2021 DOES IT AGAIN!

We finally have enough toilet paper and paper towels, but don’t try to buy a car or get a new kitchen table right now. Also – hold your breath and cross your fingers as you manage through the world of direct mail production. The challenges we are facing are ‘unprecedented’ (I know, we hate that word too) and the likes of which we have truly never seen before. 

Within this post, we won’t belabor all the ways that supply chains are impacted, because that ground has already been covered – and we know you’re in the thick of it. In this article, however, we will talk a bit about strategies you can employ within your programs to help mitigate the impacts of these delays and challenges. So let’s get started!

• GO CROSS-CHANNEL – Proactively pushing investments to a digital alternative may help hedge bets for your program. We understand that an aggressive, perhaps untested, shift in revenue may feel risky – however, compared to an alternative of missing mail dates by weeks, in many cases, this alternative may help keep cashflow steady during times of uncertainty. 

• FOCUS ON MONTHLY DONORS – Organizations that have a robust and functional (mostly auto-pay) monthly giving program are less impacted by market volatility as compared to those that don’t. 

• FOCUS ON CORE STRATEGIES – This might not be the best time to create dynamic or complex testing strategies (yeah, we said it!). With the delays in mail dates, and challenges with stock abound, it is quite possible that even the best laid testing strategies might be null due to unavoidable challenges this season. Save your investment.

• KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE – It is easy to get distracted with the newest technology, or latest innovation. And those are all important – but as we think through the additional bandwidth that is required to navigate these projects even in the best of times, it probably makes sense to give yourself (and your team) some grace and focus on what needs to happen right now to make your monetary goals. 

No one knows how long these obstacles will last, but one thing is for sure … we are all looking forward to some ‘boring’ times where we *only* have to worry about postage increases and a noisy marketplace. Until then – please avoid phrases like “it can’t get any worse” because if the last two years have taught us anything … oh yes … yes, it can.

Cheers to you and yours this year-end season!

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