is my guide:-

In simple terms Advertising Mail™ will be available in Letter and Large Letter formats and you will be able to choose from three delivery options: next day delivery, delivery within 3 days, or delivery within 7 days. Customers should however be aware that the price for using first class AM is the same as using Business Mail. Perhaps this anomaly will charge in the future, however for now it would seem that the RM do not want advertisers to use first class post as there is no discount.

Advertising Mail mailings will need to be sorted in a similar way to the current mailsort requirements. In addition, a minimum of 90% of addresses must have the correct postcode that match to Royal Mail's Postcode Address File and the database should have been 'cleaned' in the last 30 days.

Advertising Mail will still work based on the three old MailSort sortation levels of:-

Mail70 – this is aimed at campaigns where the number of items to be mailed exceeds 20,000.

Mail120 – this is aimed at smaller mailings of up to 4,000 letters in a single posting.

Mail 1400 – mainly used on the Large Letter format where at least 1,000 Large Letters or 4,000 Letters are being sent. (The minimum figure reduces to 2,000 if the entire mailing is within the same postcode area). Customers currently using Mailsort 1400 for small packages will not be eligible to use Advertising Mail 1400 as the service is only for Letter and Large Letter formats (i.e. items that are less than 25mm in depth and under 750g).

The Royal Mail have been criticised for not making it clear as to what items will qualify for Advertising Mail. The RM website has defined this as being mailings that "comprise a largely uniform message to all addressees, with the purpose of promoting the sale or use of products or services, or to encourage contribution to, or support of a cause."

Transactional mail, which makes up more than 60% of the UK mail market, does not qualify for the Advertising Mail. Advertising Mail is only available for mailings that comprise 100% advertising content, it would not be possible therefore to pack a statement with advertising material or flyers to qualify for the Advertising Mail rate. Equally insurance renewals, bills, statements and the like are specifically excluded from the product; you would need to use the newly named Business Mail (the original MailSort) for this type of mailing.

The position in respect of magazines containing third party advertising is different, the Royal Mail states "customer magazines containing third-party advertising, that are not paid for by the end recipient, and that from part of a company's marketing communications do qualify for Advertising Mail". There has been much debate about what exactly this means, and the Royal Mail has over the last few days made a number of clarifying statements. Undoubtedly further clarification will occur during the coming weeks as there are still some areas of confusion. Customers should note however that Advertising Mail is only available in Letter and Large Letter formats and therefore if the mailing piece exceeds these specifications then the item will not be suitable for Advertising Mail (this also means that items such as promotional gifts (eg mugs and the like) will not be able to be sent using this service.

A good quality mailing house, such as Mailing Expert will be able to help your business sort through the new regulations and will help you take best advantage of the substantial discounts available. This will help offset the price hikes approved by Postcom.

New Media and You!

The search engine battle is beginning to hot up and businesses need to prepare for what is likely to be a seismic shift in the way that their customers search for them on line. According to the major Internet Guru's the big news is that Facebook are preparing to launch their internet search facility in competition with Google and, if successful, this is going to turn internet advertising upside down.

At present the most used search engine is Google. It accounts for nearly 70% of all on line searches, however it will face serious competition if Facebook is able to develop their internal search engine capability more widely. So far Facebook has only played on the fringes of social search. It has integrated Bing's powered search results into its search engine and co-operated with Bing by providing social data to influence the search results. (Bings owner is Microsoft, a Facebook investor).

Facebook has recently been awarded a patent on "curated search" which links search results to a users social links. If Bing and Facebook are able to get this working and, as experts predict, social search becomes the next big thing, then Google, and by definition any business that relies on Google for customers, is in for a bumpy ride.

Businesses need to plan for this change now. The Facebook search system is likely to rely on the "like" function to push a company's rating up the search engine rankings. (Google are shortly to launch a similar "plus one" button for their ranking engine). It is imperative therefore that businesses start to adopt and understand Facebook as a method for promoting their business.

The first thing of course is to get your business on Facebook – the like buttons are a Facebook feature and if your company doesn't have a Facebook page then Facebook search will not find you. Whilst it's fine to start off with a copy of your home page as a starting point for your Facebook site, you will need to consider how Facebook interacts with its customers and alter your content accordingly to fit the target audience. This should work and integrate with your Twitter, Blog and Internet sites, although be wary of duplicating content – each medium should carry unique material.

