Over the past 12 months, the direct mail marketplace continued to adjust to several new normals in the recovery from the pandemic and recession. Fortunately, we have once again been honored to receive valuable insights from our panel of experts, which we included in this article.
1. Supply Chain and Costs
There are challenges as it relates primarily to supply chain and paper, and availability, and all of those things, and, obviously, the USPS has some of its own challenges.
GREG BOGICH CEO
What I see is pressure on mail given postal increases and rising paper cost and everything, that trend is gonna continue …What it means is I’m gonna have to use mail for when it really matters.
There’s pressure that it’s not ecologically positive, even with recycled paper, there’s some environmental concerns. So I think mail’s under pressure … but when used right — it’s a powerhouse.
RUSSELL KERN CEO
We might start seeing some of the financial mailers taper off their volumes a little bit …
I still think a lot of the other channels are gonna still rely on mail. The non-profit space, retail space … their volumes will sort of maintain, but it’ll be interesting to see what the financial markets do based upon the economy.
JOSH MCCAULLY Head of Data
2. Flexibility and Options
[T]here’s always that challenge or tendency maybe that somebody gets caught up with a particular type of paper or a stock or whatever it might be. And I would encourage you as a marketer to be flexible and to be open to options.So while there might be a particular stock that you really like because it has these features or looks like it has a texture, whatever it might be, maybe that can be duplicated through the printing process so it’s simulated. You don’t want to get, you don’t want the paper inventory problem to get in the way of your program.
MARK DEBELLIS President, Financial Services Team