Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of
their appointed rounds. – USPS unofficial motto
So while not official, our quote this week has long been held to be the USPS’s motto. The inscription on the NY General Post Office was unveiled on Labor Day 1914 after William Kendall of McKim, Mead & White modified an ancient Persian Book from 500 BC.
This Week’s Update: Speeding Up and Slowing Down, COVID’s drive on marketing approaches
So why the quote from the USPS? Because the mail is certainly in the news a great deal these days. While we can all debate the political issues associated with the turmoil, as marketers, one thing is becoming rapidly clear, direct mail is not working the way it used to. In a world filled with data and analytics, much work has gone into assessing the optimal time to be in the mail and what the expected outcome might be. Along with that, sophisticated marketers have worked to create synchronized campaigns between TV and email advertisements and in-home mail delivery. Hard to manage these campaigns with mail delivery slowing down and becoming so erratic. Where the mail was once highly predictable it is now a guessing game. Sales curves built off in home dates are no longer valid and marketers will now need to wait out several weeks longer to know if a campaign has worked or not. A recent study by the Alliance of Nonprofit mailers showed a 10% fall off of mail timing and 23% fall off on periodical delivers. While timing is off, this does not suggest that response rates are off, just that you have to be far more careful in reading results before making any decisions.
While the mail is slowing down, firms’ investments in Marketing Technology are speeding up. Between the weakened ability to interact in person, consumers behaviors shifting dramatically and channels like the postal system becoming less dependable, Marketers are looking to technology even more to help address their immediate business challenges. Ecommerce and Digital transformation are certainly the areas we are seeing the greatest of investment. For our part at Adstra, we remain fully engaged in helping our clients remap how they can track their customers across media through expanded ways to recognize them across media channels. As seen in a recent Merkle study, in every industry they looked at, more firms are accelerating their investments in Marketing technology than slowing down. But with that investment comes a need to ensure you drive your ROI through an effective approach at recognizing your customer and executing the intended messaging. It still is Right place, Right time, Right message, regardless of the technology.
Source: Merkle Customer Engagement Report – COVID 19 Special Edition
Should you look for more help on this topic, please reach out and we would be happy to help. Email us at connect@adstradata.com
Adstra in Action:
One of our goals this year had been to introduce our new thought leadership program focused on sharing and celebrating disruptions in the data and identity marketplace that are helping shape how we all think about and move forward more effectively in our marketing and advertising efforts. While we can not easily share in-person, we can still move forward virtually. Starting this September we are excited to introduce: AdstrAct our 8-part webinar series. Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements on Topics and Timing. We will be kicking off the series with “A Cookieless Future – The World post Cookies and MAIDS.
Additionally, we continue to make our data available for free in the support of non-commercial COVID-19 initiatives and we are here to help as many more as we can. While we were initially focused on advancing the fight against COVID-19, if you are interested in other non-commercial cause related initiatives, please let us know and perhaps we can help.
If interested in Adstra’s offer, email COVID19Response@adstradata.comfor more details.
Articles of Interest:
Our insights are again only a small fraction of what is being shared out there. Here are some other interesting articles and opinions we thought to share to both inform and inspire discussion.
- We are all taking bets as to whether we really are final, but the long-awaited word from California’s AG on CCPA is finally approved and here. Let us all go forth and prosper with care
California AG’s Final CCPA Regs Are Finally Approved
- Kevin Whitcher at Oracle’s Moat highlights some important changes in how marketers should think about allocating media spend… with an eye towards attribution and validation
As Ad Spending Falls, Savvy Marketers Turn Focus To Optimizing Cross-Platform Reach
- Always looking to help provide some trending data. eMarketer’s recent study talks to the rapid growth on the B2B side, fueling digital advertising’s overall growth.
US B2B digital ad spend soars 22.6%
- Certainly a hot topic on who and why, but that aside we wanted to share some information on all that’s being said about the postal delays. Thought the folks at Forbes did a solid job.
‘Unintended Consequences’ of USPS Changes Causing Mail Delays
Positivity Press:
We can all use a little positivity in life. Here are some of the recent highlights from our internal Positivity Press that we wanted to share with everyone:
- We start the positivity again by heading over to the Good News Network. This week we caught the virtual reality bug. Having just got an Oculus at home, we are all in on the fun of the virtual life. A fun way to escape for an hour.
Spunky Grandma rides the Roller Coaster
- Another great site to check out on all things positive … though if we keep pointing everyone to these sites, what will we have to add next issue. Perhaps we should ask our readers to share.
Positive Press
- With sports back in one form or another, time to reflect on some of the more fun moments this month. The question is, if there are no fans in the parks, who gets your glove when it goes into the stands?
Monthly Not Top 10
- Last time we went with Garfield. This time we go with Dilbert. The strip has been around for 31 years, chronicling our lives in the office place. Missing a little of that office banter, perhaps Scott Adams can bring a little home for you.
Dilbert
As always, we are forever striving to provide useful, fun and actionable info that can help us all move forward successfully. Feel free to share feedback and ideas and we can share them with this community. Stay happy and healthy.
If you want to continue to get a copy of our “Ideal Insights” newsletter, please make sure to add this newsletter’s email address to your contacts.
Think others may be interested in getting a copy of this newsletter? Please have them email us at connect@adstradata.com and we will add them to our list. You can also find copies of this and previous newsletters at Adstra’s website: adstradata.com
If you like what Adstra has to share or want to learn more about what we do, please visit our website at adstradata.comor follow us on LinkedIn @Adstra, Twitter @Adstradata or Facebook @Adstradata. We welcome you to the new ideal in data.
