The cost of stamps keeps going up, but small and midsize businesses still need to mail catalogs, sale promotions, and reminders to clients and customers. Or do they?Online advertising expert Thomas Harpointner, chief executive of e-business marketing firm AIS Media, has some wise words about snail mail vs. e-mail. He addresses customers’ online security concerns, the (unavoidable) pitfalls of spam, and the future of online marketing (hint: smartphones).

bMighty: How will the rising postal rates affect smaller business’ use of the post office?

Thomas Harpointner: Businesses already have cut back on postal use. The rate hike is making the press, but now they will be raising the rates every year. Next May 1, it will be one more penny, at least. It could be much higher. With the rising cost of gasoline, any business that requires transporting goods will be affected. And we’ve already seen a 25% reduction in postal use by business.

E-mail is being used by virtually every type of business. There are some things that can’t be sent by e-mail–medical reports, credit reports, law firms’ documents and anything that needs to go through the post office; in some cases, the stamp makes the document official. Any official business will continue with postal mail, such as any type of a legal document that requires an original signature or postmark, for example, if a company is being sued.

Is there a way for those types of businesses to avoid snail mail?

Banks have found a way to circumvent the post office with direct deposit and paperless statements. Brokerage firms are also making statements available online. They don’t mail statements and they avoid cost of paper and ink. It’s also more environmentally friendly. And with the rise of fuel costs and postal costs, it’s cheaper.

What about customers who worry about security with e-mail?

Many customers prefer paperless statements. It’s voluntary, easily accessible, and they don’t have to worry about identity theft. The No. 1 complaint to the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] is identity theft. Until every mailbox has a padlock, anyone can get in. Banks are all guilty of this. Banks send these blank checks [to customers in the mail]. If somebody intercepts it and writes on the check, money comes right off the account. The postal service is still scarier than e-mail vis-à-vis identity theft.

If someone can open an envelope, they can have access to lots of financial records. A mailbox has no real security. It’s wide open to the world. Computers don’t steal, people steal.

People are afraid of using credit cards online, but they don’t have a problem handing it over to a waiter who disappears with it for 15 minutes. As long as confidential information isn’t sent in an e-mail but informing the user it’s available with login and password, it’s safer for their customers and cheaper for the business and more convenient for both.

What about the people who like having a hard copy?

If you get a coupon in the mail, how often do you have it on you in the store? But if it was sent via e-mail and you can pull it up in your BlackBerry and show the cashier? The big stores are starting to do that. Organizing your e-mail is easier than organizing your mail at home. Postal mail, people open over the trash can. Skeptics say much of e-mail goes to spam and junk, but I would argue that people open their postal mail [business and residential mail] over the trash! In one study, the average response from an e-mail marketing campaign is 4.5% versus 2% to 2.5% for a postal mail campaign.

So are we seeing the beginning of the end for postal mail?

I see no end to postal mail. But the type of postal mail we receive will be more targeted, more relevant. So small and midsize businesses should rate their communications of everything that gets e-mailed and mailed, and on a scale of one to 10, rate how important these pieces [are]. The very important pieces that have to be in paper–a document that requires a signature with blue ink, like a lease–needs to be in postal mail. But what about that reminder for a tooth cleaning? Does it need to be in the postal mail? Or the sales event at a local store? For small and midsize businesses [that] have been thinking about moving more stuff online, this is a push.

A lot of brochures are expensive to print and costly to send. Companies in all industries large and small have begun to digitize those documents, like brochures, case studies, and white papers. There is much less information being printed than there was. Salespeople can refer customers to a link where there’s a PDF, rather than mailing something.

What about the concern that a business’ e-mail will end up as spam?

You can’t avoid it. Business to consumer [postal] mail is easier to get through, but business-to-business e-mails have a much better chance of getting read than if they go by postal mail. Every executive has their own e-mail address, and it’s personal, but only one mailbox, and the administrator is the screener there. Marketing gets thrown in the trash at that decision point.

Eve Partners, a mergers-and-acquisitions firm for the trucking industry, started to do e-mail campaigns. They were trying to reach executives at certain firms. They started an e-mail weekly newsletter, and since they started, their CEO said they can’t handle the amount of inquiries they’re getting. If they had to print the newsletter and mail it, it may or may not get read.

The benefit of e-mail is there are more statistics available. With a postal campaign, if you send 1,000 pieces, you don’t know how many people opened and read it. With an e-mail system–we use Excerpo Mail [ Ed. note: an AIS Service]–you get a reporting system: How many were sent, deleted, opened and clicked on. Most of the better e-mail marketing systems have this. Postal mail can’t compete on that level. The sender of the e-mail has a clue. He can see if everything is being deleted. Maybe the message is becoming irrelevant.

Business to consumers is a little different, but more consumers have e-mail than ever before. Most consumers have their own e-mail address. Reaching consumers is effective with postal mail, but [it] still gets opened over the trash. E-mail is still more effective. The Direct Marketing Association reports that e-mail marketing has shown to deliver $51.45 ROI [return on investment] for every marketing dollar spent. Catalogs have been with us a long time, and they work well–$7.20 ROI. You can make more money with e-mail campaigns.

What is the next frontier in mail for smaller businesses?

