We're living in a digital world. Screens everywhere. Apps for everything. Yet research keeps proving that print does something digital just can't match.
Here's the difference: When you're reading on a screen, you're not really reading. You're scanning. Skimming. Hunting for keywords. Your attention keeps drifting. One notification, one link, one tab, and you're gone.
If you really want to know what is happening, you ask the experts, right? So, what do print industry experts (designers, marketers, print specialists) value about print? This question ("What appeals to you about print?") was recently put to a variety of print industry professionals. The responses reveal why this channel continues to captivate people despite digital alternatives.
Print shaped civilization. From revolutionary manuscripts to foundational documents influencing governance, print has driven social progress and preserved ideas across centuries. Working within this tradition connects professionals to something larger than individual campaigns.
The power of a B2B direct mail piece isn't just in the mailbox. It’s in the momentum it creates. You can send the most creative, high-impact dimensional mailer in the world, but if your sales team treats the follow-up as an afterthought, that investment is essentially "shelfware."
In B2B, direct mail serves as the icebreaker. The follow-up is the conversation. Here is why timing is make-or-break for your campaign.
Billboards, websites, social platforms, packaging... no matter the channel, visual content drives success. But different image types serve different purposes. Understanding which visuals work best for specific goals helps you maximize your impact.
Here are six essential image categories and how to use each one.
When most marketers think about color, they think about photos and graphics. But smart businesses increasingly leverage color throughout their communications. This includes text, calls to action, and messaging elements. Using color to strategically highlight phone numbers, discount offers, payment details, and critical information makes materials more impactful and drives better response.
Here are five ways color improves marketing effectiveness beyond just making things look pretty.
Physical postcards cut through digital noise, delivering your message directly into customers' hands. But with limited space to communicate, your headline carries oversized importance. It must immediately grab attention and draw readers in.
Here are seven strategies for crafting headlines that work.
Here's a question: What is a bigger driver of customer loyalty? Low prices or buyers’ relationship with your brand? If you answered price, recent research says otherwise. This is precisely why maintaining consistent customer communication matters, even when you're not actively selling.
According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, trust now equals price and quality as a primary purchase consideration. Not only this, but Salsify's 2025 research reveals that 87% of shoppers will pay more for products from brands they trust. These findings align with Edelman’s study, which shows that 81% of consumers need to trust a brand before buying from it.
Planning your next direct mail campaign and trying to choose between postcards and envelopes? Each format offers specific advantages for different marketing goals, budgets, and message types. Let’s take a look at when and where each format makes sense.
Postcards are single-piece mailers with immediate visibility. There is no envelope to open, so your message and CTA get seen right away. Envelopes, on the other hand, allow you to include multiple components and provide more information (such as letters, brochures, and reply cards). Still, recipients must open them before any of that gets seen.
Here's something marketers instinctively know but customers keep confirming: Personalized communications get more attention than generic ones. Whether you're sending bills, statements, promotional offers, or marketing campaigns, personalization consistently drives engagement. Survey data proves it yet again.
What Customers Say About Transactional Mail
Trade shows offer invaluable opportunities to connect with prospects, strengthen relationships with existing clients, and showcase your brand to a target audience. However, success doesn't happen by chance. It requires careful planning and strategic use of marketing tools before, during, and after the event. Here are seven essential elements that will help you maximize your trade show impact.
1. The Heavy Hitter: Direct Mail
Your packaging is often the first physical touchpoint a customer has with your brand. It's also increasingly a statement about your values. Today's consumers don't just want great products. They want to feel good about their purchases. Eco-friendly packaging that stands out isn't just responsible marketing, it's innovative business!
Sustainability Sells
In a world drowning in digital noise, print isn't just surviving. It's thriving. As we move into 2026, savvy marketers are rediscovering what neuroscience has been telling us all along: physical materials make a lasting impression that pixels simply can't match.
The Science of Staying Power
How can you boost your direct mail results on a budget? It doesn't have to be complicated. Sometimes the most straightforward steps have the most significant impact. Here are five tips for simple, inexpensive changes that can lead to substantial results.
1. Be relevant, not fancy.
Do you know what your customers think about you? If the answer is yes, what is that based on? Gut feeling? Or is there data behind your answer? Whether you use print, email, or focus groups, it’s essential to find out for sure.
The reason isn’t academic. Research shows a significant gap between how companies perceive their performance with customers and how they actually perform. According to Bain & Company, 80% of companies think they provide superior customer service, but only 8% of their customers think they receive it.
Ever wondered what separates a forgettable ad from a campaign that wins industry acclaim? It's rarely about flashy production or massive budgets. The real magic happens when marketers deeply understand their audience and deliver content that genuinely resonates.
We analyzed several years' worth of award-winning print ads to identify common themes. Here's what we found:
Marketing success isn't just about generating leads. It's about strategically guiding customers through each phase of the buyer's journey. This systematic approach, known as lead nurturing, involves presenting the correct information at the time your prospects need it most.
When it comes to lead nurturing, one of your most potent tools is content marketing. According to BPM Online, which offers a platform for process-driven CRM, B2B marketers overall allocate 28% of their total marketing budgets to content marketing. However, companies that achieve the best returns from this channel tend to allocate up to 46% of their budgets to content marketing.
You're preparing to launch your next direct mail campaign. You've updated your mailing list and identified your target variables, but what about your messaging? If you've been targeting the same customer base for a while, it's critical to regularly evaluate your approach to prevent things from going stale.
Here are five areas where a refresh might be in order:
Want to capture your audience's interest and drive purchases? Use psychology! One helpful model is Dr. Robert Cialdini's framework for persuasive marketing. His six concepts—limited availability, mutual exchange, credibility, peer validation, connection, and commitment—can be enormously helpful for improving outcomes and prompting swift customer action.
Here's an overview of each principle:
Design trends change. Fonts change. Even the way people browse catalogs and ads shifts over the years. However, some marketing techniques remain timeless. They strike chords so profoundly rooted in human psychology that they deliver results decade after decade.
Want proof? Look no further than the grand controls in the Who’s Mailing What! database. “Grand controls” are direct mail campaigns that have run for years (sometimes decades) because they continue to work. Studying them reveals which offers and techniques consistently resonate with audiences.
Every buyer is unique. Yet, certain principles of human behavior apply to nearly everyone. Understanding these principles can help you guide your direct mail and digital marketing strategies more effectively.
Ross Kimbarovsky, founder and CEO at Crowdspring, an online marketplace for crowdsourced creative services, has synthesized these principles into five helpful marketing hacks that can transform your offers from “I’ll get to it later” to “I need to act on this right now!”
