Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy

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10 Tips to Help You Get Started With An Effective Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign

For several decades, marketers have been trying to develop different marketing channels to approach their target audience. The old marketing forms, like radio broadcasting, telemarketing, etc., still exist but as a part of broader strategies that consist of digital channels. 

Today, several companies indulge in multi-channel marketing comprising several inbound and outbound channels. Indirect or inbound marketing platforms, such as social media, websites, etc., help companies spread brand awareness and improve their reputation. On the contrary, outbound channels like direct mail, physical stores, etc., help them connect with prospects proactively.

Multi-channel marketing is a mix of direct, indirect, offline, and online channels—allowing customers to choose how they want to engage with a brand. The concept is making a presence on all popular platforms to help prospects reach you and vice versa.

In this blog, let’s discuss what is a multi-channel marketing strategy and how to make it result-driving and effective.

What Does Multi-Channel Marketing Mean?

Multi-channel marketing is the mixture of multiple channels to promote a company’s products and services. It helps businesses create a brand image of themselves and boost recognition.

Instead of running a one-and-done campaign and waiting for results, marketers can now conduct recurring, simultaneous campaigns to get more responses. Such integrated marketing strategies also help them always have leads in their pipeline. 

For example, several world-renowned brands, like HSBC and Vodafone have adopted a multi-channel approach to boost conversions. Gone are the days when they used to promote their offerings on a single channel only. Now, they use a blend of several marketing methods to reinstate messages and increase impact. 

Thus, they are able to tap the potential of every marketing form and get the most out of it. Also, it helps businesses leave behind their competition by levelling up their marketing game.

 Also Read: Integrated Direct Mail Campaign

Why Multi-Channel Marketing Is Important?

With increasing social media and other digital platforms, customers have more choices and opinions. They decide how to buy, where to buy, where to obtain the information, etc. For instance, before purchasing from a brand, they might read its social media reviews, go through some blog posts, and talk to a salesperson in-store. Imagine not advertising on a platform where your prospects are actively looking for brands to buy from. In this situation, you may lose several customers to your competitors. 

Hence, conducting a multi-channel marketing campaign enables you to present your brand in front of prospects in multiple ways and convince them to select you. 

Benefits of Multi-Channel Marketing System

Below, we have mentioned some prime benefits of multi-channel marketing to help you understand if it is worth the investment and make a wise decision:

Expanded Reach and Visibility

The more channels you use for marketing, the more attention you get from your potential customers. Hence, a multi-channel approach helps you grab attention and persuade people to respond to your offers. 

Also, it allows you to reach as many prospects as possible, so you have more leads to work with. 

More Touchpoints

Multi-channel marketing helps you collect more customer data and use it for understanding your buyer persona in-depth. This information is also helpful in personalising marketing plans and measuring campaign success. 

Connect With People On Their Preferred Channel

People interact daily on several offline and online channels that influence their buying decisions. Instead of wanting your prospects to find you and learn about your products and services, you can meet them on their preferred platforms. Adopting a multi-channel approach helps you do that, increasing your chances of conversions. 

Maintain Consistency

Even though multi-channel marketing calls for marketers to use several channels, they should ensure consistency. Without consistency, their marketing plans are likely to distort and fail. 

For example: if you combine TV and direct mail advertising, it is better to promote the same offer at both places. Otherwise, your audience may get confused and not reply. They might also not remember your brand because of varied messaging. Thus, try using the same headlines, offers, and graphics on all channels to increase brand recall among your target audience. 

Competitive Advantage

Using various channels to communicate with existing and potential customers gives you the edge over your competitors. By being present everywhere, you are stealing competitors’ opportunities to win over your customers. Thus, a multi-channel campaign helps you convert new leads and retain customers. 

 Also Read: PostGrid for Customer Success Teams

Challenges Faced by Multi-Channel Marketers

Like any other marketing method, multi-channel marketing also has its own pros and cons. Above, we discussed the advantages of this marketing strategy; let us also talk about the challenges that multi-channel marketers usually face. 

Personalisation and Targeting

With millions of people being active on different platforms, companies need to zero in on their prospects. They can employ several demographic and psychographic factors to find their customer look-alikes and channel their strategies accordingly. 

Businesses can also use other factors, like purchasing history, buying habits, interests, etc., to figure out whom to target. Once they get a viable audience, they can personalise their offers to amplify their marketing plans and convince prospects to respond right away. 

Highly-Coordinated Campaigns

Using hybrid channels and multi-channel marketing is not as simple as it may appear. It requires tons of effort, time, and resources. Also, it takes intensive planning and coordination to put together such campaigns. 

Therefore, businesses need to develop and modify their touchpoints constantly in a way that their prospects find trustworthy and helpful. They must ensure that they use the correct channels and attend to every respondent systematically.

Response Attribution

In a multi-channel marketing strategy, it can be hard to determine the origin of a response. But, it is crucial to know which channels generated the maximum and minimum responses to learn what works best for you. Thus, response attribution is a big challenge that marketers face, especially while using more than two or three channels. 

Keeping Up With the Latest Trends

We often see new social media trends dictating your prospects’ preferences. It is safe to say that customer choices change frequently, and companies need to keep up with them. 

