Direct mail is one of the most versatile tools at a marketer’s disposal; it’s tactile, it’s customizable and it arrives at your intended audience’s doorstep. Literally. As many of us continue to work from home and remain socially-distanced, now is an ideal time to employ a strategy that contacts your audience at home with personalized information because you can expect your message to reach its target. What makes direct mail even more attractive, are the 2021 USPS Promotions and Incentives that help marketers find creative solutions to their content questions without decimating their budget. Standout, affordable and intentional, the only question left is how can you take advantage.

Direct Mail Helps You Save, While Standing Out

People as a whole are experiencing digital fatigue and consumers are growing ever more adept at tuning out unwanted ads. Direct mail offers a highly-targeted, physical option that allows talented marketers to adapt to an omni-channel strategy that has multiple touch points along the consumer journey. Because of its strategical advantages, you could expect that the price of direct mail is skyrocketing, making the solution a problem in itself, but in fact the opposite is true. At the end of December, HR 133, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, was signed, providing roughly $900 billion to bolster the U.S. economy. A key provision of this Act is the inclusion of pandemic-related financial assistance to the USPS that keeps this critical supply chain partner delivering print and packages through the end of the pandemic. The USPS has now turned and offered assistance to those who would use their services in the form of promotions, running through the end of the year.

How the 2021 USPS Promotions and Incentives Work

The USPS currently has 5 difference promotions running, the—

• Tactile Sensory & Interactive (TSI) Mail Piece Engagement Program
• Emerging and Advanced Technology/Video in Print Promotion
• Earned Value Promotion
• Personalized Color Transpromo Promotion
• Mobile Shopping Promtion

And each USPS promotion offers a unique benefit:

The TSI program encourages marketers to incorporate innovative techniques and treatments on their mailpieces, the Emerging and Advanced Technology/Video in Print Promotion allows mailers to receive a postage discount, the Earned Value Promotion provides a discount to mailers who send Business Reply mail (BRM) and Courtesy Reply Mail (CRM) enclosures, the Personalized Color Transpromo Promotion is for mailers who are producing bills and statements that incorporate color into their messaging and, finally, the Mobile Shopping Promotion encourages mailers to integrate mobile technology with direct mail. Each incentive targets a specific action and their qualifying terms are simple. Don’t worry if you still have questions, our download breaks down each of the 2021 USPS Promotions and Incentives and spells out exactly how to earn them. The promotions themselves have an expiration date, so make sure you capitalize swiftly, but where one leaves another picks off and the final promotions don’t conclude until the end of the year.

The USPS is doing their best to support any initiative that a marketer or mailer may have, and taking advantage of what they are offering is simple. Direct mail can be your tool of choice throughout 2021—we all will need at least one.

For any promotional questions or to learn how to qualify, download our incentives sheet that explains each promotions in-depth and provides concrete dates. And for more on the benefits of direct mail, visit our blog.