Arabian Management To Higher Level

bet you’ve been looking for such an opportunity, but you never
thought about it. Here it is, you can finally advertise for
LESS.”

Why Should You Consider Shared Direct Mail?

Shared Direct Mail Advertising provides the same benefits of
solo direct mail advertising for a fraction of the cost. Shared
Direct mail advertising is a proven and cost effective way to
advertise your offer to consumers and businesses. Smart
advertisers are sharing the costs of postage, mail processing,
mailing service, ad design, mailing lists and printing by
combining their ads with several other advertisers into a
combined mailing package which reaches a targeted audience. If
you are a smart advertise and want to advertise for less then
you need to consider shared direct mail advertising. Shared
Direct mail advertising successfully reaches more than 98% of
households, thus over 120 million households throughout the
United States.

First-class mailers are still absorbing the harsh realities of
the recent postal increase and a variety of advertisers are
examining economic efficiencies of their methods of
distribution. Every mailer should seriously consider their
“options” and one such option is using shared direct mail.

In the last 30-plus years, the number of shared direct mail
advertising programs also called inserts has risen dramatically,
along with a variety of options being offered to the mailer.
Let’s examine the maze of insert opportunities in today’s
marketplace.

Package Inserts: These are free standing promotional pieces
delivered to mail order customers via their fulfillment package;
i.e. the insert is delivered to you in a box containing a shirt
you ordered from a catalog. Naturally the product shipment types
vary dramatically: catalog generated vs. space-generated,
television or internet, continuity or club oriented,
business-to-business vs. consumer. Correspondingly, the
responses to the outside insert will also vary. The going rate
for package inserts is still an average of $70/M. The number of
outside inserts varies from four to eight. Generally, only
non-competitive pieces are included together.

If one goes heavily into a club or continuity oriented program,
the rate of duplication needs to be monitored. The response
rates also vary significantly depending on a number of other
variables: whether the insert is generating a lead or producing
an order, the average ticket price of the items being sold, the
size of the insert, etc. A large ticket item may be satisfied
with two responses per thousand, whereas lead-generating devices
having a strong affinity between the insert and the products
being delivered would produce responses ranging from 1-3%.

The current universe exceeds seven billion and includes programs
like Shopper’s Advantage, America Online and Current. There are
also scores of smaller programs and specialty companies like
Zoysia Grass Plugs, Amazon.com Tools & Hardware and Wizard
Entertainment.

Ride-Alongs: In this instance, a company mails a catalog,
circular or announcement to its customer base and allows outside
advertising to ride along. An advertiser can count on this
method of distribution since the company doing the mailing has a
vested interest in getting out their own promotional pieces.
Companies like Columbia House dominate this category and offer
regular mailings in blocks of 2MM-6MM to their club members.

Advertiser’s response from this category is strong–comparable
to package inserts. Average prices range from $50/M-$75/M.
Outside inserts range from one to four per mailing. Response
curves are similar to direct mail. These programs may be dying
as they reduce their numbers of negative option mailings.

Co-op Mailings: This category, by definition, presents a group
of non-competitive advertisers mailing to a common market.
Co-ops represent large numbers (up to 40MM) in a single drop,
can usually provide good geographic selectivity and often
provide demographic selectivity as well i.e. new mothers, new
movers, prenatal. Although responses are not as high as those
generally received from packages, co-ops are priced more
competitively, at an average of $25/M. Other co-op mailings
include coupons from local merchants (i.e. dry cleaner, ice
cream shop, oil change). These programs are usually sold on a
local level by neighborhood franchises. Well known examples
include Super Coups, Money Mailer and Mr. Coupon. Most of them
are available in a #10 envelope format, but some mail in a 6 x
9″ envelope. Circulation exceeds 100MM/quarter.

Statement Stuffers: These mailings include invoices and
statements generated by cable TV companies, utilities, credit
cards, magazines, book clubs, continuity programs, retailers,
businesses and so on. They are usually distributed in small
envelopes so your insert needs to be no larger than 3-1/2 x 6″
to fit. Outside inserts are generally limited to one or two
since statements get mailed first class (high percentage of
deliverability) and additional outside advertising would bump
them into the next postal class. Response tends to be strong
with average prices running at $60/M.

Sampling: This method of insertion offers a variety of “goody
bags” distributed free to specific markets, i.e. college
students, new mothers, buyers at retail and other special
interest groups. Inserts accompany product samples and coupons.
Some vendors are trying to qualify the recipients by requiring
them to spend a certain amount, or purchase multiple products,
or fill out a direct response vehicle before receiving the
sampling bags or boxes. Packages are sometimes given out “free”
in high traffic situations. Frequently, geographic targeting is
also available. Pricing ranges from $35/M-$50/M.

Card Deck Mailings: This vehicle usually consists of 20 or more
3-1/2 x 5-1/2″ business reply cards delivered in poly packs.
Rate card prices average from $35/M to $45/M and include
printing; still mostly business-to-business, a growing number of
consumer card decks have come onto the market. Approximately 500
decks are available in circulations of 50M-1MM each. Most decks
will accept pre-printed inserts at a higher cost per thousand.
Many are also mailing in the larger 5-1/2 x 7-1/2″ format that
is more pre-print friendly.

Catalog Bind-Ins/Blow-Ins: This distribution has been used in
big numbers for years by the horticultural set (i.e. a magazine
subscription offer or a lead generator for a lawn tool product
is bound into a catalog). Many gift and apparel catalogs are now
beginning to offer blow-in space as well as bind-ins to further
serve the direct response advertiser. Blow-ins can run as little
as half the price of package inserts to the same customers. They
generally represent larger volumes and more predictable mail
dates.

Other Alternatives: Newspaper FSI’s have become more direct
mail/direct response friendly as they are challenged with
selling more pages while coupon distribution decreases. A great
testing vehicle, they represent at least 100MM circulation
weekly and can frequently be bought as remnant for under $4/M
for a half page. Solo and blow-in opportunities are also
available here.

Shared Advertising such as Inserts have been included in
supermarket take-one racks, have ridden along with Pennysavers,
order acknowledgements, retail circulars and the list goes on.
As direct marketers look for increasingly creative methods to
better their bottom line and find less expensive ways to
generate new leads, and qualified inquiries, more will be
developed. As direct marketing companies continue to be
challenged by the cost of finding new customers, the pool of
mail order sources will continue to shrink. Options like riding
along with newspapers and/or retailer circulars delivered in
mail boxes and selectable by county size and type of households
could spawn a brand new generation of customers.

Advertise For Less, Get More. For all the success stories, the
package insert field is just like the other forms of direct
marketing response. It is a numbers game. If you watch the cost
of printing and the cost of distribution, your response should
be sufficient to provide you with a satisfactory cost per
inquiry or cost per order. But for steady production of orders
at reasonable and competitive costs, shared direct mail is hard
to beat. And for ease of entry, low visibility, low cost, what
could be better? The cost of heavy postage and four-color
envelopes aren’t here. Inserts are inexpensive and for most
products, there is an extensive universe. Many magazines,
catalogs and continuity clubs distribute millions of inserts
annually. They are making the investment in inserts. Isn’t it
time to consider this medium.

You Can Target The Following Audiences

• Consumers • Homeowners • Businesses • New Businesses • New
Movers

Why Pay More When You Can Pay Less? Be Smart, Advertise For Less!

Andre Plessis

Author & Marketing Consultant Savings4Merchants
http://savings4Merchants.com Big Marketing Ideas Without The Big
Spending! Copyright 2005©

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