Dwight’s Blogg

Marketers have adopted AI content tools at a remarkable rate. Depending on which study you read, somewhere between 43% and 88% of marketers now use AI to create content. Yet the complaint is nearly universal: the drafts sound generic. They cover the topic without saying anything. They sound like they were written by a committee that had read extensively but experienced nothing.

Many businesses mistakenly believe that to make their print marketing more sustainable, they must sacrifice quality or price. But that isn’t necessarily true. Many choices that reduce environmental impact also reduce waste, improve targeting, and lower costs.

Every relationship starts with emotional intimacy. Business relationships are no exception. This is why many companies are investing in customer intimacy strategies.

The narrative has been consistent for years: Digital is rising, print is fading. But the data tell a more complicated story. Across multiple industries and consumer segments, print is quietly regaining ground. Not out of nostalgia, but because it works in ways digital increasingly doesn’t.

A great marketing campaign starts with accurate, current data, and the most reliable data you can get is the kind customers give you willingly. Purchased lists and third-party data have their place, but self-reported information is almost always more accurate, more current, and more actionable. The question is how to get customers to share it.

Personalization has become one of those buzzwords that sound more intimidating than they actually are. Many businesses assume it’s expensive, technically complex, or only realistic for companies with large marketing budgets. The reality is that meaningful personalization is often simpler than you think, and you may already have the data you need to do it.

Here’s what most marketers believe: Direct mail is for driving foot traffic. Email is for driving online purchases.

Everyone’s using AI for marketing copy these days. ChatGPT, Claude, whatever tool fits your workflow. The question isn’t whether AI can produce decent content. The question is how to use it to deliver the most value.

Does this challenge sound familiar? How do you personalize direct mail at the scale customers expect without a massive marketing budget or sophisticated data infrastructure? The answer? Look at what your email is already telling you.

Most marketers approach direct mail the same way: Think about the list, nail the messaging, get the design right. Done, right? Not quite. There’s actually a step that comes before all of that. It’s the one that determines whether your campaign works or falls flat.