By Kirk Chritton

MCH Director of Marketing and Product Development

News flash! According to a high-ranking USPS official, the last year’s postage increases on standard rate flat mailers went too far. As a result, mailers have changed formats and also reduced the overall amount that they mail. For me, that candid assessment from the USPS Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President Anita J. Bizzotto was one of the refreshing highlights from the Kansas City Direct Marketing Association's recent DM Days event. Click to continue

Pat Billadeau, MCH National Accounts Manager, was recently interviewed by Target Marketing magazine. The article, written by Linda Formichelli, focused on the value of public librarians to direct marketers. Pat, and other marketing professionals, provided examples of how the products and services offered by libraries have evolved over the years to include Internet access, movies, music, books on tape, and much more. Librarians are highly educated professionals who have big buying power. They are dedicated to making sure they spend their budgets on products that will benefit a diverse user base. Click to continue

Any institutional manager with responsibility for a budget can tell you how important those five words are. The differences between businesses and institutions become clear when you're talking about budgets. Business managers are asked to stay within, or even under their annual budget and are often rewarded for meeting that goal. In an institution, managers need to spend every single dime they're given for two reasons. First, if they don't spend the entire budget allotted to them, the assumption is that they didn't need it in the first place. The result is that the budget for the subsequent year is reduced by the amount they didn't spend. Second, there is a perception that they have short-changed the people they serve by not spending all of the funds on products and services to benefit their constituents.

For marketers, the three months preceding an institution's fiscal year end represent a golden opportunity to generate additional revenue. Small purchases typically fall under the discretionary spending categories in institutions and the sales cycle can be as short as a few days. The next three months are an ideal time to get your message in front of the many local governments and schools with a June 30 fiscal year end.

 

For more information on when to mail, read our white paper, Beyond B2B - A New View of the Institutional Market.

MCH is in the Midwest and after a long winter, the weather forecasters are starting to hint that spring and summer may eventually arrive. Now is the time to finalize your campaigns that are designed for summer programs at schools, public libraries, and parks and rec departments. Make sure you don't forget about summer camps, and Vacation Bible School programs at churches. Spending on summer learning adventures continues to increase as parents seek fun ways to educate and occupy their children.

Click here to view our Schools datacard.
Click here to view our Public Libraries datacard.
Click here to view our Local Government datacard.
Click here to view our Summer Camps datacard.
Click here to view our Churches datacard.

Incentives and promotional materials are a good fit for the institutional market. Virtually every institution has something that they want to brand with their name or logo. Hospitals often reward their employees with incentives and frequently sponsor community outreach activities like health fairs. Schools use bumper stickers and other items to improve name recognition. Churches conduct neighborhood and new member events. Youth groups in schools, churches, and civic organizations are always in need of items for fund raising initiatives.

Click here to review datacards that are suitable for marketers of incentives and promotional materials then call your MCH sales representative to get a count on those "why didn't I think of that?" institutions you may have missed.