USPS to Offer a Sale on Postage

Does postage ever go on sale? It looks like it will this summer. The USPS is set to offer a special 3% discount in July and August for any letters or flats that include QR codes.

QR Code for CR Print website

QR codes are those two-dimensional mobile barcodes that can be read by smartphones like the iPhone, Blackberry or Android. Smartphone users have to first download an app to read the code. Scanning a QR code with the phone's camera opens the app which launches a browser taking you directly to a page on the internet. The uses of this technology are limited only by your imagination. A printed ad can immediately take you to a web page with detailed information about the product or service in the ad. A postcard promoting a restaurant could have a QR code that opens to the menu, a view of the dining room, and a link to make an online reservation. Want to know what seats are available for a performance? Scan the QR code on the poster for a seating chart. The QR code on any packaged item might provide detailed information about assembly, warranty, accessories, nutrition, or innumerable other options.

So why is the Post Office offering a discount to mailers? The Post Office believes that, over time, QR codes can increase demand for mailing services. According to Thomas Foti, the Postal Service manager of marketing mail, “As customers continue to use QR codes, we think this increases the effectiveness of mail, which encourages the demand for mail, and hopefully longer term it increases our volume.” Marketers already know that direct mail is an very effective advertising medium. Adding the ability to connect quickly and efficiently to an internet landing page increases the power of that medium exponentially.

What is Branding and Why Should it Concern You?

The condition of the economy over the last couple of years has brought an increasing emphasis on marketing and, with it, lots of talk about “branding.” Just what is “branding” and why should it concern you?

Let’s deal first with why it should concern you. You have a brand, even if you do not know it. That brand may be something positive or negative. In the mind of your prospects or customers, you or your organization are identified with certain attributes. You can be identified with speed, integrity, youth, sophistication, comfort, fun, prestige, masculinity, reliability, pride, romance, the opposite of any of these, or a thousand other attributes impossible to list here. Your customers consciously or unconsciously connect you with your “brand.” Years ago my kids rented videos from a store where the owners did some cooking in the back room. To them, it became the “smelly” store. I don’t think this is what the owners intended, but we discovered that lots of people could easily identify the store by that attribute rather than its name. Hopefully, your brand is not an aroma – unless you are Chanel #5.

Your brand is the principal attribute, or sum of attributes that your customers associate with you or your organization. It can be elusive, a feeling or emotion, as in “the ultimate driving machine,” “you’re in good hands,” or “the happiest kingdom on earth.” Or it can be more tangible or measurable like Wal-Mart’s “lowest price” brand. Of course, these slogans are not the brand, but merely material that carries the brand. Large companies generate marketing collateral, their advertising, brochures, business cards, jingles, etc., all intended to convey the attribute they want you to associate with them. Thus, Nike will choose material for its marketing collateral, like the slogan “Just do it,” or the swoosh symbol, or the star athletes in its commercials. All are intended to convey athleticism or physical performance. You are not just buying the shoes; you are buying the brand - performance.

Odds are you don’t have the budget these large companies have to promote your brand, so you have to use your more limited resources wisely. There are steps you can take to get started that won’t cost you anything. I'll write more about those in another post.