Until a few years back, marketers were getting started with Facebook and email marketing. Today, they are constantly trying to understand new social media platforms, like LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. Hence, multi-channel marketing pushes companies to upgrade themselves regularly and keep up with the latest trends and channels. 

10 Tips to Help You Get Started With Multi-Channel Marketing

Now that you know what is multi-channel strategy, we have also compiled some tips and tricks to help you get started:

Let Your Marketing Strategies Evolve

Having a lot of customer data does not guarantee your campaign success. Try to update your data frequently, build new models, and evolve your marketing plans. It will help you adapt to new things and develop strategies around your prospect’s needs and preferences. 

Focus On Customer Experiences

Several marketers often distinguish multi-channel marketing from omnichannel marketing. The reason could be that a multi-channel approach is focused on using multiple channels, whereas omnichannel marketing prioritises customer experiences. 

As a multi-channel marketer, try integrating your customer view and tracing customers’ journeys throughout your marketing campaigns. It helps you understand their requirements and take the necessary steps to push them ahead of the sales funnel.

Some customers may respond to your offers using more than one channel. Hence, it is your job to stay on top of such details and deal with every respondent smartly. 

Align Your Marketing and Sales Teams

For your multi-channel marketing campaign to work, it is crucial to eliminate organisational silos. Silo working means not sharing information with other departments of the same company, leading to a business’s stunted growth. Hence, companies must break down such barriers and facilitate the flow of information that benefits everyone. 

In multi-channel marketing, marketers need to hear and accept feedback from several teams, including sales, marketing, and customer service. This way, they can align their efforts, combine all helpful information, and bring in more conversions. 

Know Your Target Prospects

The most significant aspect of any marketing campaign is its target audience. Before planning and executing a multi-channel campaign, list your marketing objectives and define your target audience. You can start by answering the following questions:

• Are there common characteristics among your existing customers? 
• Where do they reside? Are they customer-dense localities that you can target?
• Are your prospects already looking for a product or service that you offer? 
• What are the buying habits and likes of your prospects?
• Should you use generic marketing or targeted marketing to reach your audience?
• On which channel can you find the maximum customer look-alikes? 

These questions can help you outline what you should and should not do. For example, imagine most of your customers reside in a specific neighbourhood. In this case, it is more profitable to include a Royal Mail Door-to-Door campaign as part of your multi-channel marketing strategy. 

 Also Read: Door-to-Door Mail Delivery

Develop Individual Strategies for Every Channel

If you are using more than one marketing form, you need to know the rules and algorithms of every channel. Even though your messaging should be consistent, there are some tweaks you need to make on every platform. 

For example, Instagram needs marketers to create more visual images, whereas they need to draft written articles for LinkedIn. It is how you can do well on every channel and see positive results. 

Create Compelling Artwork and Copy

Multi-channel marketing is not only visible everywhere; you also need to create meaningful, persuasive, and worthy content. Therefore, you need a compelling copy to discuss your offerings and push people to get onboard. Make sure your copy comprises a catchy headline, message, offer, and CTA. Here’s an example of a marketing postcard copy:

Hi Mr. Andrew, are you looking for a home loan with zero processing fees? Look no further!

HVSB Bank makes loan processing effortless, less time-consuming, and advantageous. Our zero processing fees and quick applications help us serve millions of customers in the UK. And we look forward to serving you with the same zest! 

Interested in knowing more? Just scan the QR code below to learn everything about us and schedule an appointment with one of our talented, helpful customer representatives!

P.S.: Also, look into our insurance plans offering appealing features, like low premium rates, lightning-fast claim responses, etc. 

The above copy is personalised and responsive. On the one hand, it creates curiosity about your products or services. And on the other hand, it helps people move ahead in the marketing funnel by completing the CTA. Combining such messages with eye-catching graphics can help your multi-channel marketing campaign succeed and increase your engagement levels. 

Look Into Retargeting

Targeting a new audience every time may give your brand more exposure, but it can slow down your conversions. Retargeting specific audiences over and over again can help you see more engagement. It is because prospects don’t usually reply the first time they hear from a brand. They need some time to know and trust your brand. Hence, it is more productive to create a multi-channel campaign to retarget hot leads. 

Select the Right Marketing Channels

The marketing forms you choose can either make or break your multi-channel campaign. Hence, select carefully and ensure that you have the right mix. 

You have several options, like:

• Email
• PPC and SEO
• Content marketing
• Social media
• Direct mail
• Mobile advertising
• Brick-and-mortar stores
• Hand-outs, etc.

There is no hard and fast rule about how you must combine these channels or use them. Hence, ensure that you consider your goals and target audience before making any decision. Suppose you want to target older citizens. In this case, newspaper advertising, hand-outs, and direct mail may be the ideal combination. However, targeting millennials may need you to combine online and offline channels in the correct proportions. 

Test Your Multi-Channel Marketing Plans

Designing a robust multi-channel marketing strategy is not a one-time task. Also, you may not get the desired results the first time itself. Hence, try employing A/B testing to see which of your plans works best. In fact, you can test every aspect of your campaign, from timing to offers. 

Testing your plans beforehand helps you understand them more deeply and make the necessary modifications. Don’t forget to create a smooth tracking mechanism to help you measure your campaign results.

Use Marketing Automation

As said earlier, multi-channel marketing requires a lot of time and effort. Hence, it is advisable to switch to automation to streamline your activities and get everything done effortlessly. 

