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Urgent Care Marketing

By admin in Design, Marketing, Profitability March 13, 2013

There’s a new business model that’s finding its way into almost every community: the walk-in urgent care clinic.

Today there are over 8700 urgent care centers in the US alone, according to the profession’s association.

And since urgent care clinics are usually small, local and privately owned, they are much more entrepreneurial than their big hospital counterparts. Where a non-profit hospital might be able to get along with minimal outreach efforts, an urgent care clinic couldn’t survive if the community didn’t use its services.

For the doctors who run these centers, effective urgent care marketing can be the difference between withering or prospering.

As anyone who’s been involved with a neighborhood business knows, there’s a short list of effective ways to build awareness in a community. But attending Rotary Club functions, co-sponsoring soccer car washes, and managing the chamber of commerce open house will only get you so far.

Sure, there’s something to be said for making an investment to assure a prominent spot in Google, under “local urgent care.” But even the all-powerful Google Search would likely not connect with most potential patients when it was time for urgent care.

What the urgent care doctor needs is the clinic’s phone number, street address, and maybe a web address, to be posted in kitchens and workplaces throughout the community.

The clinic could really use imprinted magnets in those homes and offices.

And that’s where our postcard magnet mailers come in.

You see, our postcard magnet mailer is a jumbo, full-color, laminated postcard, with a magnet attached. We mail them to a mailing list you provide.

Think of it as a delivery-vehicle with a mini billboard that finds its way into the kitchen or workplace, for the cost of a postage stamp.

And done effectively, the magnet positions the urgent care clinic’s message in full view, for weeks, months or longer, for less than the price of an iced tea.

At magnetbyMail we handle the details: printing, laminating, assembling, addressing, bundling and even the postal paperwork. We can even help with the design and the mailing list.

This leaves more time for the clinic to tend to its patients.

And even though we’re a bit biased about our love for these magnet mailers, we think you could might come to agree that it’s pretty much the vitamin C of direct mail marketing.

Another practical marketing idea from magnetbyMail.com, where healthy results are what it’s all about.

USPS NCOA Requirement

By admin in Profitability, Resources, Standards February 18, 2013

In return for the discount postage rates it offers for First Class Presort and Standard Mail services, the USPS requires that both of these types of mail meet its Move Update standards. This is also called the NCOA processing requirement.

The Postal Service maintains a sizable registry of people and organizations who have recently moved; and it compiles this info in its National Change of Address (NCOA) database. Mailings that meet the Move Update standard must be checked against the NCOA database, and updated for any address changes.

This is good for mailers, since it helps ensure that addresses are up-to-date. And it’s good for the Post Office, since it minimizes the expense of handling all those bad addresses.

The downside to the NCOA requirement is that it costs money. And for a small mailer with a small list, an NCOA processing fee can seem just plain silly.

Luckily, the USPS provides two ways to avoid the NCOA requirement: Continue reading

Improving Direct Mail

By admin in Profitability, Resources, Standards February 17, 2013

photo by Nick Bradsworth www.nbphotos.net/

OK, the secret is out: the most important factor in getting better direct mail results is improving the quality of your mailing list.

This may not seem that surprising. If you’re using really good criteria to select your mailing list, certainly you would expect improved results.

But a quality mailing list is more than the criteria you use to create it. It is quality content in terms of accurate names and deliverable addresses.

At magnetbyMail, we see hundreds of mailing lists each year — most of them are created by our customers who send them to us. They are usually lists of alumnus, subscribers, members, prospects or clients.

And many of these lists are full of errors that would cause the Post Office all sorts of delivery problems.

Now, the good news is that we’ll do our best to make the addresses deliverable. We’ll try to normalize and validate each address provided, so that it meets US Postal standards and matches an address that really exists.

But (although we try) we can’t do miracles. If you manage a mailing list of any size, you should understand some things about Normalizing and Validating an address, to ensure that your list is in tip-top shape:

Normalizing an Address

The Post Office wants to see addresses in a certain, normalized way. They expect an address with at least three lines of information: 1) Recipient Line, 2) Delivery Line address and 3) Last Line. For example: Continue reading

What is Good Design?

By admin in Design, Marketing April 23, 2012

What is good design, exactly, when it comes to direct mail marketing?

The short answer is: the design that achieves the results you need.

And with that you’ll note good design is above all, results-oriented. The entire reason for good design is, not to make the world a prettier place, but to maximize the impact of the message.

