Good news for arts marketers!

The USPS is in major deficit mode, but for once, rather than passing along its issues in rate increases, it is actually DISCOUNTING in ways that may really help nonprofits who do mass mailings over the summer months. You must apply by June 11, 2009, and there is some nuts and bolts work involved, but you can reap significant savings and, at the same time, reach more prospects. The cost savings comes in the form of a per piece price credit to postage paid based on the incremental volume mailed over the baseline.

The savings are based on using Standard Mail Saturation Mail. Saturation mail is defined as reaching 90% of the households in a specific carrier route. Now, many of you know that I advocate for very highly targeted prospecting – only reaching the very best households that match your desired households. So, you will want to use saturation mailing only on those carrier routes you or your market analyst/list preparers know will be productive. But if you can demonstrate to the USPS that you will increase over your baseline, the credit per piece mailed can be $.022. Think of it as stretching your budget to allow you to mail more, and right now that is good news when we know mailings have to be larger to yield the needed ticket sale results.

Talk to your USPS district manager. Requests have to come directly from your organizations, not from mail houses or agents. You’ll need some time to do the math, so don’t put this off to the last minute. You, your budget, and those added households you can now afford to reach will all be glad.