For instance, PostGrid’s direct mail API can help you automate your mailing tasks and improve efficiency. It also enables you to save costs and drive higher responses. 

Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign Examples

After knowing what is a multi-channel strategy and how to boost results, you must also be aware of some commonly-used examples that you can use. Here, we have listed some for your reference:

• Direct mail and email marketing: Marketers use this combination to reinstate their offers and follow up on prospects. For example, most companies first send direct mail items to their potential customers and drop a follow-up email within two or three days. It helps them re-engage their audience and increases the possibility of getting a response.
• TV advertising, social media, and direct mail: This mix may be among the most effective ones as it focuses on all popular channels. Your prospects are more likely to complete the CTA when they see it via these platforms. 
• Social media and email marketing: Modern marketers opt for this multi-channel marketing combination, as it is purely digital and easy to launch. However, it lacks a personal touch and cannot assure long-term, genuine results. To fix this issue, you can combine this mix with an offline channel, like newspaper advertising, postcard marketing, etc. 

How Can PostGrid Help You Conduct a Successful Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign?

As said above, PostGrid’s direct mail services help marketers automate their offline mailing activities. You can integrate our API into your CRM and combine direct mail with any channel. For example, PostGrid can be integrated into popular platforms like Hubspot, Zapier, Salesforce, etc. 

Apart from the API integrations, PostGrid also offers many more features, including:

• Pre-built templates: Our HTML and PDF templates help you design your marketing collateral within minutes. You can also customise these templates according to your needs and re-use them if needed. 
• Mailing list compilation: We understand that compiling a segmented mailing list is not easy. Thus, PostGrid helps you build a custom, targeted mailing list from scratch before every campaign—guaranteeing positive results. 
• Per-piece tracking: PostGrid helps you see the delivery status of every sent item, helping you plan other multi-channel marketing tasks accordingly. 
• Address verification: You no longer need to deal with lost mail, delivery delays, and returns. PostGrid’s address verification API allows you to standardise and validate all mailing addresses to ensure that your campaign is executed smoothly. 
• Bulk mailing: With PostGrid, you can mail your marketing collateral on-demand and in bulk. Our API can handle millions of requests in one go, making it simple to mail in any number. 

Therefore, PostGrid helps you improve your offline marketing activities and combine them into a broad multi-channel marketing strategy without any issues.

Wrapping Up

We hope this blog helps you know what is multi-channel marketing give an example. Using a multi-channel approach, marketers can fulfil their objectives and drive conversions. Also, they can strengthen company-customer relationships and boost brand reputation. Undoubtedly, it enables businesses to beat the ever-growing competition and increase sales levels.

However, it may be complicated to conduct a multi-channel campaign, making it essential to use automation. Try choosing marketing automation platforms that assist you throughout the campaign and help you improve your ROI, like PostGrid.

Sign up now to know more about launching an effective mailing campaign as part of your multi-channel approach with PostGrid!

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source https://www.postgrid.co.uk/multi-channel-marketing-strategy/

Location-based Marketing

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Location-Based Marketing Strategies

Successful marketers spend hours and days creating the perfect marketing strategy. But, even seasoned marketers sometimes overlook one aspect of their marketing: the locality or geographical area of their prospects. 

Location based marketing could offer a solution to this problem. A location-based marketing effort ensures that your campaigns are relevant to the geographical area or locality you want to target. Also, businesses can increase brand recall and drive more sales with a location-based marketing strategy. Just considering the geographical location of your prospects and analysing their demographic trends can give priceless insights.

Using location data for marketing is so versatile that we are still coming up with new & innovative ways to make use of it. Let us look at some popular location-based marketing strategies and learn how they can work for your business.

What is Location-Based Marketing?

Location based marketing is a marketing strategy that enables business organisations to target their audience based on their physical location. It also goes by the name geolocation-based marketing. You can use both online and offline channels for your location-based marketing campaigns.

You can employ online channels like email and offline channels like direct mail in location-based marketing. The only requirement in both cases is that the targeting uses the prospect’s physical location. 

Using location data, marketers can target customers based on their proximity to the store or events conducted in a specific locality. Furthermore, location-targeted advertising is one of the few marketing strategies that are effective throughout the customer lifecycle, which includes:

• Discovery 
• Purchase
• Engagement 
• Retention

Apart from all this, geolocation-based marketing also helps you with:

• Target specific customer segments with unique offers.
• Improve customer experience by offering relevant products and solutions.
• Appeal to the customers who are constantly looking for instant gratification.

Top 6 Location-Targeted Advertising Strategies For Your Business

Location-based marketing is relatively new to marketers and business owners. Today, we use several IoT or connected devices in our everyday lives. Everything from our wristwatch to our car can now connect to the internet in one way or the other.

“But, why is it relevant here?” you may wonder. More often than not, the connected devices that we use have access to our location data. In other words, the amount of location data is directly proportional to the number of connected devices.

Additionally, you need to ensure you have the right tools for your location-targeted ads, such as PostGrid. Specialised tools like PostGrid gives you access to address and location data that can be crucial for your location-based campaigns.   

Now that we have a good understanding of what is location based marketing and how it works, let’s discuss their different types. We have compiled a list of different location-based advertising strategies or methods you can employ for your business.

