How Print Marketing Strategies Are Unique from Digital Strategies
When you think about marketing today, a lot of it revolves around digital strategies, whether it’s social media campaigns, best SEO practices, or online content. Billboards, printed pamphlets, and print ads seem to be a thing of the past—but are they?
A blog by Bannersnack brings up a good point when it comes to digitalmarketing: there is just SO much of it. Will all the noise in digital marketing and consumers getting used to seeing—and ignoring—ads online, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to stand out in the digital world. According to Statista, in 2019, almost 26% of internet users use ad blocking software on their devices, with that number likely to grow as times goes on. So even with excellent ad campaigns, it’s possible you aren’t reaching everyone you think you are.
What are the benefits of print marketing?
A post by J. Donnelly Direct, Inc. does a great job summarizing the benefits of print marketing still felt today.
Print pieces stimulate senses through touch.
Holding something in your hands, especially if the quality of the print and paper stand out, stimulates more than one sense, which can leave more of an impact on the viewer than an ad they scroll past online. Having a physical object lends it more value, and thus has the opportunity to make a greater impact on the person viewing the material.
(Insert obligatory clip of American Psycho demonstrating the importance of the touch and feel of a business card that can make or break your status.)
Printed material is brain food!
ChilliPrinting cites a study that suggests that print marketing offer “special advantages in connecting with our brains.” When people use 21% less cognitive effort to read and process a direct mail piece, the study suggests, it may mean it’s both easier to understand and more memorable. Perhaps that leaves them more energy and motivation to send out that follow-up email to you about your offer!
Due to its physicality, print is more memorable.
Using color and texture coupled with your content will make it stand out more. People will likely absorb more information through an informative pamphlet versus quickly clicking through information on your website, if you’re even able to get them to visit that specific page. By making your printed material informative and creative, you make it more memorable and more useful to the consumer, helping them through the buyer’s journey and decision-making process.
If you’re creative with shape, color, texture, and content, your printed material will likely make a more memorable impact and can provide value through education to the consumer.
Print stands out through the noise of digital marketing.
When someone is looking at a piece of printed material, there aren’t side distractions like popups, flashing banners, other webpages to surf, or the like to distract them. For that moment or more that they’re looking at the printed material, it has their full attention.
Print media is kept as resource information.
People often hold on to print collateral, considering it a trustworthy reference for information. There’s something tangible and dependable about information committed to print media—digital text can be easily changed. Print remains constant … and trusted. People will keep it as a touchpoint resource to your company.
Print marketing is an opportunity to complement your other marketing strategies.
Although we encourage you to consider the importance of print marketing, that does not mean you should abandon your digital efforts. Print marketing could work well to complement your digital strategies already in place by including CTAs or QR codes that take prospects and customers down a digital pathway.
Print can have a powerful impact in local markets to help target those who are physically close to you through physical media. Take high-value content, such as customer success stories or testimonials, and give them prominence in your print marketing. And, as in all of your marketing efforts, showcase your brand in a memorable and professionally branded manner through quality color and textures.
Grant Marketing can help you with all your marketing strategy needs, whether it’s print, online, or a smart combination of both. Contact us today to explore how you can improve your marketing strategy.