The longer answer is more helpful perhaps, although no more precise: good design is using visual elements of form — space, lines, shapes, color and textures, along with function — a compelling message — that achieves an action or some goal for the marketer. Often, it’s about finding an appealing balance between form and function — that is, a pleasing presentation; but this is not always the case.

There’s no single design that is the perfect design. Further, a design that works for one type of message may not work for another.

And a design for one audience may not work for another.

When it comes to postcard magnet mailers (what we do at magnetbyMail) we’ve seen all types of designs for all types of messages and audiences.

The designs that work best seem to be the ones that:

get your attention, either through imagery, a few words, or both;
draw you in to explore and learn more details;
change your emotional state — make you angry, curious, intrigued, excited, etc.;
and lead you to a next step — to a website, a phone #, a donation, etc.

Personally, I like simple layouts. Grab the attention, give a message that’s succinct, and ask for action.

The design philosophy for this is “less is more.” The principle is that unessential elements are distractions. So if an element isn’t necessary to your core message, consider doing without it.

Where do you find good ideas for good design? I suggest starting on the Web.

For postcard designs, check out BestPostcardDesign .

On a future post, I’ll provide a list of my favorite websites that are helpful for design inspiration.

Until then, I suggest: less is best.

Another little marketing nugget from magnetbyMail, your source for postcard magnet mailers and other nifty marketing aids.

Sending Large Files

By admin in Design, Resources April 16, 2012

Photography by Andreas Krappweis - http://www.krappweis.com/

How to Send Large Files for Free

Beautiful art files can cause ugly problems when sent through email. The problem is their size. Many email services restrict the sizes of file attachments, and so emails with big files can simply get bounced back.

But there are a few ways around this problem. Here are some free large file transfer ideas you might find useful:

use an email service that allows big files to be sent. Google allows 25MB files and Yahoo allows 20MB files. Also, the recipient needs to be using a service that allows receipt of large emails.
if you have your own website, upload the large file to a folder on your website, then email the link of that file to the recipient. When the recipient has downloaded it, you can delete the online file.
you can sign up for a free online file sharing service. Look at SugarSync which offers 5GB of free online storage, as well as a handy routine for backing up your important files. Or consider DropBox which works like a file folder that automatically syncs on all your computers. With these file sharing services you can upload your files and share them with one or more people.
use a free large file-transfer email service that takes care of everything — creates an email, attaches the files you need, sends the email.

The last of the above list is the most popular solution, since it takes care of the email and the attachment. Here are several services that offer a free version:

YouSendIt – transmit up to 100MB file, one file per email, Lite version for free.
WeTransfer – a very easy process with no registration. Email with one or more files attached, up to 2GB total, for free
DropSend – email with one or more files attached, up to 2GB total, for free with the Lite version
TransferBigFiles – with one or more files attached, up to 100MB total, for free.

Each of these services, although very similar on the surface, offer various ‘features’ that make each somewhat unique. Features include: size of the attachments, number of attachments, number of days that a shared file can be accessed, confirmation of email delivery, number of emails per month, and ads or promotional emails you might receive.

Because our work on postcard magnets commonly requires our clients to send large art and data files, we’re always on the lookout for good solutions for large file transfer. If you have experience with a useful system not mentioned here, please let us know.

Another useful tidbit from your favorite source of magnet mailers, at magnetbyMail.com

Real Estate Postcards

By admin in Marketing March 27, 2012

Sure, the real estate market is tough. Nevertheless, with proper pricing and good real estate marketing, properties are still selling.

According to Bloomberg, realtors are selling over 4.5 million units of US existing homes per year.

Based on the average home being sold for about $150,000 (Real Estate ABC), that’s $675,000,000,000 in sales total, just for existing residential properties.

And it’s no secret. Every good real estate agent knows the keys to selling real estate in 2012:

Pricing it right
Property looks its best
Seller is flexible — it is a buyers’ market afterall
and also, you should be
Web savvy

Now, considering 90% of properties are being sold by agents who already know about these four keys, what can an agent do to make his/her properties stand out from the rest?

The answer is: mail a folding postcard with magnet.

And if your response to that is ‘What?’, well let us tell you. (You see, we happen to make these.)

Our Foldup Magnet Mailer is a large 8-1/2″ x 11″ postcard folded in half, with a large 3-1/2″ x 4″ magnet inserted inside. The card is sealed with easy-peel glue, inkjet addressed on front, and mailed by the US Post Office to your prospect list or a direct mail list we can provide.

