Friday is here again, and you know what that means. No, it’s not lighter traffic on your commute or the opportunity to leave work at 3 p.m. to make your afternoon tee time… It’s time for Our Favorite Headlines!

This week, our roundup is focused on a few of our favorite things: direct mail, print marketing, and failure.

Say what?

You read that correctly. From the reason physical coupons have made a comeback and how direct mail can fit into your B2B marketing plan, to why you should embrace failure, check out our favorite headlines this week – then let us know what you think in the comments below.

The Takeaway: Much like fashion, it seems that trends in the marketing world are somewhat cyclical. Paper coupons, though they never faded into total marketing obscurity, are certainly having a moment – especially in an era where email inboxes are overloaded and many brands have moved toward inbound marketing strategies.

What makes paper coupons a viable tactic in 2017? For one, high-quality coupons sent via mail are an active way to reach your audience, as opposed to waiting for them to discover you through the right search terms. Secondly, the marketers behind effective physical coupons know how to go beyond the spray-and-pray technique and create targeted (relevant) offers for their audience based on data. Whatever the reason, paper coupons are proving to be an effective way to break through the clutter and convert new, lapsed, and loyal customers. We’ll take it.

The Takeaway: We’ll preface this by explaining that we rarely recommend choosing just one channel to carry the weight of all your marketing needs. Rather, we’re firm believers that you’ll always see better results from taking an integrated approach.

That said, we also believe that direct mail deserves a place in many marketing campaigns. It’s true that it tends to cost more than many digital tactics – but paired with those same channels, direct mail has the power to gain you a much higher response rate and ROI. Whatever you take away from these 8 reasons, remember this: Don’t simply write direct mail off as outdated or too expensive. Instead, consider how direct mail might fit into your marketing plan and work with your email, inbound, or online advertising strategy.

The Takeaway: We’re sharing this as an important reminder for those who are starting to plan their marketing initiatives for the coming fiscal year: Don’t let the fear of failure get in the way of trying new things. As marketers, we’re accountable to leadership, stakeholders, and other employees to bring in new business – but that doesn’t necessarily mean we should be comfortable simply doing things the way they’ve always been done. If you try something new and fail, does it count as a failure or as an opportunity to learn?

What articles did you find particularly interesting or relevant? Let us know in the comments, or on Facebook or Twitter, or in the comments below!