In direct marketing, conventional wisdom has long dictated that success lies in crafting the perfect offer and writing persuasive copy and putting it into a logical easy-to-navigate design. But what if this age-old approach isn't always the best path to higher response rates?

As 2025 begins, it’s a perfect time to evaluate what’s working and what’s not in your direct mail campaigns.

2025 is looking good already.

This past fall, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy recommended NO price increases in January 2025 for Market Dominant products, which includes First-Class Mail. And that recommendation was accepted by the Governors of the United States Postal Service.

The result — the price of a stamp to mail a 1-once single-piece First-Class letter promoting your products or services to potential customers will not increase. But that's not all...

 Marketing and sales teams have the same goal: sell. But too often, they're not on the same page. The content created by the marketing team doesn't always align with the type of conversation the sales team wants to have with a potential customer. And this disconnect holds companies back. 

The solution is called “Togetherness,” a concept created by alignment expert Jeff Davis.

Most marketing and sales organizations thrive on identifying new business opportunities and generating leads. I often wonder if the marketing industry celebrates customer retention nearly to the degree it should. But the reality is leads, prospects and new customers are one of the key priorities for most marketing organizations.

Seventy-nine percent of marketing leads never convert to sales.¹ Lack of B2B lead nurturing is the common cause for this predicament.

A recent marketing benchmark survey revealed that 78% of business-to-business marketers say generating high-quality leads is the top priority this year. Quantity of leads came in a distant second.