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Cataloging the Implications
July 18, 2007

On Monday, we began our discussion of the recent postal rate increases and their implications for marketers and mailers.

This week, new rates for periodicals (that is, magazines and catalogs) go into effect, with the usual expectations of dire consequences. Experts say that catalog mailers will the biggest hit, with an estimated 40% increase in mailing rates. Magazine publishers will also be hit with big increases with greater attention paid to the advertising/editorial ratio.

Experts expect that catalogers will make greater use of the Web and other non-print media to drive traffic to the Web. Which is exactly what catalogers have been doing for at least 10 years now. As for magazines, expect greater use of online content, blogging, and so forth. In other words, exactly what they have been doing already for the past five years.

And, after all, as The Industry Measure’s annual Publishing survey inevitably finds, “postal rates” are a perennial top five business challenge for magazine and catalog publishers, so, again, we don’t find anything especially new going on here.

We expect that the postal rate changes will only slightly accelerate longer-term trends that have already been taking place in the publishing markets.

Still, postal rate increases are not inconsiderable. So what’s a marketer or mailer to do? On Friday, we will provide a list of steps that businesses can take to mitigate against postal rate hikes while also maximizing the benefits of your marketing efforts.

Posted by Richard Romano on July 18, 2007 | Comments (0)