January 2012

8

InSIDE >>

Business OperatiOns

6

ManageMent

emerging Market-places and Declining Business segments

Post ScriptsM a i l i n g & F u l F i l l M e n t S e r v i c e a S S o c i a t i o n

Quest for Business intelligence

(Continued to page 25)

(continued to page 14)

By Spencer Powell, inbound Marketing DirectortMr Direct

Website analytics can make your website work for you. today, the internet plays such a vital role for busi-nesses. as the saying goes, “if you’re not on the web...you’re dead.” this isn’t true for every type of business, but it is true for a growing percentage. in fact, many companies today were built on the web and wouldn’t exist had it not been for the internet.

When business owners think about their website, often times they think of it in terms of another storefront - which is true. they want to know how many visitors they are getting. “How many hits did the website get this month?” is the equivalent of the retailer’s “How many door swings did i get?” although this is a great question to ask, we certainly can’t stop here. traffic is not the ultimate indicator. it doesn’t give us enough data.

Here are a few questions that business owners and marketers absolutely must think about, measure, and utilize to start making better business decisions on the web.

• What type of traffic am i getting?• Where is it coming from? (organic search, paid, referral sites, social media)• Which keywords are driving people to the site?• How many leads is my website producing each week or each month?• How many new customers is my website producing?

WEbSItE analytIcS - arE you FocuSIng on What’S rEally Important?

13

assOciatiOn

Meet MFsa’s Mid-Winter conference all-star coach Line-up

tEchnologyISSuE

Reprinted with permission from Grow Socially

Mobile is the future of marketing. it affects every aspect of your customers’ lives. More than 91% of u.S. consumers now have mobile phones, and more than half of mobile phones sold are smartphones. already, many people live their entire business and personal lives on their phones. From coupon clipping to product research to social media, there’s an app for that. Mobile gives you near immediate access to them — no matter where they are and what they are doing.

let’s look at some of the ways your company can take advantage of mobile.

text messagingtexting has become a way of life. the average ameri-can mobile phone user now sends more texts per month than they make phone calls. according to aBi research, consumers worldwide sent more than 7 trillion (yes, trillion) SMS messages in 2011. it’s time to integrate text messaging into your marketing!there are a variety of ways to do this:

• Broadcast text messages• invite people to text back short codes

(“text BogoFree to 12345”)• use triggered text alerts based on time or lo-

cation

When Dunkin’ Donuts wanted to market hot lattes to high school/college-age students in the Bos-ton area, it used a combination of radio advertising and mobile internet (WaP) ads — “text in to DD-123” — to drive in-store re-demption of mobile coupons. the results? a 21% increase in store traffic and redemption of the mobile coupon.

mobile and Social mediaanother way to take advantage of mobile is through social media. Social networking—one of today’s fast-est growing marketing channels—is huge on mobile devices.

according to comScore, inc., the percentage of mo-bile phone users accessing social networking sites through their phones rose from 6.5% to 11.1% be-tween January 2009 and January 2010. among

mobIlE markEtIng: grabbIng conSumErS on thE go!

2 MFSA PostScripts

mark your calendar >>MiD-Winter conFerencearizona grand resortPhoenix, aZFebruary 21-24, 2012

annual conFerence Historic grove Park innashville, ncJune 24-27, 2012

Postscripts is published monthly for MFSa members. For advertising information, please contact: Bill Stevenson at bstevenson@MFSanet.org or 800-333-6272.

January 2012 ISSuE 643Chairman’s Column

Post Scripts

Board of Directors

Chairman of the Board

Mike Kellogg; Century Direct, LLC, Long Island City, NY

first ViCe Chairman

Ted Kulpinski; W.A. Wilde Company, Holliston, MA

seCond ViCe Chairman

Tim Johnson; Impact Proven Solutions, Minneapolis, MN

treasurer

Tom Duchene; TDMS, Huntington Beach, CA

immediate Past Chairman

Ken Gossett; AMI, Alexandria, VA

direCtors

Charles Buchanan; World Marketing-Dallas, Dallas, TXTammy Caserta; Think Patented, Dayton, OHGreg Fischer; Marketing Support Services, Cincinnati, OHJoy Franckowiak; Valpak, St. Petersburg, FLDave Lewis; Prolist, Gaithersburg, MDChris Lien; BCC Software Inc., Rochester, NYWayne Marshall; Edwards Graphics Arts, Des Moines, IAKen Orr; ICS Marketing Support Services, Lansing, MIJohn Palazzolo; Adphos North America, Cincinati, OHWes Powell; TMR Direct, Colorado Springs, COAnita Pursley; RR Donnelley, Johns Creek, GAMike Stewart; Great Lakes Integrated, Avon Lake, OHEric Strand; RESCO, Hudson, WIGary Weinberg; Quality Letter Service, Inc., New York, NY

Mailing & Fulfillment Service association1421 Prince Street, Ste. 410alexandria, va 22314tel: 703-836-9200; 800-333-6272Fax: 703-548-8204email: MFSa-mail@MFSanet.orgwww.MFSanet.org Michael Kellogg

chairman of the Board

tEchnology IS a tWo-hEaDED bEaStthis issue of Postscripts is full to the brim with technology articles, written by smart folks and intended to inform you of the plethora of techno-ideas that are literally scattered across our industry landscape. read them all because they are all informative and may lend themselves to the realities of your business.

technology is a two-headed beast, particularly in our business. Despite all of the good things that technology delivers, it is an absolute truth that technology has struck a significant blow to mail volume and therefore has unquestionably hurt people in the printing, mailing and distribution business. Mail volume the likes of 2007 will never be seen again. the common knowledge rea-sons for that are the implications of internet messaging and bill payment platforms. add to that the push to mobile communications and the explosion of the tablet format and, voila, we have a whole new paradigm, one favoring the digital over the physical.

We must embrace the two-headed beast whether we wish to or not. our association has been propounding the concept of technology integration into the service mix for years now. our MSP white paper, written in conjunction with the naPl and the DMa, was our first comprehensive undertaking with a sole purpose of creating direction for those of us who were languishing in dead air. it was a call to action. We must engage technology to escape the doldrums, to be relevant, to provide multi-channel messag-ing that our clients demand. the message seems almost cliché at this point.

our largest trade partner, the Postal Service, has forced us to become conversant in technology for logistical purposes. our collective slog into Postal one, iMB, ncoa, FaSt and so on has cost us dearly. new uSPS endeavors such as eDDM and the DM Hub push us further into a technological relationship with these folks, like it or not. Yes, the rules are often hard to follow and, yes, they change in ways that seem almost whimsical. nonetheless, until a better postal mousetrap gets made we need to work with this monolith called the united States Postal Service and therefore must adapt to its technology requirements or we’re out of the game.

our largest customers are also looking to us to integrate technology processes into our customer service protocols. they want to know what, when, how and how much, all using digital channels without the need to actually speak to a sales or customer service person. How many of us are using invoicing technologies required by our customers in order to get paid by them? efficiencies in production, tracking and reporting are es-sential elements of this constricting industry. Jobs are smaller but more complicated; prices are cheaper; turnaround times are dizzying. technology helps on every score.

on the other hand the impersonal nature of digital interaction does create new chal-lenges in sales and customer service. acquiring and maintaining client relationships may be aided by the use of many of the well-known software and social site platforms that exist out there. However, technology has yet to unseat the knowledgeable, cre-ative and artful individual as the single most important resource for the busy customer. thankfully, knowledge and intelligence imparted in person to a prospect or client can-not be trumped by any technology. Face time, baby.

the publications and conferences that this association makes available to its members arm them with a huge array of information, technological and otherwise. Knowledge employed with judgment will almost always prevail. MFSa gives you the knowledge base. the rest is up to you.