The postcard can be printed with all sorts of useful info, including color photos of homes for sale and listings in the area. The magnet typically includes your photo, contact info, website address and facebook url.

Check out all our magnet mailers at magnetbyMail .

The Foldup Magnet Mailer makes a double impact: one, when it is received in the mail, and another when the magnet is applied to your prospect’s fridge or file cabinet.

The true power of the Foldup Magnet Mailer is in the distribution. Our experience shows that you should target your own community. You’ll likely gain more listings for yourself and you’ll be creating an invaluable network of neighbors who can become your Facebook friends and a great source for leads.

And you’ll have accomplished a nearly impossible feat: getting people to focus more than 2 seconds on the properties that you’re marketing.

The entire Foldup Magnet Mailer costs less than a dollar (1000 are 64 cents each). It provides you a high-impact presentation in the short term, and an effective way to keep your message in front for weeks, months or longer.

So be a part of that $675,000,000,000 in real estate sales, and kickstart your real estate marketing with a foldup magnet mailer.

Another service from magnetbyMail, doing our part to help promote the economy.

Foldup: Direct Mail Goes Big

By admin in Design, Marketing March 8, 2012

The Next Big Idea in Direct Marketing

Late last year we asked potential customers looking at our products what they wished for.

They said, as much as they liked the idea of our postcard magnets, what they really wished for was more room to express themselves.

You see, we’ve always had our basic postcard magnets — these are jumbo postcards and custom printed magnets, one glued to the other and mailed via directmail.

But the Venti, our largest postcard magnet at 5-1/2″ x 10-1/2″ just wasn’t enough. Some marketers want more than the Venti’s 115 square inches.

So in January, we introduced our Foldup Magnet Mailer. This a very big, 8-1/2″ x 11″ postcard, folded in half, a magnet attached to the inside, and sealed shut with easy-peel glue. Marketers now can have over 200 square inches of printing area.

The fold provides lots of benefits. The standard postcard format has two sides or ‘facings.’ But the Foldup Magnet Mailer has three facings: the front, the back, and the inside. This gives marketers more space and flexibility to develop their message.

Another benefit of the Foldup is, because the folded piece is thicker than our regular magnet mailer, and the magnet is held securely inside, we don’t need to use poly laminate to keep the mailer as rigid for mailing purposes.

Saving poly laminate saves time and reduces costs. (We still provide a UV coating for shine and protection.)

Our customers can receive a Foldup Magnet Mailer for about the same price as our smaller postcard magnet.

A final benefit is that we can enclose custom shaped magnets with the Foldup. (Our standard postcard magnets could use only rectangle shapes, mostly.)

Foldup Magnet Mailers make sense for any marketer who wants all the benefits of delivering a magnet to a home or office, but who needs lots of space to convey their message.

One thing we should mention for designers: the positioning of the Foldup’s magnet is more restrictive than for our regular postcard magnets. The magnet needs to be attached on the ‘inside’ of the folded postcard, and ‘behind’ the area where the mailing address is to printed.

But if your design can work with that location, the Foldup Magnet Mailer may be the perfect way to deliver your message. You can deliver it with a 200 square inch format, and provide a custom magnet to help keep your message in full view for weeks or months.

Another innovative marketing device from your friends at magnetbyMail.com, your source for magnet mailers and other ingenious communications tools.

Animal Rescue: A New Breed of Marketing

By admin in Marketing March 2, 2012

To the Rescue

It’s startling to find out how many dogs and cats are rescued from our streets. According to the Humane Society, there are 6-8 million dogs and cats in animal shelters each year, in the US alone.

Each one of these animals needs to find a home. And many new organizations have sprung up to take on the challenge.

These groups don’t necessarily call themselves marketers, but that’s exactly what they are.

Their mission is to raise the awareness of the abandoned animal issue, recruit likely adoptee families, match animals with new owners, promote best practices to the community, and even sponsor legislation that helps save animals.

The animal rescue groups of today use many of the same cutting edge marketing strategies you might find in any major business, using social media like Facebook and Twitter to broadcast rescue news to thousands.

But because not everybody subscribes to their Twitter feeds, these groups have found they need to use traditional media.

And that’s where we come in.

