Despite the growing presence of the Internet in our everyday lives, it remains as popular and as important as ever to communicate via printed materials.
Everywhere we look, we come across printed advertising, whether it’s the billboard we pass on our drive to work, the flyer we accept from the man handing them out downtown, or the advertisement in the corner of the newspaper page that seizes our attention. While people will sit down and look for exactly what they want on the Internet, printed marketing can be used to catch people’s attention as they go about their day-to-day affairs.
Printed marketing can reach out to potential customers and clients in ways that no other medium can, and here are just a few of the benefits of print power in the marketing world.
Tangibility
One of the obvious advantages of using print is that it is a physical, tangible medium, yet is still lightweight and flexible enough to be carried around, folded and put into pockets, and sent via mail or door-to-door delivery.
Research shows that, although electronic devices are improving, the human eye and brain are still quicker and better at processing words printed on paper rather than those on screens. On PC monitors, according to one study, reading and processing words can be particularly cumbersome.
With print companies working hard to lower their environmental impact through using recycled paper and eco-friendly inks, using print can actually be less environmentally detrimental than overuse of electrical appliances – especially if companies are keen to ensure that their printed advertising is recycled after use.
Targeting a wide market
Focusing an entire marketing campaign online is missing out on a considerable portion of the market. Studies carried out as recently as August 2012 showed that more than one in three Americans have no access to broadband Internet, while an estimated one in five do not use the Internet at all. Conversely, everybody uses books, newspapers, magazines, and all sorts of other printed materials every day.
As well as this, online marketing often only targets those who were going out of their way to look specifically for a certain business in a certain area. Printed marketing, whether via mail, hand distribution, or strategic positioning, is a surefire way to target possible customers in their own homes or on their way to work.
Mixing it up
The choice between using printed or online marketing should not be an ‘either/or’ situation, and the two methods are at their most effective when they are combined. All printed marketing materials should highlight both the company’s physical and online presence. To track progress of a print campaign, a landing page could be set up specifically to record how many people visit the site as a direct result of reading printed marketing paraphernalia. Similarly, a website could encourage readers to look out for a future flyer or poster printing campaign to be conducted in a certain area.
A study from April of 2012 indicates that, even among very tech-minded business professionals, 35% prefer print marketing, while a quarter prefer to market themselves via both print and online campaigns. All in all, it is not hard to see why printing remains such a popular tool in self-promotion, and how the modern, digital age can give it a new dimension and edge. This is why business experts on top of their game should not view print and the Internet as arch nemeses, but as tools to help benefit one another.
Charlton works for Minuteman Press, a printing company which provides high quality printed marketing material for a variety of businesses. More information can be found at www.shop.minutemanpress.com
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