JANUARY 2012 3

4 MFSA PostScripts

Cooper has been actively involved in major postal issues for more than ten years.  He founded and chaired the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Serv-ice, which helped organ-ize the mailing industry to pass Postal Reform in 2006. He also serves as Executive Director of Mail Moves America, the or-ganization formed by DMA to fight Do Not Mail leg-islation in the states.   He is currently a partner at Williams and Jensen. Prior to coming to Williams and Jensen, he was with the Printing Industries of America.

Ben cooperWilliams and Jensen

Management

poStal bIllS oFFEr DramatIcally DIFFErEnt approachES to EnD rESultas 2012 begins in Washington, Dc, congress is only slightly closer to addressing the pending postal ca-lamity than they were when the session opened last January. We have seen both the key committees of the House and Senate approve legislation to address a range of postal problems; however, we have bills that are so far apart that it is difficult to see how they can be easily stitched together.

on key topic areas, the two bills take dramatically dif-ferent approaches. the House legislation (Hr 2309) focuses on the inability of the uSPS to effectively manage itself and creates two new entities to have decisions made. one is a Brac style commission to close facilities. this commission would take the post office closing issue out of the hands of both the uSPS and the congress. it addresses the overall solvency crisis by creating a solvency authority, which would essentially relegate the current management of the uSPS to the sidelines. there are also provisions to allow eliminating Saturday delivery and increasing rates on political mail, nonprofits, some advertising mail and periodicals.

the Senate bill attempts to address solvency by trans-ferring excess federal employee pension payments (the FerS account) to the Postal Service to be used for debt reduction and early retirement incentives. it also reforms the workers’ compensation program for the entire federal government. the uSPS represents 40% of federal workers comp. the bill also changes the pre-funding schedule for the retiree medical plan from 10 to 40 years. While S. 1789 addresses five day delivery, it does so by delaying a decision until other cost savings measures in the bill can be analyzed. Post office closings are subjected to a slower process with greater community involvement.

as we have said before in these articles, the next steps – at least according to the civics books – is the two Houses will consider their bills and then a confer-ence committee will iron out the differences. if only it could be so easy.

in order for the Senate to even consider a postal re-form bill, the leadership (particularly the Democratic majority) will insist that the bill have the support of 60 Senators. otherwise, the bill would be subject to a filibuster threat, which would require 60 votes to break. in order to get 60 votes, different Senators will ask for changes in the bill to accommodate their concerns. it is known that Senator akaka, a senior Democratic senator from Hawaii, will object to the workers’ compensation section. His objection will likely attract others. add to this mix the opposition

of postal unions as well as federal employee unions and it is easy to conclude that this section of the bill will face difficulty.

if the workers’ comp reforms are removed from the Senate bill, the major cost savings component is also removed, which jeopardizes the entire bill.

Frankly, all of this is shaping up as a mess. the House oversight committee has passed a bill that certainly could not pass the Senate and the Senate Homeland Security committee has passed a bill that may not be able to pass the Senate. Meanwhile, the financial col-lapse clock continues to tick. So, the obvious ques-tion is how do we get from here to there?

going back to the civics lesson above, the process really comes down to a conference committee but to get there, the House has to pass something and the Senate has to pass something. neither bill has to be perfect; however, somewhere in the two bills that are passed need to be elements of the solution. the House would likely be inclined to pass a bill that would not allow the uSPS to drift financially for much longer. their current solution would be the solvency authority and the Brac commission. in other words, the bill that passes the House has to satisfy the more conservative republican base.

the Senate, in some ways, has the opposite chal-lenge. in order for a bill to pass the Senate, the bill must be one that captures enough of the more lib-eral Democrats while holding the more moderate members of the Senate from both parties. that bill cannot be too antagonistic toward the postal labor unions. (remember the 60 vote issue mentioned above.) the good news is that once the conference committee agrees on a bill, the respective chambers of congress only have to get a majority of votes to approve the bill so the 60 vote threshold in the Sen-ate is gone in favor of a 51 vote majority.

the timing of this legislation is anybody’s guess at this point; however, it is more likely that nothing will happen until the crisis worsens. While we do not know what that date is, it may be June or July.

Sadly, each day that goes without fixing the problem, exacerbates the problem. Postal customers also see the problems and may question how much money they should commit to 2012 compared to non-postal channels. in addition, the uSPS creates uncertainties by announcements for exigent rate increases and re-ductions in service. this is how death spirals start, even with companies not on the ropes.

JANUARY 2012 5

6 MFSA PostScripts

ManagementrEcognIzIng thE EmErgIng markEtplacE anD DEclInIng buSInESS SEgmEntS

the concept of “emerging marketplaces” derives from the world of economics, as in “emerging econ-omies.” literally the use of this term deals with the macro-economic theories and its use as a descriptive phase in business translates to mean “newly formed and discovered business opportunities.” our discus-sion that follows looks at those business segments that are totally or at least relatively brand new.

Declining Service Segmentsoffset printing is slowly being displaced by digital printing. the improved technologies of toner and ink-based digital presses, along with very favorable leasing options, make it reasonable to offer very competitive pricing for digital images. in addition, the quality and flexibility of the images are becom-ing more and more attractive to creative designers and client buyers. in targeted smaller run marketing programs, digital printing is becoming the product of choice.

Mass marketing as we have experienced for at least four decades has been almost totally replaced by targeted, one-to-one programs. While there is a segment of co-op mail that justifies the economies of “resident” mail, mass mail is failing to attract new larger repetitive users. However with more economi-cal and practical personalization software, each and every piece of mail or fulfilled literature is now be-ing completely individualized. loyalty programs now consist of hundreds of thousands of individually data driven personalized products produced one-off and merged into economical mail streams.

Push marketing is the process of developing mes-saging and offering segmented by data analytics and delivered by multiple channels to thousands of con-sumers who share similar demographic attributes. Direct mail has been the traditional method of get-ting these mass produced offers to the consumer. email is also being used as an additional channel to compliment or even replace the more costly printed and mailed offer.

as an industry, we’ve become satisfied with a 1 to 2% response rate…that is a 99 or 98% non-effective re-sponse rate!

With the pull marketing theory, the content is made available on a website, purl, or search site so the ulti-mate client user can retrieve the information in what-ever format or time frame is convenient for them. all this is being done electronically and with infinite free storage available. the refinement of search engines that allow us to specifically interrogate data for just

what you want is gaining more and more traction. the “one from one” efficiency is even remarkable when you think about it. a search is even more tacti-cally efficient than a “one to one” push mail/email.

Emerging marketplacesSo what are the “emerging marketplaces” other than those mentioned above that are replacing the “old way” of doing things?

