Case Study: Missouri State Medical Association (MSMA)
Project Summary: MSMA in-house production and mailing of 25,000 – 30,000 personalized monthly invoices, statements, and fundraising mailings
“Freedom to Focus on Other Priorities.”
That’s what Liz Fleenor, Graphic Designer and Managing Editor for Missouri State Medical Association (MSMA), told Brown Printing (BP) during a recent interview. “When I give a project to Brown, I gain the freedom to shift my focus to future priorities,” Fleenor said.
Fleenor and her multi-staff team are responsible for the processing of small and large-scale mailings for invoicing, membership, and fundraising for MSMA. What does that look like? The MSMA office staff would print
and fold invoices and statements, manually gather and collate them with various additional inserts, and insert the pieces into addressed carrier envelopes. They would then hand these off to Brown Printing to seal and mail.
According to Fleenor, the process seemed to be working fine and there was no reason to change it. However, COVID and the temporary shutdown of their offices forced a different solution.
Is There a Better Way?
With the onset of the pandemic, the staff moved to a remote working model for health and safety reasons. “We had no official processes in place and were struggling with how to transition our staff to work remotely while continuing to perform the essential functions of our organization,” explained Fleenor. MSMA discussed a rotating schedule, staggered shifts, and alternating office hours to complete the work, but logistical challenges and the risk of errors, omissions, or miscommunications were daunting. With only 40% of the MSMA members having an active e-mail address on file, there was no way to reliably reach the remaining 60% of the membership with digital communications—making a mailed paper copy essential. “For us, mailed paper invoices drive the dues payment process, which is the revenue stream of our organization. We knew we needed a better way,” said Fleenor.
MSMA Challenges and Requirements
• Staff no longer had access to office supplies and equipment to produce
statements and invoices
• Concerns about exposure and risk of illness for the team if they were to gather in close
proximity to process the mailings
• Approximately 40% of MSMA members have an active email address on file, leaving 60% of the members excluded from any digital communications
• Data security compliance
• Customized versioning and personalization of multiple different mailings
• Accuracy of collating and inserting additional pieces into multiple different mailings
• Timely and thorough communications between MSMA and an outside resource
Brown Printing Solutions
With a long-standing relationship in place, BP General Manager, Brian Mutert, proposed the following solution to MSMA: allow Brown Printing to handle all production of the invoices and the entire inserting and mailing process in-house at BP.
Brown Printing presented the following in-house services, benefits and solutions:
• Workflow and process review of current project
• Secure data transfer and management
• Variable data printing• Matched mailing and inserting technology
• Full list sorting and address labeling
• Streamlined communications and reporting
• Cost-effectiveness and efficiency
“Essentially, we handed Brown Printing our revenue stream. They are
Liz Fleenor, Graphic Designer and Managing Editor
one source to hold accountable from creation to mailing. They became the hub of the wheel of our multi-staff projects, and our communications to members have been seamless. Our staff has been freed up to focus on other important projects that have come up during the pandemic.”
Missouri State Medical Association
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