The Tray Way: Integrated Marketing Keeps Your Customers in Contact

Integrated marketing is something that we have spoken about a number of times in the past, and it is one of the most important concepts to keep in mind when marketing any brand. One key part of integrated marketing is maintaining communication with your customers. Marketing is not a one-way street, and if consumers have no easy way of responding to a direct mail piece, you may be missing out on valuable feedback and opportunities.

For a good example of how important this simple step can be, see this story from the MarketingWeek.co.uk blog. Contributor Lucy Handley is a marketing analyst, but she is also a consumer. Her work landed her on the mailing lists of a large number of companies, and when the mail marketing started coming in, she decided to explore how easy it was to respond to those companies.

The brands include Volkswagen, Visit Scotland, children’s retailer Great Little Trading Company, the League Managers’ Association and gifts website Not on the High Street…Unwanted emails I can easily delete, send to junk mail or unsubscribe to. But post, especially if it is totally irrelevant, is so much more intrusive and much more of a waste. This time however, I’m not chucking it away, I’m emailing these brands to get them to take me off their mailing lists.

When marketers are spending so much time focused on keeping a consistent brand from print, to social, to websites, it can be easy to forget details like email addresses. Make sure that your customers can respond to your direct mail in a number of ways, and that those methods are consistently checked, watched, and responded to. A rapid response time can help build trust with your customers, and can give you a second chance to win a sale that might have been teetering on the edge.

When trying to get in touch with Volkswagon, however, Handley found that her experience was far from that model.

…the highest profile of those brands, VW, performs much less well. But I must come clean: its dealership mailing was an MOT offer and was actually sent to my late father rather than me. This is surprising, given that two years ago, I had to go into the dealership to tell them, in person, that he had passed away. So I found the dealership online and emailed the relevant contact. Whose email then bounced back. So I emailed the manager, who has not replied. I also emailed via the VW brand website and have had no acknowledgement.

Ultimately, Volkswagon's poor response options left Handley without an easy solution to her complaint. If the mailer had directed her immediately to a different person, the company would have had the opportunity to respond with an apology, an offer, or a method of furthering their communication.

As Handley points out, direct mail doesn't come with an 'unsubscribe' button. There isn't an HTML form on your postcard asking the consumer why they turned down your offer. If you want to make the most of print marketing, make sure that you give consumers an easy way to stay in contact.

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The Tray PML Way is the blog for Tray, experts in the printing, mailing, logistics and promotional products. You can learn more about our organization's capabilities by visiting our website, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages.

The Tray Way: Proposed USPS Service Changes, and What they Mean for Your Marketing

The United States Postal Service has finally decided that drastic measures are required to save the floundering department. Among the much-publicized moves is the closing of over 250 processing facilities, and the reduction of the USPS national transportation network. The average consumer has not had much to say about the department’s woes; much to the chagrin of the industry, mail is one of those things that few people would care about until it is gone. Now, that fact is changing. Consumers are starting to express anguish toward the USPS’s cost-cutting solutions, and marketers should be taking notice.

One side effect of the shrinking department will be an increase in delivery time. Specifically, First Class Mail delivery will change from a 1-2 day delivery schedule to a 2-3 day schedule. Will this fundamentally change mailing strategies? Probably not, though marketers will need to consider the fact that mailers on tight deadlines, or those with time-sensitive information, will require a shift in planning. The real struggle, for the time being, is that the USPS has not confirmed any of these proposals yet. In the unlikely case of a Federal financial solution, or heavy consumer backlash, these changes likely won’t take place.

For now, marketers should plan for both eventualities, and prepare a system for either outcome. If October comes and goes without changes, the extra effort may seem like a waste, but there is rarely a reason to go unprepared in the face of potential disaster.

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The Tray PML Way is the blog for Tray, experts in the printing, mailing, logistics and promotional products. You can learn more about our organization's capabilities by visiting our website, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages.