A Guide for Churches

Direct Mail is a great way to reach out to people around your church. Technology now allows us to radius out form your address to fill to your desired amount of records. Some churches just take their address as a center point and choose to go out a specific number of miles. The data does not contain names although we can get this information at an additional cost. Most of the time we will just put something like “To our neighbors at:” and then the address information. This way the list lasts longer considering that 3% of the population moves every month.

Example:

Budget is always an issue for Churches so here are some pointers that will help you reach the most people:

1) Buy a resident list instead of a consumer list. They cost less and cover all households including renters.

2) Make sure your list is walk sequenced. This allows maximum discounts from the post office.

3) Use a local Mailing Service if at all possible. There are 2 reasons for this, the first is they can do a destination delivery unit delivery for you which saves about 3 cents per unit, the second is they can utilize your non-profit rates at your post office. Your local mailing house should be able to provide you with a walk sequenced mailing list but if not, give us a call and we will provide you with one for about a penny per record. 760-940-9455

4) Get a non profit permit from your post office! This can cut 10 cents per unit off of your postage. Use that discount to send more invitations. You need to get crackin on this; it takes the post office 3 to 6 months to approve a non profit permit.

5) Don’t try to do the mailing yourself by having office staff or volunteers stick labels. This is a huge mistake. Use a professional mailing company to prepare the mailing for you. There are many rules and regulations that need to be followed to the tee and if not carried out properly, can cost you dearly.

 The Mailing House has been helping churches with their direct mail needs since 1992. We are happy to help you in any way we can to accomplish your goals. Feel free to give us a call at 760-940-9455 to discuss any projects you may need help with.