The next challenge is to get your customers to sign up to your Facebook page. Not only that you need them to "like" your content as this is what the search engines of the future will be looking for.

So how do you drive traffic to your Facebook site? Mailing Expert can help! Take for example a campaign for a Travel Company. The company is new to Facebook and recognising the importance of Social Searching wants to drive it's rankings on Facebook upwards and quickly. Just putting the site up doesn't immediately drive traffic to it, so what is needed is an integrated communication campaign bringing together current customers and future prospects.

The campaign is built around the new Facebook page which for the purposes of the marketing exercise is designed to carry a competition, the winner of which simply has to choose to "like" the site to enter.

Mailing Expert are able to take the existing customer data and run an email campaign to publicise the competition. In addition they can supply new email prospect data, cross checked against the client database so you aren't buying data you already own, tailored to fit your specific customer profile. The prospect list is also emailed with the competition details.

The campaign can be developed further by using Twitter and your company Blog to communicate the details to your social network. The icing on the cake is a direct mail campaign using personalised colour postcards and flyers with a QR code to take the customer directly to the Facebook competition page.

Nova Direct Mail helps a wide range of customers to come up with innovative communication solutions like this. For further information about how an integrated communication campaign can help you achieve your goals call Mailing Expert on 01825 983 033.


 

 

The Right Customer, The Right Offer, The Right Time

Direct mail works at its absolute best when it is accurately targeted and reflects the mood of the recipient. Unlike email marketing, direct mail has the benefit that it can be really personal and potential customers will take the time to read your letter if it reaches them at a timely moment. The trick is, as ever, to be putting up the right offer, to the recipient, at the right moment. So if we go back to absolute basics then the prime essential in planning any mailing campaign is to really know your target audience.

Selecting and buying data can be a minefield for the unwary. You need to purchase good quality data from a reputable source, which has been honed to fit the exact nature of your target audience. A quality list will not only reduce the number of returns from "Gone Aways", but if correctly skewed and targeted can catch the imagination of the potential customer to really increase your return on investment.

Investing in good quality data, which has been sourced to ensure that you are talking to people who are really likely to become customers, is a must – the more that you know about your target audience the more chance you have of getting the offer to those prospects who are ripe for a sale.

Once purchased even the best quality list will need attention. It is better to spend some time at this point in honing the data to make it as accurate as is possible before you embark on your mailing campaign. This could be through list cleansing, suppression or enhancing the Prospect list.

Once satisfied that your list is the best it can be, your mailing campaign can be further enhanced by using some of the cost effective new techniques that are available using digital print. These techniques can be combined with a good database to make your mailing even more personal – for example bespoke full colour leaflets, magazines or brochures that talk directly to your customers are a sure fire way of increasing response levels. These can be used in conjunction with PURLs and QR codes to make your message really personal.

Mailing Expert can help you source the ideal prospect list for your project and also help you hone the data so you're your mailing campaign is tailor made to appeal directly to your customers.

Get Direct!

They don't call Direct Mail (DM) "Direct" for nothing! DM is about the most personal and intimate methods of getting in touch with your customers. Unique in the advertising and communication marketing mix, it is one of the very few methods of getting in touch with your customers on a one to one basis in their homes or work place. And the great thing is that there is no competing marketing noise that's going to dilute your message.
With Direct Mail you are talking directly to your customer with no interruptions – and industry stats suggest that the average time that this method of communication buys you with your customers is 10 minutes or more. That's 24 times more face time with your target audience than an Email.
Direct mail can make a real impact on any marketing campaign – a letter feels more personal and because everyone loves to receive post you are already onto a winner when your customer opens your envelope.
A letter can be read at the customer's convenience at a time and place of their choosing. They can put it down and pick it up a few times and file it in a safe place for the moment that they are ready to buy.
Posting a letter gives you a wide range of materials with which to reflect your brand and your marketing message. Nova Direct Mail can cater for an almost endless range of options to make your mailing campaign go with a swing – from Mail that smells as sweet as your brand to innovations such as QR codes and more. Find out more – visit www.mailingexpert.co.uk today or call us on 01825 983 033