First and most noticeable is the social network. When Facebook reaches 1 billion participants world-wide in the coming 12 months, think of the absolute paradigm shift to “word of mouth” advertising. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and ceo of Facebook, pre-dicts that the discussions and recommendations of products and services by “trusted friends” on his sites will become the basis for advertising for future gen-erations. the same can be said to a somewhat lesser degree with twitter and other emerging social net-work services. We must plan for this and offer servic-es to compliment this change.

the constantly changing technology of tablets, smart phones and other personal devices and the thousands of apps being generated for use on these tools should be influencing how we are positioning ourselves to deliver content for both our own mar-keting as well as for our clients. Without the ability to create and use website Seo, Facebook, twitter and the analytics that drive them, we are going to be left behind.

almost everyone who is reading this will claim to have a website for their business. Many will say they are building sites for clients. But my guess is the vast majority of these sites are simply electronic bro-chures. the emerging marketplace for web sites is to create and maintain a fully interactive site with full animation, query capability and expanded links and content.

the primary message of this article is, we have to rec-ognize how our clients, and especially their clients, want information to be made available to them. We have to embrace the technologies and processes that deliver what the consumer wants. there is no doubt that the “cloud” and internet managed services will drive more and more marketing communications in the future. therefore, we should be paying more at-tention to the globalization of economies and com-munication technologies when shaping our business strategies.

Tony Aveni is the founder of Aveni & Associates LLC, a consulting services firm to the direct marketing industry. He has over 30 years within the industry. Aveni led W. A. Wilde Inc. through a major rebuilding effort including creating Wilde Direct. Most re-cently, he re-branded and re-energized G. A Wright Marketing of Denver into Wright Casino Marketing, a significant agency special-izing in casino marketing. Aveni has been an active member of MFSA since the early 80s, having served on the board of directors and executive committee. He has been a frequent speaker at Postal Forums and MFSA conferences.

tony aveniaveni & associates LLc

JANUARY 2012 7

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8 MFSA PostScripts

Business OperationsthE quESt For buSInESS IntEllIgEncE—thrEE mythS oF IntEgratIon

integration is the Holy grail of the software and hardware world, the ability to tie together and au-tomate all parts of an organization. it’s called seam-less integration, touchless automation, and a host of other phrases filled with the promise of cutting-edge technology. in the printing and publishing industry it signifies the creation of one unified system, from prepress through the management information sys-tem (MiS).

But does the promise live up to the hype? the real-ity is that true integration is hard, time consuming, and expensive. even to the most committed of or-ganizations it can seem like an elusive goal. So why does anyone even bother? Because the benefits can be substantial—picture data flowing intelligently between order entry, production management, and financial systems, giving you a complete view of the organization and automating your most complex business processes.

Many companies and consultants promise integra-tion, but the term is often spoken in a broad sense, overused, and misunderstood. there is a significant gap between the very beginning of integration—a simple one-way manual data exchange, and its true meaning in technology circles—a bi-directional, real-time, intelligent connection between two systems.

How well do you understand technology integration and, most importantly, its impact on your business? are your current and future it projects really send-ing you down the path towards one inter-connected system?

to help you sort through the jargon and understand the difference between the hype and the reality, here are three common misconceptions of integration. myth #1: Integration, like leather seats, is a luxu-ry, not a necessity.nothing could be further from the truth. not only is integration a necessity, it’s essential to business sur-vival. think of the considerable time and money you have already spent investing in multiple technology systems to help run your business, like Web-to-print, prepress management, production workflow, MiS, and financial systems. Without integrating these to-gether, it’s like you’ve bought a car with all the vari-ous options you want but leaving out the seats en-tirely—making it difficult to get in and move it where you need to go.

in an ideal world all business applications would look alike, work alike, and “speak” to each other right out of the box. But in the real world most do not. in fact,

some are so isolated they create their own “data silos” where information is held only in that system, never reaching any other applications. By integrating sys-tems, data flows seamlessly from one application to another, providing instant visibility into all areas of a business. Productivity improves, cycle times are re-duced, and in the end you’re able to make decisions easier, faster, and more effectively.

myth #2: Integration is like learning how to ride a bike – easy after you’ve done it once.if this is true, then imagine trying to learn how to ride this bike—20 wheels of all shapes and sizes, three handlebars, and capable of traveling in five direc-tions simultaneously. the truth is that integration is never easy and it’s never finished. to be successful, all software tools must continuously evolve to meet the needs of the end user. and, as integration implies a relationship between two or more systems—each evolving at different speeds and in different direc-tions, the process to support and advance the inte-gration is complex and critical to ongoing success. With technology integrations, there are important milestones along the way but no final sprint across the finish line to the end of the race.

Both internally and through various software ven-dors, the extended team you rely upon to develop and support your technology is a critical, ongoing resource. in fact, the size and expertise of the devel-opment and support team is directly proportional to the depth and success of the integration. no matter which vendor(s) you are working with, it’s important to ask plenty of questions and make sure you are both clear on the short- and long-term goals of your technology road map.

myth #3: Integration is a synonym for interface.this is a common myth but not all that surprising. We’ve already covered the challenges in defining integration, and too many organizations just having a simple data transfer between two systems means they are “integrated.” the truth is that when you’re talking integration and interface, it’s the proverbial apples to oranges. there’s no comparison.

integration requires a level of exchange and system intelligence that isn’t even a consideration in an in-terface. When interfacing a product, you map fields from one system to the next. You’re populating fields and it’s essentially a dumb, one-way process. integra-tion of two systems requires mapping supported by validation and a dynamic two-way exchange. and, in many instances, one or both systems must be able to interpret the exchanged data and respond based on what it has learned.

Marc Olin is senior vice president of EFI and the general manager of the company’s Advanced Pro-fessional Printing Software (APPS) business. He is re-sponsible for EFI business’s financial performance, bringing new products to market, driving opera-tional excellence, cultivat-ing key partnerships, and building brand equity.

Mark OlineFi

(continued to page 9)

JANUARY 2012 9

it’s important to mention the Job Definition Format (JDF), which is commonly referred to as an integration of processes and ap-plications within the graphic arts industry. it is actually a founda-tion language for interfacing two or more processes. and, while JDF is designed for two-way communication, the intelligence re-quired to make JDF a success is dependent on the ability of the participating systems to leverage the information exchanged in the performance of their individual tasks. in other words, when it comes to JDF the higher the level of intelligence and automa-tion, the bigger the return.

are you ready to take on the challenge?now that we’ve debunked the myths, it’s time to stick to the facts. technology integration is all about optimizing your busi-ness to maximize its process and profit potential. Beyond the foundation, products that make a business work, there is an important piece that is often missing—a solution that provides intelligent, automated workflow. this type of end-to-end integration can increase the productivity of both your staff and print devices and eliminate manual handling and preparation work.

if you’re in the process of selecting software tools, make sure to consider whether the vendor(s) of-fers true integration, automation, and software intelligence. the market leader is often the leader

because they have the resources necessary to develop and support the high levels of integrations necessary for long-term success. Finally, as you move forward, remember there are two statements that can cripple your process improvement efforts: “that’s the way we’ve always done it!” and “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it!” any successful entrepreneur will tell you it’s your job—your responsibility—to constantly evaluate and challenge the status quo. armed with the right tools, accurate information, and a small band of dedi-cated experts, the quest for business intelligence is more doable than daunting.

Integration continued from page 8

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10 MFSA PostScripts

Business Operations

MFSa member John Kennedy of three Dog logistics, Baltimore, MD, received a special invitation, along with 34 other small busi-ness leaders from the Baltimore, MD, area, to travel to the White House recently to talk about the economy and other small busi-ness issues.