1. Geocoding

Geocoding is an advanced location-targeted advertising method that uses offline communication channels like direct mail. It involves determining the physical location of your customers based on their postal addresses.

Geocoding usually comes equipped with advanced direct mail automation tools such as PostGrid. It enables you to use plain postal addresses and get their geographical locations. Using a tool like PostGrid, you can even map these locations and identify patterns.

Marketers can use this geolocation-based marketing to find neighbourhoods with a cluster of prospective customers. You can then conduct events or run direct mail campaigns in these areas to market a product or service you are selling.

Working

In geocoding, the system takes the address data from you. It analyses the address data, including the postal codes, to provide you with the geocodes of an address. The accuracy of the latitudinal and longitudinal values you get can vary based on your tool. With an advanced tool, you get a rooftop level of accuracy, which is as good as possible.

Benefits

• It helps you identify clusters of prospective buyers in a specific area.
• You can map your potential buyers and better understand the demographics.
• It helps you better manage customer data and categorise them into different segments.

2. Geotargeting 

Geotargeting is a location based marketing method that determines the physical location and sends them a personalised marketing message. You can customise the marketing message based on specific geographical areas or localities in geotargeting. 

As with any other marketing strategy, this also has some weak points. For example, geotargeting cannot work if the customer does not give location access to your mobile app. But, generally, users do not have a problem giving location access to mobile apps.

Suppose the customer gives your mobile app location access. In that case, you can use location based marketing to send marketing messages or push notifications. These messages and push notifications are usually relevant to geographic regions or proximity to a store. 

Working 

The working of geotargeting is pretty simple. It uses your target audience’s IP address for pitching relevant marketing offers to the customers. The IP address is unique and identifiable for every connected device. Hence, location data based on IP addresses are reliable for your geolocation based marketing campaigns.

Once the system has the target’s IP address, the system compares it against the physical address of the target. The matching or comparison process includes every detail, including country name, postal code, etc. However, to ensure the accuracy of the process, you need an accurate postal address database.

The most convenient option is to use an advanced address verification software like PostGrid to validate your postal address database. It can validate your addresses against Royal Mail’s official address database and ensure you have the correct information.

Benefits

• Enhance customer experience through superior personalisation.
• Target users based on their specific location, weather, local news, and events.

3. Geofencing

Geofencing is a location based marketing method that creates boundaries within a specific locality. As soon as the target enters this boundary, they become an active target of your marketing strategy.

Once a target turns active, you can start sending them your marketing content or offer or messages. So, let’s say your company has a physical store or outlet in the local shopping centre. Here is how you can use a location based marketing method like geofencing in that case.

Every time a prospective customer walks into the city centre, they receive a marketing message or push notification from your business. You can study your prospects’ buying habits and behaviour and pitch them relevant products/services for better results.

Working 

Geofencing uses GPS technology for creating or setting boundaries within a specific geographic area or locality. This location based marketing strategy detects the prospect’s location using their GPS location. 

When the prospect crosses the boundary set by the business within a locality, they become an active target. The system then sends personalised marketing messages, push notifications, or offers that encourage them to visit the store. 

If the product, service, or offer you send the customer is relevant, then the target is likely to visit your store. 

Benefits

• Cover large areas such as malls and events.
• Target all prospects within a specific area.
• Ideal for boosting your stall/store traffic in events and conventions. 
• It uses real-time location data.
• You can promote customer engagement with your products/services.
• Minimise the engagement of your target with competitor brands.

4. Beaconing

It is a geolocation based marketing method that uses Bluetooth or WIFI networks and connected devices. These connected devices act as a beacon, but they can only work with some predetermined applications.  

Beaconing is a perfect way to target existing customers within a geographic area. However, unlike what we saw in geofencing, the geographical location, in this case, is relatively small. Just think about your devices’ range of Bluetooth and WIFI networks to get a realistic image of the beacon’s catchment area.

For example, a prospect walks around a big furniture store, and they reach the bed section. At this point, the store can send or inform the details of the sales offer of bed frames. 

Working

This location-based marketing involves the beacon or the customer’s device sending a signal to your (business) device. Once your device receives the signal or information, it prompts a server to send the appropriate content to the device. The content sent to the customer’s device could be an email, a push notification, etc. 

Benefits

• It provides a more direct communication channel with customers.
• Ability to track customers indoors, which implies high precision.
• It enables you to get a better understanding of customer behaviour.
• The prospect does not have to be online to receive the notification.

5. Mobile Targeting

Mobile targeting is a location-targeted advertising strategy that involves targeting your customers with ads specifically for mobile devices. It is no secret that the general public hates ads, and they will go out of their way to avoid them. 

Hence, with mobile targeting, you must make the ads context-specific. But, doing this is easier said than done. Basing your ads on time, device, location, etc., can significantly help you enhance your results.

Social media ads are a perfect example of this type of location based marketing. You can target your marketing efforts based on location data with social media ads. It is especially effective to push customers into visiting your store, nearby events, and more.

Working  

Mobile targeting works with the help of segment creation in your mobile ad platform. Here, you can define the qualifications of your target audience. Facebook ads are a perfect example of advanced mobile targeting. It enables you to narrow down on the ideal prospect for you. 

However, with a location based marketing strategy, the marketing process is initiated only when the customer enters a specified area or comes in proximity to your store.

Benefits

• It enables you to target prospects directly on their devices.
• Mobile targeting is ideal for creating more personalised connections.
• It often leads to a higher ROI for your ads as it is highly targeted.

6. Geo-Conquesting

With geo-conquesting, you get geolocation based marketing that can help you get the upper hand over your competition. How does it do it? Geo-conquesting diverts prospects from your competitors using location data. 

The logic behind geo-conquesting is much easier to understand than you might think. Suppose you are a realtor and want to get the upper hand against your competition. Here, you can set up a boundary around a busy open house your competitor is executing. 

So, whenever a potential real estate buyer comes near the property, you can send them offers on similar properties at a lower price. You can even set up another open house around the same time as your competitor’s open house to create a sense of urgency.

Working

Like geofencing, geo-conquesting is also a location based marketing that employs GPS technology. But instead of setting up a boundary near your store, you set it up around your competitor. Everything else in geo-conquesting is similar to the other strategies we discussed above. 

As the prospect comes close to your competitor, they start receiving marketing messages that divert them to you.

Benefits

• Enables you to earn more market share.
• Allows you to get new customers for your business.
• It lets you target genuinely interested prospects in your product/service.

Conclusion

Location based marketing offers a lot of benefits to business organisations. It enhances the user experience, increases foot traffic, delivers relevant ads, and even lets you divert customers from your competition. 

However, more often than not, location-based marketing strategies can only work as well as the tools you use. Take PostGrid, for example. It enables customers to conduct easy and convenient geocoding to reveal valuable information about their target audience.

Furthermore, geocoding is only a tiny part of what PostGrid can do for your business. PostGrid’s direct mail automation tool lets you personalise, print, and deliver marketing materials to your customers. Similarly, you can use other advanced tools to implement different geolocation based marketing campaigns.

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The post Location-based Marketing appeared first on PostGrid UK.

source https://www.postgrid.co.uk/location-based-marketing/

Managed Print Services

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How To Save Time, Money, And Resources Of Your Business Using Managed Print Services

Manually managing bulk printing needs for a business organisation is like having a trolley for shopping with one wheel not working. Just like that one stuck wheel makes your entire shopping experience lag, a manual printing process can also drag your business operations behind.

It is no wonder that more and more businesses are now turning to Managed Print Services or MPS for easy printing within their business organisation. But, many companies are still not entirely aware of how MPS works or how they can benefit from it.

What are Managed Print Services?

Managed Print Services or MPS are the printing service offered by a third party that enables companies to optimise their document output. Although it may sound pretty simple, the processes carried out by an MPS provider are far from simple. 

Some of the main processes that MPS undertake for optimising your business’s print output are as follows.

• Requirement assessment
• Selective/general replacement of hardware
• Servicing of print equipment
• Restocking of print supplies
• Operating new, existing, and third-party print equipment

In other words, the MPS will take over a company’s all print and print-related equipment. It can include printers, scanners, copiers, and any dual or multifunctional devices if you have any. Furthermore, the Managed Print Services also takes control of your workflow and document management solutions for optimising your print output.

How To Save Money Using Managed Print Services?

MPS can save businesses a significant amount of money by optimising their print output, especially if they employ bulk mail campaigns. What is even more exciting about MPS is that companies of all sizes can use it. So, it doesn’t matter if you are SME or a large enterprise; you can still benefit from MPS.

Want to learn how to execute flawless bulk mail operations for your business? Check out our blog, “Bulk Mailing Services: An All-in-one Guide to Boost Response.”

Here are some ways print management services can help your business save a chunk of revenue.

• Minimise Wastage Of Ink Toners: When you use an MPS system for printing, there is little to no chance of wasting ink toners. There is no scope for useless printing with an optimised printing process, saving your expenses on ink toners.
• Minimise Wastage Of Paper: Just like the ink toners, the wastage of paper also gets minimised with an optimised printing process.
• Minimise The Number Of Print Devices Required. With Managed Print Services, you can get the maximum number of prints by taking away the excess printers.
• Save Employee Time: An advanced MPS solution like PostGrid essentially automates your bulk printing needs, saving employee work hours.
• Save Energy Cost: As your printing gets optimised, the number of print cycles also gets minimised, leading to more savings on energy costs.

What Can Print Management Services Do For Your Business?

Managed Print Services tools are not just helpful in saving money on your printing expenses. There are several steps involved in an MPS service. Furthermore, some of them can even help you optimise other aspects of your business. Here is the list of things an MPS system can do for your business.

Analyse Your Print Requirements

MPS first analyses all factors concerning your printing requirements. It includes analysing your scanning, copying, and faxing needs as well. Additionally, Managed Print Services consists of a detailed printing audit. In the audit, the MPS assesses each printing device to reveal information such as:

• The documents or photos a device prints
• The identity of the person who uses that device for printing
• The cost of printing for that specific printer

The data listed above helps you get a comprehensive understanding of the printing habits of your organisation. You can even categorise the data based on specific departments in your organisation. The audit also reveals the overworked devices enabling you to consolidate your printers. Apart from this, you can avoid unnecessary printing in your organisation.

Reduce/Eliminate Local Desktop Printers

The need or necessity for local or desktop printers is one of the first things that print management services analyse. It is always better to use dedicated remote printers for your business communications as the local ones are inefficient and expensive.

An individual employee usually uses local or desktop printers, and they are rarely ever networked. Furthermore, such printers always use up a lot of ink toner cartridges, and the smaller cartridges are typically more expensive.

Consolidate Your Print Devices

The Managed Print Services provider also assesses your multifunctional devices and checks them against your business’s print requirements. It finds out the number of excessive devices you have if there are any. 

Hence, you can consolidate your devices to a lower number. For instance, you can take printers from departments where they rarely use them to share one among departments with similar printing needs. 

Place Your Printers 

It might surprise you that printer placement plays a crucial role in your printing operations. The printer(s) should be so that the required number of people can easily access it. Apart from optimising the printing within your organisation, managed print solutions also improve your business’s workflow. As a result, it maximises your workforce and work hours. 

Replace Your Inefficient Devices 

Sometimes, having an inefficient printer can cost you more in the long run than buying a new and efficient one. Hence, MPS providers analyse and find out underperforming devices and replace them with efficient ones. As a result, you save money and time on frequent servicing and maintenance. 

Automatically Refills Your Print Supplies 

Managed Print Services tools enable your business to refill your print supplies automatically. Hence, you can ensure there are no more delays or interruptions in your printing process. Furthermore, you don’t need personnel wasting their time monitoring the stock of print materials and placing new orders. As a result, you can eliminate downtime caused by ink shortage almost entirely. 

Accurate Cost Estimation

By consolidating your cost and suppliers, the Managed Print Services can provide you with a much more accurate prediction of monthly spending. Additionally, businesses can use the MPS contract for ensuring that the provider you pick maintains a steady supply of toners. It ultimately helps you avoid unexpected maintenance and servicing costs.

Print Your Documents/Materials Remotely

MPS providers like PostGrid enable you to set up remote printing capabilities for your business and streamline your direct mail campaigns. You can print everything from marketing postcards to sending regular direct mail communications like bills/invoices. For example, financial institutions can remotely print their direct communication such as adverse action letters and debt collection letters using PostGrid. 

Print Only When And What Is Necessary

The cost-saving principles of Managed Print Services are pretty straightforward. MPS providers enable their customers to have more control over their print operations without any inconveniences. It optimises your printing operation to eliminate needless printing within your organisation. 

You can even set up a default setting for minimising your printing costs. For example, you can opt for black and white printing over colour printing, significantly impacting the prices. Using double-sided printing can help you save a considerable chunk of money on paper costs.

Reduce Your Spending On Printers and Copiers

The most significant expense for printing operations inside an organisation is none other than the printer itself. With Managed Print Services tools, you can significantly minimise equipment costs to your organisation.

Conclusion

Thanks to advanced automation, MPS providers can streamline your organisation’s print requirements with ease. Print management services like PostGrid optimise your business’s bulk mail requirements, saving you money, resources, and time.

The services offered by an MPS provider are not just about saving money but optimising your business communications. Industries such as financial services can optimise direct mail communications and send important documents to their customers.

Furthermore, MPS providers like PostGrid enable you to run advanced direct marketing campaigns and send marketing materials directly to your target audience. The best thing about using Managed Print Services tools like PostGrid is full automation capability.

You can use PostGrid’s print and mail API to completely automate your direct mail marketing and communication efforts. Hence, you can personalise, print, and deliver printed materials to your customers and partners. As a result, you can minimise wastage of time and resources leading to a high ROI.

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source https://www.postgrid.co.uk/managed-print-services-guide/

UK Postage Rates

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UK Postage Rates: All You Need To Know About Royal Mail's New 2022 Postage Prices

Did you know that Royal Mail is updating its postage prices in April 2022?

Is your business prepared to handle the postage price change that is inevitably coming?

A lot of time and planning goes into executing direct mail campaigns for a business. One of the reasons most companies still use direct mail campaigns is their high ROI or Return On Investment. How big of an effect can the 2022 postage rates have on your direct mail ROI?

To answer this question, you first need to know how much does postage costs in the UK. Hence, here we have created a comprehensive list of the different postal services offered by Royal Mail and their latest postage rates.

This article will help you analyse the 2022 postage charges and prepare your new direct mail campaigns based on the latest data.

So, let us dig in!

Size and Weight Guide For UK Postage Rates

The postage rate for mailers everywhere globally is usually dependent on their size and weight unless it explicitly states otherwise. Hence, if you are trying to understand the UK postage rates, then the best place to start is the size and weight of postal packages.

Depending on the size and weight of the postal mailer, you can broadly classify it into six types, and they are:

• Letters
• Large Letters
• Small Parcels
• Medium Parcels
• Parcelforce Parcels
• Parcelforce Large Parcels

Type Of Mailer	Length	Width	Thickness	Weight Limit
Letters	24cm	16.5cm	0.5cm	100g
Large Letters	35.3cm	25cm	2.5cm	750g
Small Parcels	45cm	35cm	16cm	2kg
Medium Parcels	61cm	46cm	46cm	20kg
Parcelforce Parcels	1.5m	3m length and girth combines		30kg
Parcelforce Large Parcels	2.5m	4m length and girth combined		30kg*

Rolled and Cylinder-Shaped Parcels

You might have also come across rolled or cylinder-shaped parcels. If you did, you are probably wondering how their dimensions are measured. In such cases, the length of the package plus two times the diameter should not be over 104cm. Furthermore, Royal Mail also states that the most significant dimension of a rolled or cylinder-shaped parcel should not exceed 90cm.