A major catalyst in our industry–smartphones. They will become the de facto Internet device in the next few years. More and more people are using them to check e-mail and connect to the Internet, at the office or the airport. You can browse the Web, check e-mail and check statements. As more and more people have access to the Internet, e-mail marketing will grow. Even if it was more expensive, it would continue to grow, but the fact is that it is much less expensive. And with the reporting capabilities, people can instantly respond. Who doesn’t want a cheaper, faster, more effective way to do marketing? You can’t get access to postal mail easily if you’re traveling.

The printing industry is 60% smaller than it was in 1995. People are just not printing as much. Small and midsize businesses don’t have the IT power, the technological savviness, or the resources of large companies, but over time, they will adapt. They have access to e-mail, they can see it’s working, it’s just a matter of how to get into it.

Every place you go it is the same, people are talking about the price of gas and the economy. Talk that has replaced how much our homes were going up and shopping for a new SUV. What has not changed is the fact that people want to feel rewarded and appreciated. If they do not feel rewarded and appreciated they are going else where to feel the love. You can count on this especially during a challenging economy when everyone is looking for ways to make money and hold on to it.  

Incentives are not only crucial they are your life’s blood right now. Look around gas cards, buy one get one free offers abound. A company must look from within to keep the customer coming back. Employee loyalty and the quality of their work is key to maintaining business. If one were to look at employee surveys they will find that appreciation and incentives are number one for job satisfaction. We have all heard this before. There should not be an expectation that our middle managers must provide the only motivations to their departments. Some Corporate America giants silently expect their middle managers to create imaginative contests and spring for prizes for their winners! If their employee realize this, contests will have a negative affect. If employees do not see that their company values them and their manager, the enthusiasm for contests will diminish.

What to do? What to do? Survey your employees and your bosses. Ask them how they like to feel appreciated and ask them how their feelings might change if they had a choice in the selection of their incentive. Why are you asking your bosses? Well, if they are part of the survey they will realize your sincerity to attract, retain resulting in happy customers. They will also be thinking of their own needs for appreciation and their buy in will be with you from the very beginning.   

What values and behaviors are you trying to revive or instill in your clients and employee? Learn to decipher what must be done to provide the right incentive for the right audience. You may consider a combination of incentives to inspire different groups of people or take them to the next level of service. Seek out expert advisors in the incentives field. They often have worked with small and large companies in various industries. They know from their own surveys and industry trends what works today at prices only a discount wholesaler can receive. The experience can be a positive one saving you time, money and providing you with terrific results.

Contests and incentive awards provide clear motivations and rewards. The employee and client will feel they are appreciated and develop a deeper relationship with you. They will observe your interest in their relationship because of the time and investment you have made in providing their incentive program. Employees will learn and grow from stretch assignments or goals. Take them through the new employee stage to commitment then full dedication as they become more seasoned.

Incentives should be an evolving process for both your employees and your customers. There should be revelant challenges and beneficial rewards. Merchandise such as mugs, t-shirt and the ever popular pen are soon forgotten and a short lived value. A memorable incentives are those they select fitting their individuality.  Would a pen or a certificate for a vacation motivate you? If you answered vacation, you are among many. When we receive a perceived high value incentive that we work hard to earn, we will share the story of our accomplishment with everyone. We beam with pride and have a story to tell again and again.

Learn how new incentives on the market such as the virtual Visa Card and Amazon.Com point rewards are providing an incentive of the employee’s choice. The employee or customer can either earn points, accumulate for a more valuable incentive or donate them back to your company’s charity to keep on giving.  The employee is happy and will make your customers happier.

Contact us for an online demo www.strategicconcepts-ca.com (866) 582-7853 x703

Advertising is becoming ever more difficult and expensive. Air time during the nightly, network news is much more expensive, in inflation adjusted dollars, than a generation ago, yet none of these shows reaches anywhere near the market share that Walter Cronkite did. Getting the attention of Generation Y is the most challenging demographic for advertisers. They watch much less television (and fewer commercials), subscribe to fewer periodicals and listen to less commercial radio than the generations preceding them. This group has less brand loyalty than any other.

The reason for all this can be summarized in one word, according to Rob Dodson, President of Irvine based Vail Dunlap & Associates - technology. The web has replaced the nightly news, the iPod has replaced the radio and favorite shows can be downloaded sans commercials.” “The effect of technology goes deeper,” says Dodson. This generation is not only comfortable with change but expects it and sees it as positive. When they need to buy a new widget they do not just buy the same one they bought last time. They are more likely to research it via the web and text messaging their friends; thus the lack of brand loyalty. Tried and true is passé; new and improved is the norm.”

Given all this, Dodson says that advertising to Generation Y can be a tremendous challenge. Promotional products imprinted with a logo and advertising message CAN be very effective (rad, tight, sweet, whatever). Gen Y wears caps and t-shirts just like the rest of us; they use a wide variety of computer related products and they drive cars. If you use a cap or t-shirt, it needs to be a style they will relate to, low profile, sleeveless, moisturewicking, etc. If you get them to use your mouse pad, they may be seeing your message eight hours a day. The key is to have a quality pad (one that will work well with lightening fast games) and with a graphic that has appeal. On a cost per impression basis, this could be the most cost effective idea in history. Generation Y will continue to be elusive for advertisers. The right promotional product will possess three of the most important advertising attributes - highly targeted, affordable, and keeps the message in front of the target.