“the event was designed to let the White House talk directly to businesses about the economy,” said Kennedy, ceo of three Dog logistics. “it also allowed business leaders to voice their concerns about health care reform, and to ask what sort of tax breaks companies could be seeing down the road. We were very excited to be included,” he added.

in addition to three Dog logistics, other businesses represented at the event include Baltimore Development corp., Penrose, Ma-rine Steel Wire Products, Ports america chesapeake, Welldoc, and Bottomline growth Strategies.

the group met with members of President Barack obama’s ad-ministration. they included Jason Miller, special assistant to the president for manufacturing policy; ari Matusiak, executive Di-rector of the White House Business council, aneesh chopra, the White House chief technology officer, elizabeth Fowler, Special assistant to the President for Healthcare Policy; and greg nel-son, deputy director of the White House office of Public engage-ment.

White House officials discussed obama’s economic plans and healthcare reform. White House cto aneesh chopra gave an illuminating talk about broadband for cities, and the speed at which everything is going wireless.

the Baltimore business leaders were in-vited to bring up other topics and issues. among them were: the unintended con-sequences of extended unemployment benefits, access to capital, innovation, and the complexity of tax code for small businesses owners.

Kennedy observed: “certainly tax breaks are welcome for small businesses. But entrepreneurs and owners are too busy with day-to-day issues and growth to figure out the tax breaks. it’s just too complicated.”

carol coughlin, ceo of Bottom line growth Strategies was in at-tendance. “a lot of airtime was given to the issue of access to capital. in particular, the SBa fees have increased significantly over the past couple of years making it expensive to get into some of these programs. in addition, innovative companies of-ten lack hard assets and have difficulties coming up with the col-lateral needed to get a bank loan”.

three Dog logistics is a client of Bottom line growth Strategies so it was fortuitous that they both attended and could make strategic planning decisions for 2012.

Kennedy of three Dog summarizes the experience: “it was a great opportunity to have a voice in Washington and to air our collective concerns for small businesses. it was a productive two and a half hours, and i was honored to be included,” he conclud-ed.

thrEE Dog logIStIcS mEEtS WIth WhItE houSE aDmInIStratIon to DIScuSS Small buSInESS ISSuES

gEt connEctEDWith MFSa’s new community site, members have access to resource libraries containing archived documents, a glossary of popular terms, blogs, a member directory, an event calendar and discussion Forums. Discussion Forums provide a way to post questions and thoughts to the MFSa community. the posts are archived online and emailed to com-munity members.

moDIFy your SubScrIptIon SEttIngS at http://communIty.mFSanEt.org thE optIonS arE:

• rEal tImE• DaIly DIgESt (onE EmaIl DaIly WIth thE paSt 24 hourS oF communIty

actIvIty)• pDa (tExt vErSIon oF EmaIlS In a SImplEr Format WIthout ImagES)• no EmaIlS (rEquIrES loggIng Into SItE to monItor DIScuSSIonS)

quEStIonS? contact mEmbEr SErvIcES at 800-333-6272 Ext. 206 or vIa EmaIl at mFSa-maIl@mFSanEt.org

JANUARY 2012 11

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the master’s touch, llc, established in 1994, offers barcoding, bindery services, consulting, creative, data processing services, desk top publishing, embossing, envelope conversion, file main-tenance, fulfillment-literature, fulfillment-product, fulfillment-catalog, fulfillment-promotional, fulfillment-premiums, hand assembly(custom packaging), machine inserting, ink jet ad-dressing, international mailing service, laser printing-sheet feed, letterpress printing, mailing lists, merge/purge, first class pre-sort, packaging & shipping, sheetfeed offset printing, tabbing, turnkey, warehousing/distribution, web offset printing and word processing. the Master’s touch is located at 1405 n ash Street, Spokane, Wa, 99201. Jim cote’, president, can be reached at 509-326-7475 or by FaX at 509-326-7214.

Service printing, offers barcoding, bind-ery services, data processing services, desk top publishing, embossing, envelope conversion, file maintenance, fulfillment-

literature, fulfillment-product, full color digital printing, hand assembly(custom packaging), machine inserting, ink jet ad-dressing, laser printing-sheet feed, letterpress printing, first class presort, polybag inserting, packaging & shipping, publications, purl’s, sheetfeed offset printing, tabbing and warehousing/dis-tribution. Service Printing is located at 1351 Key road, colum-bia, Sc, 29201. Mike clarke, vice president, can be reached at 803-799-6461 or by FaX at 803-799-1720.

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New Members

74% of people in communities served by a newspaper with cir-culations under 15,000 read their local newspaper each week, ac-cording to the national newspa-per association.

nielsen’s third quarter survey of u.S. mobile users find that the majority of Millenials and genX-ers sport an “essential for mo-bile commerce,” smartphone device.

it’s estimated women control ap-proximately $5 trillion in spend-ing annually. When it comes to marketing channels and their use in the purchase process -- younger and older female con-sumers cite coupons, inserts, and direct mail and newspaper ads as most useful.

the latest forecast by Zenithop-timedia finds that global ad spending in major media will grow 4.7% to $486 billion in 2012.

**Reprinted from Print in the Mix

12 MFSA PostScripts

Management

the approaching new Year can spark a wide range of emotions for those who celebrate. But for most busi-ness owners, ringing in the new Year prompts one of two emotional responses:

1. there is a feeling excitement and optimism about taking the action steps and implementing the success plan that the business owner cre-ated and committed to in December.

2. there is a feeling dread and regret because the business owner did not take time to set success-focused commitments and action steps in De-cember.

thanks to the probability that one of these scenarios will occur if no time is spent assessing, planning and committing to action (and not likely the scenario we want), we at Bottomline spend our year-end helping our clients avoid #2 as though their lives depended on it. and, truthfully, the lives of their businesses ac-tually do.

the problem is, this time of year is very busy. Key team members may be out on vacation. You, the owner, may be out of pocket as well. But here’s the deal: December will never, ever, ever be as hectic as January—the time of year when the business world seems to spring into action all at once.

clearly, now is the time to kick into gear and create your financial strategy for 2012. Here are just a few of the action items business owners need to commit to in order to prevent dread and regret from being the encore to auld lang Syne:

commit to preparing budget and projections — aSapMany businesses do not have a budget, and that means they are actually running blind. Your commit-ment is not only to create a budget for 2012, but to update it regularly. Yesterday’s business climate was based on change and unpredictability. We predict it will remain that way for some time. a monthly bud-get review will allow for continual re-assessment of the business conditions and the assumptions you are making now.

commit to controlling your Working capitalWorking capital is your accounts receivable from cus-tomers minus your accounts payable to vendors and inventory. By managing these three items, you can control and improve your cash position. too many businesses don’t get invoices out on time, so cash

comes in too late. Plus, they pay expenses too soon, so cash goes out too fast. take charge of working capital and create a cash flow that supports success.

commit to tracking profitability by Segmentalthough most businesses offer more than one prod-uct or service, few track their profitability that way. tracking profit and loss by segment helps you ascer-tain where your revenue is coming from and, also, what is draining it. Making product and service ad-justments is far easier when you have hard data in-stead of hunches.

commit to taking a hard look at your Financial teamcompanies regularly upgrade operations and sales teams, but many put zero resources against the fi-nancial department. Strong financial management requires stellar bookkeeping and accounting, but it goes far beyond those functions for any company se-rious about profitable growth. adding a part- or full-time controller or cFo, or re-assessing those current-ly holding these positions, is likely the single most important action step toward ensuring your compa-ny reaches the next level. Why? Because growth (at any rate) without a solid financial strategy to steer it usually ends up looking a lot more like failure than success.

companies that avoid developing a strong financial strategy expose themselves to dread and regret this time next year. there is nothing sadder than witness-ing a business that, in theory, is committed to prof-itable growth, but has no legitimate data or viable plan on which to base decisions or move forward from. adding new services or products, augmenting production capabilities, designing a brilliant ad cam-paign without financial perspective and strategy is like dropping the ball in time Square in September.

remember, excitement and optimism are typically set in motion long before they are felt—simply by laying the groundwork. this means, you don’t have to hope the new Year brings your business success, you can plan for it.

What Do you hopE thE nEW yEar brIngS to your buSInESS?

Carol Coughlin, CPA, MBA, CEPA, is founder of Bottom Line Growth Strategies, Inc., an executive financial advisory company serving organizations and entre-preneurs that want to real-ize increased growth and profitability. As a CFO advi-sor, Coughlin helps grow-ing companies improve profits, overcome obstacles and prepare for profitable mergers and acquisitions.

carol coughlinBottomLine growth

strategies, inc.

JANUARY 2012 13

Mid-Winter ConferenceIntroDucIng mFSa’S mID-WIntEr conFErEncE all-Star “coach” lInE-up

this year’s coaching team will open your eyes, sharpen your skills, and put you on the right track.

• Wayne M. Peterson, the Black canyon consulting group, inc.• Ken garner, MFSa• Barb Pellow, infotrends, inc.• John Foley, interlinkone/grow Socially• chris antone, Jackson - lewis• Howie Fenton, naPl• tony aveni, aveni & associates• tom Quinn, Q Fulfillment• leo raymond, MFSa• Ben cooper, Williams & Jensen

in addition to the all-star line-up, there are panels and discussions groups for everyone. • Postal think tank• Fulfillment Panel on Product v. literature• eDDM implementers

the vendor forum is sold out. the all-suite hotel is filling. What a great season this is going to be. are you in? it’s a whole new game. Step up.

For more information or to reserve your place now go to: www.MFSanet.org/midwinter

It’s a Whole New Game

Arizona Grand Resort8000 S. Arizona Grand Parkway

Phoenix, AZ 85044Room rate: $209, includes in-room internet.

(Waterpark admission optional at $30 per day.)

Make reservations by phone: (877) 800-4888 and reference “Mailing & Fulfillment Service Association.” Go online at www.arizonagrandresort.com using the group code: 1102MA The deadline to make reservations at the group rate is January 31, 2012.

Get ready to knock it out of the park with MFSA at the 2012 Mid-Winter Conference in Phoenix, AZ. The MFSA team is coming up with a game plan to be announced soon, so step up to the plate and make your hotel reservation now.

February 21 - 24, 2012 - Phoenix, AZFebruary 21 - 24, 2012 - Phoenix, AZ

14 MFSA PostScripts

Website continued from page 1

What type of traffic am I getting? traffic isn’t just about quantity, it’s also about quality. actually, qual-ity means more than quantity. if i’m getting 10,000 visitors to my website each month, but they just browse and leave, that doesn’t do me much good. However, if i get 1,000 visitors to my website and just 10 of them call me or fill out a form on my website, i’m in a much better position. are new prospects vis-iting the website or is it mainly existing customers or people not in the target audience? this makes a dif-ference because: 1) it affects the type of content you put on your website, and 2) it impacts your market-ing strategy moving forward.

Where is the traffic coming from? this question goes along with the previous one. You want to un-derstand how your website is getting its traffic. are people finding you organically (through a search en-gine like google or Bing)? or, are they coming from social media or a paid campaign? if organic traffic is increasing over time, you know you’re doing some-thing right. Many people think paid search is the answer. Paid search can be great in a few scenarios such as a targeted campaign, a promotion, or even to drive some initial traffic to the website. However, it shouldn’t be where the majority of your budget lies. the majority of your budget should be put towards increasing organic traffic and learning to track every-thing.

how many leads is my website producing each week or each month? this is my favorite question. it is the most critical statistic to look at when analyzing your website. Most websites covert at less than 1%, meaning out of 1,000 visitors less than 10 identify themselves. a good website will convert 2-4% and a great website will convert 5%+ of its traffic into leads. increasing website traffic can take time and is a fair amount of work. However, increasing your website conversion rate can be done quickly if you are start-ing from a low conversion rate. at tMr, we like to use offers or “calls-to-action” on our website. this could be a free eBook, a software demo or even a “request a quote” button. it’s important to remember that most of the website traffic is just people doing research. You have to keep this in mind when creating your offers. if someone is researching companies to do business with, they probably won’t want to “request a quote” they’re not ready. But, they might want to download your eBook on “the Dangers of Selecting an inexperienced Direct Mail company.” visitors in research mode will be more interested in a download than a request a quote button. By providing the visi-tor a way to give their information to you in exchange for something valuable, you have captured a lead.

how many customers is my website producing? as a follow up question to the number of leads your website produces, we want to make sure these leads are converting into sales for your business. creating an appropriate email + phone call follow up system for your sales team can make all the difference. in today’s world, you have to be quick! Follow up with leads that request something right away—within minutes if possible. Stay in touch by email with the leads that are just doing research. You can’t treat all your visitors and leads the same way if you want to convert at a high rate. But that is the subject of an-other entire article.

as you think about your marketing and sales goals for 2012, spend some additional time on your web-site analytics. For marketers and business owners, the time of the website that acts strictly as an online brochure has come and gone. We need to ramp up our sophistication. the technology is there to track all the details i have addressed and many more that i haven’t. Businesses that are content with just having a static, inactive website and tracking the number of visits to their website will eventually fail. if you don’t think so, let’s look at the latest study from google.

google performed a study in april 2011 that talked about how consumers respond. “awareness” is still created through traditional outbound channels such as tv, radio and direct mail. However, after awareness is created, the consumer enters the “research” phase and that is done almost entirely on the web. they look up different companies and look at their web-sites. they read online reviews. they look on social media and talk to their friends and family. Prospects are using the web to identify the businesses they want to work with or buy from, and that includes B2B and B2c companies.

So, we need to be able to capture as much informa-tion as possible about our prospects through our websites. this will allow us to: 1) provide better con-tent, 2) pull in more of the right kind of visitors, 3) capture more of them as leads and 4) convert them into buyers. Website analytics have become much more than just tracking a couple of different metrics — they help us measure the bottom line.

Spencer Powell joined TMR Direct in 2010 to help spearhead their market-ing efforts as well as help clients achieve success on-line. Spencer is an Inbound Marketing Certified Profes-sional and is experienced in helping companies get found online, but also gen-erate real dollars from their web presence. Spencer is the Inbound Marketing Di-rector at TMR Direct.

JANUARY 2012 15

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16 MFSA PostScripts

Business Operations

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By Judy Berlin, Director of Worldwide MarketingXMPie, a Xerox company

now is the right time to capitalize on the growing multi-channel communication trend to engage audiences on a whole new level. But it’s important that marketers keep the following tips in mind when developing their next one-to-one cross-media campaign.

hold a pre-game meetinga cross-media campaign is usually not created and delivered by one person—it involves different people with different skills sets at different times. So it’s important to get them around the same table before diving in. Be sure everyone involved has a clear un-derstanding the goal of each piece to avoid inconsistency and badly designed elements. For example, if the graphic designer develops a direct-mail piece without carefully considering the differences that each variable element will make, the piece could become less effective for some of its recipients. Before starting work on a campaign, outline the objectives, define the right tools and media to achieve them, and then stick to them.

good data is essentialalthough design, messaging and execution are of the utmost importance, so too is the data. a marketer may not need vast quantities of intelligence about a recipient to run a campaign; however, they do need good, clean, accurate data. it’s essential to refine, cleanse, de-duplicate and sort data before implement-ing a live campaign. also, don’t use a particular field in the da-tabase if there’s an unknown element to it. all data needs to be trustworthy and free of errors.

Simple is betterto best incorporate personalized websites into a campaign, make sure the website is relevant, fluid and not overly complex or long. if the website is simply there to reinforce a message from a previous communication, then make sure that the recipi-ent sees that message first. if the website is there to collect in-

formation, then ensure it does so in bite-sized chunks and that the recipient knows what is expected of them. and remember, simple is always better. Making a personalized website overly complex will result in recipients simply falling off when they try to interact with the campaign online.

track and measuretoday’s marketers are being asked to do more with less – includ-ing justifying their spend with quantitative roi data. to facili-tate this, a good one-to-one cross-media marketing campaign should be easily trackable so that marketers can report on key performance indicators at the push of a button. Be sure to en-able tracking for every important campaign variable, attribute or action.

XMPie®, A Xerox Company, is the leading provider of software solu-tions and personalization technology for 1:1 marketing. XMPie en-ables automatically-managed, individualized dialogues between businesses and their customers – across all touch points, media types, and time – for higher response rates and dramatic ROI. XMPie software solutions leverage the Adobe® platform and are available in three compatible product lines: uDirect® for desktop variable data printing (VDP), PersonalEffect® for integrated cross-media commu-nications, and XMPie Hosted Services for subscription-based Soft-ware as a Service (SaaS) solutions.

Four thIngS to kEEp In mInD WhEn DEvElopIng 1:1 croSS-mEDIa campaIgnS

JANUARY 2012 17

EFI™ provides powerful MIS solutions for the mailing and fulfillment services industry. Today’s economic realities demand that you optimize every aspect of your business. EFI’s Print MIS solutions give you the tools you need to not only streamline operations and reduce costs, but to also win more business and deliver differentiated customer service. We have integrated, scalable solutions to help you with: CRM and RFQ § Inventory § Purchasing § Estimating § Shop-Floor § Postage § Order Entry § Fulfillment § Accounting § Scheduling

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Since the early days of professional promotion, marketers have used color to distinguish brands, products, and offers from the other material that arrives every day in our mailboxes. color is defined as “the visual perception property” that enables humans to “differentiate otherwise identical objects.”

Because of its ability to distinguish marketing materials from other mailings, color makes a significant contribution to the ef-fectiveness of printed pieces. But it’s not always clear how to use color to achieve the best results—for your response rate, your return on investment, or your brand. For some, the concern of added cost is a deterrent to introducing color into mailings. When done well though, color can encourage the higher re-sponse you’re looking for.

HP has developed a white paper called the impact of color. the paper discusses how to use color to increase response, action, and revenue from customer communications and prospect mailings. the white paper also discusses:

• How to use color in direct mail• the power of color in trans-promo• construction of a direct mail package• increasing response through offers and Qr codes on the

envelope• How to use color effectively on envelopes• a look at the economics of color

Here’s are some of the findings: You’ll notice that as the use of color on an envelope used for business-to-consumer communi-cations increases, so does the return on investment. at the same time, the cost per printed piece decreases, in part because of the ability to avoid the cost of inventory management and storage often required by analog printing. Digital printing also makes it possible to incorporate targeted, color messages and a compel-ling call to action (such as a Qr code or Purl link) to increase response. these features can also provide better analytics com-pared with traditional methods, such as a business reply card. ultimately, when combined, this can lead to a more successful campaign.

For information on equipment that can help you print on de-mand and personalize your envelopes and stationery, go to www.hp.com/go/impactofcolorpaper.

Business OperationsIncrEaSED color on EnvElopES = IncrEaSED roI

18 MFSA PostScripts

Management

Wayne Peterson is prin-cipal of the Black Canyon Consulting Group Inc. His career in the printing in-dustry started at age 13. Wayne has served as presi-dent of three fast-growing companies. He’s cre-ated and built five strong brands, and lead four highly effective sales and marketing organizations. He founded the Black Can-yon Consulting Group Inc. in 2008. Wayne can be reached at www.blackcan-yonconsulting.com.

Wayne petersonBlack canyon consulting

group

January is a few days old. For most MFSa member companies, the new calendar year is also the begin-ning of the fiscal year. and that means that budget season is wrapping up now. Budgeting. now there’s a topic that’s nearly as dry as dust. For companies faced with the urgent need to reinvent themselves it is also dangerous. For most, last year’s plan is the starting point for next year’s plan. and that’s where the risk is hiding.

every plan is based on a set of assumptions. those assumptions capture where the future is expected to differ from the present. and, in most plans, there’s not much daylight showing between last year’s plan and next year’s plan because the same assumptions are driving both.

Missing from almost all plans and projections is one key document. Pro forma financial statements al-ways include an income statement, balance sheet, and description of anticipated cash flow. they may even include a statement of owner’s equity. What they rarely include is a chart of assumptions that spell out the thinking that led to the numbers. and that’s dangerous.

only rarely are the assumptions behind a plan made explicit. Most often, the assumptions are simply ig-nored because the cFo assumes that the leadership team must be in substantial agreement about them. in some cases, the assumptions are intentionally undiscussable, particularly if a corporate parent is setting the assumptions for an operating company. But when the assumptions are dragged into the day-light and vetted, the process of creating next year’s plan becomes genuinely valuable and a catalyst for change.

a handful of unspoken and common assumptions drive most new plans. Here are the three i see most often:

“We’re going to do a little more next year with a little less in order to do a little better.”this is the assumption that carries the highest risk. it means that no significant change is anticipated or accommodated in the new plan. no new impetus is expected, no innovation is pending and no potential breakthrough is on the radar. the underlying think-ing is: “We are who we are, and the status quo is our defining reality.” the inertia in that underlying as-sumption can be huge and crippling.

“to improve our results, we need to shave every expense across the board.”the intention is to be fair – to share the pain as equal-

ly as possible. again, the risk is that you cannot con-sider a break from the past. But worse, the underly-ing assumption is that an unbalanced change from last year’s plan is inherently “unfair” and unwise. to propose a game-changer that would unbalance the allocation of expense risks being seen as “less than serious.” But it is only game-changing initiatives that produce game-changing results. if there is no op-portunity to reallocate spending, no investment can be made in significant change.

“We need to eliminate everything optional and discretionary.”this is survival mode thinking at its worst. and it springs from a risk-averse, short-term view that sees any significant change as riskier than squeezing and holding onto the present business model. unfortu-nately, one thing is inevitably at the top of the list when “discretionary” expense is being cut: invest-ment in your brand.

Building a brand takes much more than simply spending on advertising and sales promotion. But whatever form it takes, it drives expense. When capturing existing demand was all it took to thrive, building a brand was optional. those days are gone. the assumption that brand building is “optional” or “nice to do when we can afford it” is deadly.

the power of a brand can’t be overstated. as an example, take a struggling custom manufacturing company. Weigh the company down with high, re-gional labor costs. equip it with good people, but face it with competitors who also have good people. give it no technology or manufacturing advantage against its larger competitors, and no opportunity to compete as the low-cost producer. give it no unique product and saddle it with a narrow product range for a narrow market. in short, give it no readily evi-dent competitive advantage.

now, roll the clock forward a handful of years. the leadership team figured out how to position the com-pany against several larger and national competitors. revenue has tripled; customer loyalty and satisfac-tion are exceptionally high. add a modest price pre-mium and you have double-digit profit performance, year after year. How on earth did that company do it? they built a very strong brand. true story.

as you wrap up the silly season, check your assump-tions. Does your plan enable or prevent substantial change? Will it allow you to build a competitive ad-vantage, or will it eliminate any chance that you can? Drag your assumptions into the daylight and see what they tell you about your plan.

WElcomE to thE SIlly SEaSon

JANUARY 2012 19

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think patented, Dayton, oH, has expanded the availability of its industry-leading integrated marketing solutions with the hiring of Mark McIntosh, who will serve as a Strategic Programs Spe-cialist for national accounts. Prior to joining think Patented in late october, Mcintosh was Director, Fulfillment Solutions with cedar graphics, inc.

Satori Software, Seattle, Wa, announced that through a new agreement with SaP ag it is the preferred oeM partner reselling SaP® Businessobjects® Postalsoft software, which includes SaP Businessobjects Postalsoft Desktop Mailer, SaP Businessobjects Postalsoft Business edition and SaP Businessobjects Postalsoft Presort solutions. Satori Software will sell the SaP Businessob-jects Postalsoft software in addition to its existing production mailing solution, Mailroom toolKit® architect, and its no. 1 sell-ing desktop application, Bulk Mailer®. under this oeM partner-ship with SaP, Satori Software will be positioned to provide fu-ture mailing technology as the needs of the industry grow and evolve.

incorrect or incomplete address information can cause a host of problems including, slowing down commercial presort opera-

tions or causing mail to be undeliverable as addressed - uaa. the uSPS® mandate is to have all Move update Systems upgrad-ed to the MPe version of ncoalinK® by June 2012. in response to this need, Siemens, arlington, tX, launched for immediate delivery, universal uMove™, the next generation mail update and forwarding technology. With universal uMove™, you can connect up to 10 high-speed sorters and connecting has been made easier. universal uMove™ connects directly to your sorters via a tcP/iP connection – the FaStforward® multiplexor com-puter and ScSi interface are no longer required.

buskro ltd., Pickering, ontario, launched a new, redesigned website www.buskro.com. the redesigned website presents a new format and navigation extending Buskro’s brand identity, value propositions, products, and solutions through pages that are cleanly presented. it highlights Buskro as a company, its ca-pabilities, news and articles, customers, partnerships, and con-tact information. the new website is the first of many upcoming programs which are being incorporated into ourintegrated marketing communications campaig

Member News

20 MFSA PostScripts

Employment

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Reprinted from Jackson Lewis

Demonstrating a heightened focus on worker misclassification, the colorado Department of labor and employment has signed a memorandum of understanding with the u.S. Department of labor’s Wage and Hour Division to reduce employers’ misclas-sification of employees as independent contractors. the Mem-orandum, according to the agencies, is designed to present a “unified front” on the issue.

the question of who is an “employee” and who is an “indepen-dent contractor” is a fact-specific inquiry that depends on a number of factors. these include the employer’s right to control the manner and means by which work is accomplished, the du-ration of the relationship, who bears the risk for profit and loss, and the parties’ understanding of the relationship. the more control an employer exercises over the worker, the more likely an employer-employee relationship would be found to exist.

Businesses typically do not pay employment taxes, unemploy-ment insurance, or overtime, or contribute payments to the workers’ compensation fund for independent contractors. therefore, colorado has an interest in reducing misclassification

to increase its tax revenue and payments to its unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation funds. the consequences of misclassifying employees for employers can include federal and state penalties for failure to pay mini-mum wage and overtime, liquidated damages, and attorneys’ fees. according to the u.S. Dol, in 2010, it collected nearly $4 million in back wages for minimum wage and overtime pay for worker misclassification under federal law.

the colorado-u.S. Dol Memorandum, signed December 5, 2011, was entered into as part of the u.S. Dol’s Misclassification initiative. the initiative is a component of vice President Joe Biden’s Middle class task Force. colorado is the eleventh state to enter into such an agreement, following connecticut, Hawaii, il-linois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, utah, and Washington.

employers should consider conducting a self-audit to identify any employees misclassified as individual contractors. Jackson lewis attorneys are available to assist employers in conducting such evaluations.

WorkEr mISclaSSIFIcatIon IS FocuS oF coloraDo-u.S. labor DEpartmEnt partnErShIp

JANUARY 2012 21

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22 MFSA PostScripts

Business Operations

By Kathy gurchie, associate editorHr news

“talent mobility”—looking at patterns of movement among employees and making it easier for them to move inside their organizations—is an emerging formal Hr discipline, according to a Bersin & associates report released in november 2011. Strat-egies addressing it will become mainstream in 2012, according to the report.

that is one of 14 workplace predictions in the 41-page report that highlights how strategic Hr and talent management are undergoing what research and consulting firm Bersin & associ-ates calls “some radical changes.”

“Many of the talent management executives we talk to have a function called talent mobility,” said Josh Bersin, president and ceo of Bersin & associates and the report’s principal analyst. “there’s a gap in the workforce skills in general,” in large part because of recession-related downsizing since 2009, Bersin told SHrM online. the skills of unemployed workers atrophy, making it harder for organizations to find the people with the skills they need, he noted. additionally, many disengaged employees, im-pacted by the slow economy, remain in their current jobs.

“You want to have a dynamic system for moving people around internally. Most of the companies we talk to don’t and are not good at moving people between positions,” so the career path “usually is up or out,” he said.

“even if you’re a small company the same practices apply, just in a small way,” he said. “the difference is in a small company, the Hr professionals have to do more of this themselves” along with their other tasks.

other predictions:• Skills gaps in technical and functional roles will continue

to create challenges in hiring and leadership in 2012. Bra-zil, russia, india, china, eastern europe and Singapore are exploding with growth, while the u.S. and Western europe continue to suffer from high unemployment and sluggish economies.

• Hr and talent team goes “glocal.” this involves thinking about their workforces in a global way—building global tools and best practices—while empowering local man-agers and Hr teams to act locally.

• Social tools and ads for finding talent will grow dramati-cally in 2012, forcing staffing agencies and job boards to re-engineer their offerings.

• a heavy focus on building programs to drive engagement of workers under the age of 30.

• By 2013, 47 percent of all employees will be those born after 1977.

• corporate training will continue to transform from the centralized program-centric, university model to pro-grams that are social, informal and on demand. this includes using online courses that take 30 minutes to complete and is broken into small chunks, and applying gaming techniques such as points, badges and missions to training.

• More large organizations will rethink their traditional per-formance appraisal process. companies will incorporate a more transparent coaching and development model. it will involve input from others in the organization in addi-tion to the employee’s manager.

• Social rewards, social learning, social performance man-agement, social recruiting and social career management will start to revolutionize rewards and recognition, learn-ing, performance management, recruiting and career management.

• command and control-type leadership styles will be re-placed with high-powered influencers and strategists, and the increasingly young workforce will exert growing pres-sure on organizations to build new leaders. this includes a serious focus on diversity and what Bersin & associates calls “girl power” in developing top leaders. “companies are realizing that women leaders are more modern, more effective and very much wanted,” said Bersin, who sees the beginning of “significant changes in gender makeup of top leadership. Bersin sees the new type of leadership as more collaborative, requiring “skills that women have in greater supply than men.”

• the talent management software market will continue to grow, but bigger players and agile startups will start to disrupt it.

