It’s hard to talk about direct mail right now without talking about COVID-19.

Over the last 24 months, we have gone through the near-normal… we are now in the new normal — and are starting to head into the next normal.

Looking back, we see that in 2020, US marketers spent less and mailed fewer pieces than the previous year, according to Winterberry Group.

Direct mail volume was down 18.1% in 2020, with 63.8 million pieces of direct marketing mail being sent.

Spending on direct mail, along with other forms of offline media, experienced a steep decrease in 2020, too — down 17.2% over 2019 to $34.9 billion. This is a continuation of a multi-year slide in volume, although 2020’s slide was steeper.

However... direct mail came roaring back in 2021

On February 1, Ron Jacobs will be one of the keynote speakers for the page2022 conference, an annual event hosted by JAGAT, the Japanese Association of Graphic Arts Technology. The presentation is titled Reimagining Business in 2022: It's about Resilience, Relevance and Refocus.

The keynote presentation focuses on decisions that printing company managements, agency managements and marketing managers will need to make in the coming years to keep up with the way that prospects and customers are changing, and the new ways that your clients are going to market.

Every attendee has shown resilience, just to get through the last two years of Covid-19. The keynote addresses some ways that they can refocus their efforts, to remain relevant and help their businesses to thrive in the future.

Click the button below to sign up for the conference (note: the conference is in Japanese but Ron's presentation is in English). And keep reading to learn more about the keynote. 

For a limited time, Brand United is airing a webinar on Direct Mail for Financial Brands that was recorded in September 2021.

While it wasn’t intended, the webinar provides a clear contrast between the traditional direct mail and the arc of direct mail for the future. Bob Bly, a well-known direct mail copy expert and Ron Jacobs, CEO Jacobs & Clevenger, both make the case for what is working and what is not.

Webinar Title: How Financial Services Brands Utilize Powerful Optichannel Campaigns to Attract, Retain and Enhance Customer Experience and Communication
Duration: 45 minutes
Available Until: April 22, 2022

For brands, ramping up your social media presence may seem like a Herculean task. And it’s not easy… it takes strategy, planning and testing. You often have to throw a variety of posts at the wall and see what sticks. There’s no one way to do social media… it all depends on your brand, your goals and your audience.  

So, before you embark on your social media journey, here’s a roadmap to help guide you to the right strategy. 

What is the last banner ad you clicked on? Or the last banner ad you saw?

Struggling to remember even a single example? Well, cut yourself some slack, because you aren’t alone: according to an Infolinks study in 2013, 86% of users experience ad blindness. And only 14% remember the last ad they saw. Based on steadily declining banner ad clickthrough rates since 2013, that number has likely gotten even worse, with some studies showing that up to 93% of ads go unviewed.

But what is banner blindness? And how do you fight it?

You see them everywhere. Browsing blogs, shopping online, reading the news…

No matter where you look, you’re bound to see digital display ads on the internet.

And it’s only getting more popular.

According to Mailchimp, data suggests that digital ads will make up more than half the total ad spend in the U.S. by this year, compared to 40.5% in 2017.

As digital advertising continues to grow, it’s more important than ever to keep up with the trends and tactics at play.

Let’s look at the types of digital display advertising… and see how you can benefit from each.

Email marketing can be tricky. Online, consumer tastes and expectations change as quickly as you can open a new tab. What worked for you before may fail when you try it again. 

But it's not a crapshoot. You can learn a lot about your audience through a little bit of science. The best way to improve your email marketing strategy is...

TEST, TEST, TEST. 

But before you do, you need to follow a few ground rules. Take a look at the infographic below to learn the basics of A/B testing for email. 

So you have a killer direct mail control package. Well done. It's getting some results... it's been working for years... it's a control, after all.

But here's the thing. You can always improve your control. 

Whether little by little through split testing or head-to-head with a brand new creative execution, you should always put your control to the test. And if a new control unseats your original... it's time to do it again.

Read on to learn how to build a package that can bust your control.

Insurance: it’s one of the most complex industries out there.

With all the intricate information about plans, premiums, benefits, and beyond… well, it can be hard to wrap your head around.

This is even harder to do when your goal is:
• Get people to open your package… then read it
• Communicate with them in the simplest language possible
• Inspire the reader to take action

It’s a difficult challenge, but worth the effort. 70% of customers prefer to receive information about healthcare and insurance through the mail. When it comes to the insurance industry, direct mail continues to outperform every other channel, including digital.

But what makes an insurance direct mail package successful?

When it comes to email marketing, you could have the cleanest list... the most pristine copy... the most eye-catching design. But success can often come down to metrics. With the advent of tracking pixels and custom tracking URLs, metrics like open rate and click-through rate have been easy to collect.

Until now. 

Apple is expected to release iOS 15 this Fall. And one key feature in this update is Mail Privacy Protection.  

What is Mail Privacy Protection?