Types Of Postal Mail Services And Their UK Postage Rates

We know the different sizes and weights for postal mailers you can send via a service provider like Royal Mail. What is another important aspect that might affect the postage prices in the UK? Apart from the size and weight of the package, the other thing that can affect the postage rate is the speed of delivery.

Royal Mail offers several postal mail services to its customers. Although not all postal mail services are based on the speed of delivery, the majority of the postage prices are dependent on the delivery speed. Some postal mail services have a higher postage rate because they include special services such as proof of delivery.

The types of postal services offered by the Royal Mail can broadly be classified into four distinct categories, and they are:

• UK Guaranteed 
• UK Signed 
• UK Standard
• Parcelforce Worldwide

UK Guaranteed Postal Services

The UK Guaranteed is one of the premium postal services offered by the Royal Mail. As the name implies, the postal service guarantees the delivery of your mailer within a specified time. Even within the UK Guaranteed services, you may see different postage rates UK. 

There are different types of UK Guaranteed services provided by the Royal Mail. The primary UK Guaranteed services you can use for your business communication are listed below.

• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm
• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am
• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am with Saturday Guarantee
• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm with Saturday Guarantee

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am or 1 pm 

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am or 1 pm is one of the most widely used postal mail services from Royal Mail. The primary reason why businesses prefer to use the Guaranteed 9 am or 1 pm service is that it enables them to ensure their mailer is delivered at the right time. Royal Mail provides a guaranteed 9 am or 1 pm delivery of your postal mailers. 

Trace And Track Facility

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am, or 1 pm comes equipped with a track and trace facility. It allows the sender to track the mailer’s journey from the moment it leaves your hands to the point of delivery.

Signature On Delivery

Both Guaranteed 9 am, and 1 pm services require the recipient’s signature on delivery. Hence, you will always get proof of delivery when you use UK Guaranteed postal service. Furthermore, you can view the signature online just 10 minutes after the delivery.

Cover For Valuable Items And Late Delivery

Another significant advantage of the UK Guaranteed service is that they offer coverage for your valuable items and late deliveries.  

Compensation And Additional Coverage

The Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm is entitled to a compensation of up to £500. However, the compensation for Guaranteed by 9 am delivery is only £50. Furthermore, you can also access optional coverages for your mailers. 

Royal Mail allows you to access additional cover up to £2,500 and optional consequential loss cover-up to £10,000! Hence it is no wonder that the UK Guaranteed service is preferred for sending items of significant value.

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
100g	£6.85
500g	£7.65
1kg	£8.95
2kg	£11.15
10kg	£15.45
20kg	£19.45

Note: The above postage charges are applicable only if you want a standard cover of up to £500. If you wish to have additional coverage for your packages, you will need to pay higher postage, as shown in the table below

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm With Additional Cover
Weight Up To And Including	Postage With £1,000 Cover	Postage With £2,500 Cover
100g	£7.85	£9.85
500g	£8.65	£10.65
1kg	£9.95	£11.95
2kg	£12.15	£14.15
10kg	£16.45	£18.45
20kg	£20.45	£22.45

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am 

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
100g	£22.95
500g	£25.95
1kg	£27.95
2kg	£33.95

 

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am With Additional Cover
Weight Up To And Including	Postage With £1,000 Cover	Postage With £2,500 Cover
100g	£25.15	£28.65
500g	£28.15	£31.65
1kg	£30.15	£33.65
2kg	£36.15	£39.65

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am or 1 pm with Saturday Guarantee.

Guarantee Saturday delivery is an additional option for the UK Guaranteed postal services. However, the Saturday Guarantee comes at an additional cost. If you opt for Saturday Guarantee, the whole structure of the  UK postage rates change.

Hence it is best to mention the postage rates of guaranteed 9 am and 1 pm with Saturday guarantee separately.

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm with Saturday Guarantee

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
100g	£11.22
500g	£12.18
1kg	£13.74
2kg	£16.38
10kg	£21.54
20kg	£26.34

 

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm With Additional Cover
Weight Up To And Including	Postage With £1,000 Cover	Postage With £2,500 Cover
100g	£12.42	£14.82
500g	£13.38	£15.78
1kg	£14.94	£17.34
2kg	£17.58	£19.98
10kg	£22.74	£25.14
20kg	£27.54	£29.94

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am with Saturday Guarantee

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
100g	£25.95
500g	£28.95
1kg	£30.95
2kg	£36.95

 

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am With Saturday Guarantee & Additional Cover
Weight Up To And Including	Postage With £1,000 Cover	Postage With £2,500 Cover
100g	£28.15	£31.65
500g	£31.15	£34.65
1kg	£33.15	£36.65
2kg	£39.15	£42.65

UK Signed Postal Services

UK Signed services are another popular postal service offered by the Royal Mail. As you can guess from the name, it requires a signed proof of delivery from the recipients. You can get UK Signed postal service for your first and second class mail.

Most businesses use either first class or second class mail for their direct mail communication. Hence, the UK Signed services are an excellent way for companies to deliver direct mail to the target audience.

It can be beneficial for industries such as financial services. Financial service providers can use specialised tools like PostGrid to send adverse action notices and require the recipient to sign your letters.