You see, we make postcard magnet mailers. That’s a custom-printed, jumbo postcard and a magnet, one glued to the other, and mailed to a mailing list via the post office.

These magnet mailers are one of the most effective ways for rescue groups to get their message out: to ask people to consider adopting an animal in need.

Our Foldup Magnet Mailer is good for helping tell a more complete story — it’s designed with the magnet attached inside a large, folded postcard, and provides over a hundred square inches of space for text and pictures.

So how does the whole thing work exactly? Simple: the Foldup Magnet Mailer reaches the family through the mailbox. It will likely be opened and read, and maybe discussed. The magnet will be added to a file cabinet or refrigerator, working as a mini billboard for on-going awareness.

Then, one day, the Forces of Good will converge and the family will decide that they’re interested in learning more about adopting an animal and will find the rescue group’s web address on the magnet.

It sounds like great fiction but this process is really what happens every single day.

In fact, there aren’t many other ways for an animal rescue organization to get so much exposure, for so few dollars (…cents, actually).

It might take three or four months for a family to reach that magic moment, and decide to adopt a pet. The Foldup Magnet Mailer provides all the right ingredients to facilitate that multi-month process, and help keep the rescue’s message at top of mind.

Of course, you don’t need to be rescued to benefit from our postcard magnet mailers. You just need to be interested in getting your message out, and keeping it there.

Another timely message (we hope) from your friends at magnetbyMail.com , your source for of postcard magnets and other neat promotional devices.

How to Grow a Church

By admin in Marketing February 24, 2012

Church Marketing Ideas

The time for church marketing is now. We see two big reasons for this:

First — many people are having financial troubles or family problems. Or they just feel adrift and are looking for some guidance and community.

Churches, finding themselves smaller in recent decades, have an opportunity to demonstrate their purpose and attract new members to their flock.

But what many churches are discovering — the relevation — is this: the things that work to grow a business also work to grow a church.

Church marketing today includes: setting up a table at the county fair, writing columns in the local paper, speaking at the Rotary Club, building a website and hosting a page on Facebook.

But the best way to reach everyone in the community is this: (drum-roll, please) a mailing.

It used to be that direct mail was ineffective, and highly expensive.

But new technology has made printing and lists both better and cheaper. A gorgeous full-color promotion and a mailing address costing $3 each a decade ago, can now be less than 50 cents.

And what is the most effective type of mailing? Call us biased, but we think it’s postcard magnets.

These are jumbo, laminated postcards and custom printed full-color refrigerator magnets. One is glued to the other, and mailed to a list that you provide.

When recipients receive your church’s postcard magnet mailers, they’ll see your message immediately. With the right art and message, they’ll decide to keep your magnet on their fridge where it could promote your church for weeks or even months.

Until now, no other form of advertising has ever been able to promote your church’s message for so long, for so little.

And that, is the second reason we think the time is right for church marketing.

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Another inspired idea about postcard magnets from magnetbyMail.com . Because when it comes to effective marketing, we’re all on the same mission.

Stuckup: Pizza Marketing Idea

By admin in Marketing February 3, 2012

Ok, maybe you don’t run a pizza shop. You still could benefit from a marketing idea that helps deliver pizza sales from coast to coast.

It’s our Stuckup Mailer. We can print a takeout menu on one side of the postcard. On the other side we attach a magnet and inkjet a mailing address you supply.

We prepare all the Stuckup mailers for bulk mail, so you get a sizable postage discount, and drop them in the mail for you.

If you need a low cost way to reach an entire neighborhood, we can provide a saturation mailing list, and you could reach your entire community for pennies.

With an enticing offer or artwork, the card makes a quick trip from your recipients’ mailboxes to their refrigerator doors.

At 3-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ and UV coated on front, it’s just right for a small takeout menu (which is why pizza restaurants love it).

But it’s also a great size for advertisers and organizations who need to distribute lists of phone numbers, key contacts or web addresses. Or useful procedures, recipes, emergency preparedness checklists, key tips, calendars, schedules or campaign bios. Or maps, inspiring quotes, artwork or colorful travel vistas.

With a good Stuckup Mailer, you’ll discover that the refrigerator door is the most valuable spot in the whole house. And you’ll be making the most of this space.

Best of all, your promotional message could be there for months or more.

Makes you want to order take out, doesn’t it?

Another marketing tip from magnetbyMail.com, your source for magnet mailers and other innovative marketing ideas.

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Author: admin