Charities depend upon members to help raise money.  A local charity just recently contacted me in regard to handling a mail piece to send out to local women within the area to invite them to a monthly meeting in hopes of generating new members. After sitting down with them and pricing a postcard, which was very reasonable, and then pricing the postage, they were appalled at the high cost of mailing 2500 postcards. The postage alone would have been 825.00 not to mention purchasing the mailing list. I suggested using the USPS's, Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM), service. EDDM allows the client to target prospects by geographic area for only 16 cents each. No mailing addressses are needed because the USPS delivers the printed piece to every mailbox within the route(s) that you choose to target.  My client was amazed at how easy it was to go on the USPS's website and choose the areas they wanted to reach.  They ended up saving 775.00 and were very happy with the number of new members they received from just this one mailing. 

Jim owned a small security company that had been in business 5 years and was well known for his service.  He decided it was time to take the business to the next level so he decided he would participate in the next local business trade show. He knew he had tons of business cards and brochures but he wanted something to attract commercial prospects to his booth. I suggested to Jim that he have a few different promotional products available to hand out.  First, something that he could give to everyone that stopped by his booth.  I thought a pen would be good because it is one of the least expensive items and he could give hundreds of pens out without breaking the bank.  Second, something that he could give to potential prospects who expressed an interest in a security system and might one day need his services. A travel mug was what he decided to hand out because they were around 2.50 each and would be used almost daily and taken to and from work, which was good in Jim's opinion.  And third, something that he could give to business owners/managers that expressed an interest in a new security system for their business.  He decided on an umbrella that was around 8.00 each.  He knew he would only be ordering 36 quantity and thought that both men and women would enjoy a nice umbrella.  After the trade show, I called Jim to see how it went and he was ecstatic because he had already signed 3 new commercial clients and had several others that were interested in talking to him more in depth about his services.  He thought the promotional products like the travel mugs and umbrellas made him look professional and successful and helped seal the deal with the new clients.

It was a big day for Lisa and she was filled with excitement! Opening day for her pet salon and everything was in place. Beautiful sign out front, great location, and a friendly eager staff. 9 hours later, they only had 2 clients to end their day. Lisa was very optimistic and thought ok, it will get better tomorrow. Nope, only 1 client the next day. And it didn’t get any better as the week went by. She drafted a half page flyer and brought it to McStatts' Printing for copies to be made so she could put them on the windshields of cars in parking lots around town. I suggested maybe a direct mail piece. She thought it would be too expensive and heard many people say they didn’t get much back from a mail piece. I explained to her that her mailing list could target ONLY to animal owners in the area and she would be hitting her target audience and not just every household. We had her mailing list narrowed down to homes with animals and with at least $30,000 total annual income and within a 5 mile radius of her business. We designed her a postcard, purchased her mailing list and they hit the mail 10 days later. The day the mailing hit the mailboxes, she was bombarded with calls and walk-ins and SHE was the one wagging her tail.

Non-profits, religious and charity organizations depend on donors for survival. Direct mail and printing in general have been a mainstay of these organizations' fundraising plans. The challenge is to reach many different levels of givers based on their donation amounts. These organizations must be careful

I was literally born in the printing business.  My parents started their small printing company in 1968 and I was born a year later. I got into my fair share of trouble around the printing shop.  As a kid (and adult) I would go to the ink cans and play around with the "skin" and poke it, smear it, smell it, and even taste it (just once, though).  I was always getting into the printing ink and as a kid, I was always wearing ink on ALL my clothes and this ink didn't come out in the wash.  My mom would scorn my sisters and me for ruining every piece of good clothing we ever had because we were not operating a press but just "playing".  Even my father would always manage to get ink all over himself and in his later working days, he didn't have to operate a printing press but somehow, someway he would always get ink on a brand new shirt or a pair of pants.  It is like it just magically jumped out of the can onto all of us... except for our mom.  

Growing up in the printing business, my sisters and I had to work at the print shop when there was work to be done. In my previous blog, I spoke of the "fun times" we had when we just played at the print shop all day long while my parents worked.  

My sister, Kathy, and I own McStatts' Printing in Cartersville, Georgia.  We are the second generation owners of this family business that our parents started in 1968. 

McStatts' has talented and highly trained graphic specialists.

Direct Mail is still the least expensive form of advertising – ESPECIALLY if you have a VERY SPECIFIC TARGETED MAILING LIST.  If you already have a very reliable and accurate mailing list, then that is great.  But if you don't, McStatts' Printing can help with that and can narrow a mailing list down to zip code or within a certain radius of a business address or other demographics like age, annual income, occupation, hobbies and interest, or whether there are children in the household.  These mailing lists are very accurate. The success of a Mail Campaign depends mostly on this mailing list.  If you need more sales but don't know how, then direct mail is the answer and McStatts' Printing can find the right mailing list and produce a successful mailer.

 Baby pink, pink lace, and tickle me pink are 3 pinks that blushing bride, Lisa has picked for her wedding and the wedding date is only 6 weeks away. My client, Denise, who is Lisa's wedding planner, called in a panic on April 5th when she realized that the particular wedding invites that Lisa picked would take 6 weeks alone to produce from the on-line invitation company.