You can learn more about how PostGrid’s direct mail system can help loan companies market their business on our blog “Marketing Ideas for Loan Companies UK”

Online Delivery Confirmation

A definite advantage of UK Signed services is the order delivery confirmation feature. It enables the sender to get a confirmation on the delivery, which can be crucial for many industry verticals and business organisations.

Compensation 

Royal Mail also provides compensation of £50 to its customers using the UK Signed services similar to the ones we saw in UK Guaranteed services. Such compensation can be ideal for businesses that regularly send direct mail communications. 

Eligible For eBay Seller Protection programme

Apart from its other features, the UK Signed services are also eligible for the eBay Seller Protection programme. Hence, it is also a perfect choice for E-Commerce companies for delivering their products and services. 

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Signed For 1st Class Mail

Type Of Mailer	Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
Letters	100g	£2.35
Large Letters	100g	£2.85
	250g	£3.45
	500g	£4.05
	750g	£4.70
Small Parcels	2kg	£5.55
Medium Parcels	2kg	£8.05
	10kg	£9.05
	20kg	£14.05

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Signed For 2nd Class Mail

Type Of Mailer	Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
Letters	100g	£2.08
Large Letters	100g	£2.45
	250g	£3.05
	500g	£3.55
	750g	£4.10
Small Parcels	2kg	£4.45
Medium Parcels	2kg	£6.45
	10kg	£8.05
	20kg	£11.55

UK Standard Postal Services

The UK Standard postal service is the number one choice for businesses regarding direct mail marketing. UK Standard postal service includes the regular 1st Class and 2nd Class postal delivery services.

One of the main reasons businesses prefer to use the UK Standard postal service is the low postage costs. Hence, they are ideal for sending bulk marketing mail to the target audience. However, such extensive bulk mailing often requires an advanced automation solution like PostGrid to ensure your campaign’s optimal performance.

Want to know more about how an automated direct mail solution can help your business? Read our blog “Automated Direct Mail”

1st Class Mail

The advantage of using the 1st Class mail service is relatively fast. Royal Mail usually tries to deliver the 1st Class mail on the next working day, even if it is a Saturday. Furthermore, the 1st Class Mail comes with compensation cover up to £20.

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail 1st Class Mai

Type Of Mailer	Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
Letters	100g	95p
Large Letters	100g	£1.45
	250g	£2.05
	500g	£2.65
	750g	£3.30
Small Parcels	2kg	£4.45
Medium Parcels	2kg	£6.95
	10kg	£7.95
	20kg	£12.95

2nd Class Mail

The 2nd Class mail is the most affordable way to send direct mail to your customers. However, it does take a longer time to deliver. Usually, a 2nd Class mail is delivered within two to three working days, but this can vary from time to time. Similar to 1st Class mail, you also get compensation cover up to £20.

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail 2nd Class Mail

Type Of Mailer	Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
Letters	100g	68p
Large Letters	100g	£1.05
	250g	£1.65
	500g	£2.15
	750g	£2.70
Small Parcels	2kg	£3.35
Medium Parcels	2kg	£5.35
	10kg	£6.95
	20kg	£10.45

Parcelforce Worldwide Postal Services

The Parcelforce Worldwide postal service from Royal Mail offers to include several sub-services. The primary Parcelforce Worldwide postal services are classified into 7 categories, and they are as follows.

• express48
• express24
• expresssunday
• expressAM
• express10
• express9
• express48 (Large)

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail express48 Mail

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£8.95
10kg	£9.95
20kg	£11.95
30kg	£14.95
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail express24 Mail

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£9.35
10kg	£13.35
20kg	£15.35
30kg	£18.35
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail expresssunday Mail

Weight Up To and Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£25.80
10kg	£30.24
20kg	£37.02
30kg	£53.70
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail expressAM Mail

Weight Up To and Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£18.49
10kg	£19.69
20kg	£21.49
30kg	£24.49
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail express10 Mail

Weight Up To and Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£22.00
10kg	£23.00
20kg	£25.00
30kg	£28.00
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail express9 Mail

Weight Up To and Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£39.90
10kg	£44.43
20kg	£51.18
30kg	£67.80
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail express48 (Large) Mail

Weight Up To and Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£31.80
10kg	£36.60
20kg	£44.10
30kg	£61.20
Per extra kg	£1.56

Conclusion

The Royal Mail updates its postage prices every year. Businesses that regularly send direct mail to their customers, prospects, or partners need to update themselves with the latest postage rates. Even a slight ignorance on your part could lead to a significant loss, especially if you send bulk mail.

Besides keeping well-informed about the Royal Mail postage rates, you also need to employ advanced direct mail solutions like PostGrid. A fully automated direct mail software can optimise your direct mail process and minimise your direct mail expenses.

Furthermore, using an automated tool like PostGrid is also the most convenient option for businesses. It lets you personalise, print, and deliver your mailers with just the click of a button. As a result, it saves you valuable time and eliminates the scope for manual error, which ultimately saves you even more money.

Ready to Get Started?

Start transforming and automating your offline communications with PostGrid

SIGN UPREQUEST A DEMO

The post UK Postage Rates appeared first on PostGrid UK.

source https://www.postgrid.co.uk/uk-postage-rates/