Dear Dan: I’m in a competitive industry, and thus in a constant hunt for ways to promote my business, build customer goodwill, snag valuable referrals and generally stand out in a crowd. Right now I’m starved for ideas. Can you help? – Promo-Starved
Dear Starved: Looking for something new to dazzle customers and prospects this holiday season – a branding breakthrough?
How about your own printed postage stamp? This is not the metered variety, but a full-color, printed picture stamp.
It’s official U.S. postage that can carry your business logo, brand, Web-site URL, address and more. Heck, it can carry just about any image you want – your own smiling face, your product, your employees – whatever you want to promote.
Several suppliers are now offering the new custom stamps, with U.S. Postal Service approval. They include Zazzle, in partnership with Pitney Bowes (ZazzleStamps.com); and Stamps.com (PhotoStamps.com).
Custom stamps, though introduced for consumer use last year, only recently got the USPS go-ahead to include business brands and logos.
They can be used to mail letters, postage or packages, and can be ordered in many denominations, from 24 cents (for postcards) up to $4.05.
Each sheet of 20 ZazzleStamps in the 39-cent first-class denomination costs $13, if you buy at least 100 sheets. That’s 65 cents per stamp, or an extra 26 cents above the postage rate.
But you don’t have to buy multiples of the same design to get that quantity discount. You get the discount on multi-sheet orders even if you use a variety of designs.
And if you have a direct-mail campaign in mind, special pricing is available for large orders. PhotoStamps, for example, are available on production rolls for higher-volume mailings.
The impact of seeing yourself or your logo in blazing color on an official U.S. postage stamp is significant. And if you are sending, say, holiday greetings, thank-you cards or other correspondence, Zazzle can outfit your business with printed cards that match your stamp.
The online ordering process is fairly simple and offers leeway to design just the type of stamp you want. You upload your digital photo or business logo, then use the online design tools to position it and finish creating your custom postage.
And because of the authentication technology used to print the stamps, most postal machines will not leave postmarks on the postage, so your recipients will see your creation unblemished.
Daniel Kehrer can be reached at editor@business.com.
