Driving Sales Conversions With a Combination of Media
It doesn’t take too much searching on the Internet these days to find an article that says, in however many words, that in so far as contemporary marketing goes: “Print is Dead.” Much like in the early 2000s when the printed book was declared DOA, the reports of the death of print marketing are premature, if not completely wrong.
While digital has continued to capture more and more market share in the marketing world over the last few decades, there are things that print does that digital mediums cannot replicate. Print is still more trusted than digital forms of advertising, and print can play a very important role in marketing campaigns that utilize it to drive online sales.
The Power of a Printed Object
Print is something you hold in your hands, and because of this, printed media is, by definition, an object. It doesn’t take a PhD in consumer psychology or consumer behavior to understand that there is a powerful connection between holding an object in one’s hands, and taking psychological ownership of that object.
Brick and mortar retailers use this to their benefit all the time, and one way that digital retailers can emulate this effect is through the power of print marketing materials.
The “Newness” of the Old: Making Print Marketing Work for You
With many marketers having all but abandoned print over the last decade and a half, the medium can have both nostalgic effects and the appeal of newness at the same time.
Because of print marketing’s attendant expense (compared to the relative cheapness of digital marketing materials), it is important that marketers position print marketing materials where they will have the most leverage in getting potential customers to take action.
The Unique Capabilities of Print
Print is also capable of doing many things that digital can replicate, but without the same level of success. If you can find a print design specialist (get in touch with East Side Printing Co. when you’re ready to start your project!) you can have access to someone who likely has decades of experience working with the medium and plumbing the full depth of its capabilities.
Can this same thing be said of the digital designers you’re currently working with? Print, in the hands of a master, has the ability to capture the imagination of potential customers in a way that digital still can only envy.
How to Effectively Use Print as Part of an Overall Marketing Campaign
Print may not be the sole powerhouse that it once was, even when used in conjunction with radio and television, but it does make a great partner for digital and social media campaigns.
Print can be a great way to drive older consumers online to interact with your social media assets and digital marketplace, for example. Print can also be a fantastic way to target specific markets in a way that digital can but without the power to move such markets to action the way that print can.
Print can also be a fantastic way to reaffirm brand position and voice for consumers that may have only briefly encountered your digital brand.
Combine the Past With the Present for a Better Future
Print is far from dead. While print advertising may have shrunken over the past few decades along with print journalism, print marketing materials can still be highly effective when used in conjunction with other forms of digital marketing.
Print marketing materials have unique power as a nostalgic, yet fresh way to convey serious, trustworthiness, and brand voice, while calling potential consumers to action through social media platforms and in the digital marketplace.