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Marketing | October 13, 2026

What Is Customer Intimacy? Why Does It Matter More Than Engagement?

Marketers spend a lot of time talking about customer engagement, such as clicks, opens, responses, and interactions. But engagement alone doesn’t reach a deeper level of customer relationships: customer intimacy. Understanding the difference between customer engagement and customer intimacy is the first step toward building the kind of loyalty that actually holds. What Is the […]

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 When someone holds your printed piece, their brain processes […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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: These principles are powerful, […]

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 […]

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 […]

Consumers prefer buying from brands they trust, and often, the first point of contact with your brand is your company logo. This makes it even more important to have a logo that fosters confidence. Every time customers see your logo, whether it’s on a postcard or a piece of marketing collateral, it has the power […]

In today’s “always on” digital environment, the world is at our fingertips. Open, click, view, buy, comment, download. Anything you want. It’s all right there. Even so, book readership is on the rise, and a recent Association of National Advertisers study found that direct mail delivers a higher return on investment (ROI) than any digital […]