• Data science will become a hot Hr topic; organizations will differentiate themselves by focusing on smart talent segmentation and analysis. any Hr team that does not have an “analysis” team should consider building one, ac-cording to the report. “We’re in the golden years in figur-ing out how to analyze that data,” which ranges from per-formance and turnover to engagement to demographics, Bersin said. “every Hr department should have someone in that department who is interested enough [to] go through it and try to identify trends and patterns to help them build high-performing programs.”

• Hr professionals have to be [technologically] aware. they don’t have to be gurus, but they can’t just ignore it,” Ber-sin said, pointing out that employees and potential hires use social media to communicate. that includes tweeting on twitter and posting on Facebook about their jobs and employers.

EmErgIng human rESourcE DIScIplInE IS among 2012 prEDIctIonS

JANUARY 2012 23

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24 MFSA PostScripts

Christopher C. Antone is the managing partner of the Dallas offi ce of Jackson Lewis LLP, a national law fi rm representing management on workplace law issues.

If you have any questions regarding employee and HR laws, or for more information or assistance, please contact Chris Antone, at (214) 647-2095 or antonec@jacksonlewis.com. For more information about Jackson Lewis’ services, visit their website at: www.jacksonlewis.com.

Call the MFSA-Jackson Lewis Employment Law Hotline at: 214-647-2095Through your MFSA dues, Labor Counsel Chris Antone will provide FREE

telephone advice about your basic human resource law questions.

If your questions involve particular employment decisions, such as the acceptable termination process, you may choose to retain Chris for advice, counsel, or representation in your labor, employment, immigration, or benefi ts law matters.

MFSA members enjoy a 10% discount on Chris’s fees

Board Certifi ed in Labor and Employment Law,

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Questions about your HR issues?

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Mobile continued from page 1through their phones rose from 6.5% to 11.1% between Janu-ary 2009 and January 2010. among smartphone owners, this rose from 22.5% to 30.8%.

What does this mean for you? if you are using social media marketing, you need a mobile site. as consumers click through links and share information, they will be coming to your site. When they do, you need to give them a mobile optimized ex-perience.

optimizing for mobileYou might think your traditional website is just fine, but as mobile marketing guru Jeremy epstein has written, “Here’s a newsflash: if you have a Web site, you’re already in the mobile world — and the chances are you’re making a terrible impres-sion.”

Here are some suggestions to make the kind of impression that dazzles rather than disappoints.

• create a mobile-optimized version of your website. • optimize text, images, and widgets for mobile. • Provide key points in sound bytes/ short stories appro-

priate to a mobile audience. • Select your content with a mobile audience in mind. • add logic to your main website to automatically direct

people to the mobile version when they view your con-tent on their phone.

• test, test, test.

mobile Searchin the world of mobile marketing, you also need to be paying attention to mobile search. consumers are actively searching for products and services on their mobile phones—that means they are looking for you. according to efficient Frontier, 10-15% of traffic on average comes from mobile devices. in spe-cific markets, these numbers can double. in addition, efficient Frontier reports that 5.4% of all paid search impressions come from mobile devices. By the end of 2011, it expects between 7.0%-9.5% of search advertising dollars to be spent on mobile.

mobile phones and qr codesWhenever you talk about mobile phones, you have to talk about Qr codes. Qr codes are showing up on everything from billboards to magazine advertisements and direct mail, even email.

one of the biggest users of Qr codes is BestBuy. Just walk in the door and Qr codes are all around you. it uses them on all of its major products on display. Scan the code on the product iD card and you’ll be taken to a mobile website with access to specs, customer reviews, and more.

Qr codes cost nothing to add to your promotional materials, and when used right, offer significant value. if you’re not ac-tively incorporating Qr codes into your marketing programs, you are missing a huge opportunity.

get out and get mobile!Mobile might be a brave new world for many marketers, but it’s one worth getting into.

• it’s fast. • it connects you with your customers immediately. • it’s effective.

What are you waiting for? get out there and get mobile!

26 MFSA PostScripts

Chapter News

northwest chapterPresident: Mark Weeks; international Direct response ServicesFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

pacific chapterPresident: tom Duchene; tDMS For more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

new England chapterPresident: Shannon campbell; W.a. Wilde company the next meeting is scheduled for thursday, January 19, 2012 at 5:30pm at the Publick House in Sturbridge, Ma. leo raymond of MFSa will be giving a Postal update. For more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

Southwest chapterPresident: robbie cramer, Direct logisticsFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

chesapeake chapterPresident: Ken gossett; aMiFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

rocky mountain chapterPresident: Jim albany; newmark PrintingFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

ohio valley chapterPresident: tammy caserta; think PatentedFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

great lakes chapterFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

Southeast chapterPresident: Scott coggin; DatadirectFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

philadelphia chapterPresident: John rafner; eFiFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

great plains chapterBoard Member: Mike colestock; Japs-olson Board Member: connie o’Keefe; the John roberts companyBoard Member: craig Schiller; action Mailing Servicesthe next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at noon at Stella’s Fish cafe in Minneapolis, Mn. leo raymond of MFSa will be giving a Postal update. For more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.

new york chapterPresident: Joseph W. gomez, fmidirect,inc For more information on meetings or member information, contact Jim Prendergast at 212-217-6824 or visit www.mfsany.org.

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2012 is definitely bringing changes - 4�The USPS® is reviewing options and considering closing multiple facilities,

downsizing its workforce - both of which will impact mailers.

4�Mandatory IMb requirements go into effect along with Mailing Services and

Shipping Services Price Changes.

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28 MFSA PostScripts

claSSIFIEDS golD partnErSthe following supplier members have become gold Partners with MFSa due to their level of support.

adphos north america, Inc. bell and howellEFI hewlett packardinterlinkonEkirk-rudy, Inc.label Sourcemailers haven llcmcSthink Inkpitney bowes rr Donnelley logisticsSatori Softwarexerox

For information about becoming a gold Partner, contact MFSa at 800-333-6272.

lower postage costs and reduce undeliverable mail caSS™ and Pave™ gold certified MailerS+4 will eliminate dupli-cate records, verify addresses and presort your mail. optional Move update processing is available for both u.S. and canadian address-es. Save up to 65% on postage with MailerS+4. to request a free trial, go to www.MelissaData.com/ps-mp4.

Join your mFSa chapter todaychapters provide educational and networking opportunities and

are a great resource of information that affect the mailing and fulfillment industry. the 12 region-al chapters are governed by local volunteers and function under the umbrella of the national headquarters. they serve their specific regions, each with its own opportunities and challenges. More information can be found online at: http://www.mfsanet.org/chapters.

nEED hElp – call Fulfillment 911... the mFSa Fulfillment hotline recently retired MFSa Director of Fulfillment Services, tom Quinn, now offers all MFSa members the opportunity to get 30 minutes of fulfillment consulting at no charge. Whether your questions be on operations, warehouse layout, software, sales, or marketing, you are only a phone call or email away from getting the answers. to contact tom, please call him at 770-632-9253 or tom@qfulfillmentsolutions.com.

nEED hElp – call postal 911... the mFSa postal hotlineSpeak with postal professor, george Heinrich, for advice on postal regulation, mail acceptance, or operational issues. this is an MFSa membership benefit – the first 30 minutes is complimentary. george can be reached at 303-325-3048, 8 am – 6 pm Mountain time. need help with a postal regu-lation? remember the MFSa listserve or contact leo raymond at 800-333-6272 ext. 203.

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