So many of our day-to-day activities — shopping, banking, reading the news, connecting with friends and family, and even teaching ourselves a new hobby — take place online. So, you might think that the most effective advertising takes place there, too.
However, you’d be wrong.
The Neuroscience May Surprise You
Studies into the neuroscience of recall, comprehension, and emotional impact continue to show that print content outpaces digital in every respect. This includes advertisements.
Using high-resolution EEG brain wave measurement as well as eye-tracking technology and old-fashioned questionnaires, researchers at the Canadian firm TrueImpact tested the effect of print advertisements versus digital ones.
Digital media, they found, required much more cognitive effort to comprehend than direct-mail marketing pieces. The digital media included email and banner ads on both smartphones and laptops. Yet across the board, it garnered lower brand recognition.
In fact, many more participants were able to recall the brand name after having been shown a paper advertisement than those who had seen only the digital version.
It’s no secret that the most effective advertising campaign is the one that you remember.
Print Advertising’s Reach Is Better
“What?” you may be saying. “The internet is global! How can a hard copy of anything compete with that?”
Well, what about garage sale signs, banners announcing a local 5K fun run, a “Coming Soon!” sign in the window of a shopfront under construction? A vehicle wrap? A business card?
Even the posterboard you hold up at your son’s basketball game that reads “Go Panthers!” is a form of print marketing, and one that simply won’t work online.
Sure, information about store or cafe openings, neighborhood events, and even yard sales is all available online. But, with a few exceptions, potential “customers” of these activities would have to go looking for that information. Colorful, attractive signage located right in the neighborhood will catch the right eyes.
You Can’t Block A Brochure
Even if you don’t use one yourself, you probably know someone who has an ad blocker installed on their browser. That’s the problem with digital ads; they’re fairly easy to ignore, click past, or even eliminate from your online experience in the first place.
Not so with printed materials like brochures, flyers, or billboards. Take a direct-mail postcard, for example. You probably receive a few of these each week, but you don’t automatically dump them in the recycling bin.
“Sure I do,” you say. “I look to see what it is, and then I chuck it.”
You look to see what it is.
Once the postcard is in your hand, or the billboard is right in front of you on an otherwise empty stretch of road, you’re going to read it. Whether the message is interesting to you is another matter, of course, but it’s much harder to ignore a printed ad than one made of bits and bytes.
The fact that you have to look at it, before deciding what to do next, makes it effective.
Get Effective Advertising
Whether you need a banner, a business card, or a brochure mailing, contact Hackworth to learn just how effective advertising in print form can be.