It may seem that in this day and age of the internet that print marketing would be a thing of the past. However, when you consider that direct mail is still nearly half of the total local retail advertising and over three quarters of small businesses still believe that print marketing is a vital part of their advertising effort, then it is not dead by a long shot.
There are certainly many reasons why print will remain a viable part of marketing for a long time to come. Businesses that still want to succeed, especially in the local marketplace will have to use resources such as newspaper ads, color printing for direct mail and other efforts that will keep the print business going for many years to come.
Here are just some of the ways that print marketing is still a viable resource for your advertising efforts.
The Personal Touch
Having a printed item in your hands conveys something far more real than an email or landing page ever could. That is why so many people still respond to postcards, flyers and the like especially when they are very well made.
NFC and QR Codes
One of the influences that smartphones has had on the print media is the introduction of NFC and QR codes which allow for print to take people directly to a website. QR codes can be customized with different patterns and colors to catch the eye and to make your efforts stand out. The near-field communication (NFC) is actually a new technology that will eventually replace QR codes and uses a tiny microchip that sends the information directly into the mobile device without having to scan. All that is needed is to tap the print against the mobile device and the website will pop up.
Variable Printing Technique
Thanks to the costs of printing going down over the past several years, you can now vary the printing in a single marketing campaign that will make your efforts more effective in reaching customers. For example, a direct mail campaign could actually personalize each postcard with the name of the person where it is sent so that it means more to them. Putting their first name in will separate it from what they would consider “junk mail” and have a greater impact.
Expansion of Social Media
The social media that we see on sites such as Facebook and Twitter for example has been around a long time. After all, the business card is the perfect form of social media and that has been around for more than a century. You can integrate your online efforts with print media campaigns and the end result will be better coverage of your potential customer base. In fact, you will reach customers through your print marketing efforts that simply were not available on in internet.
All in all, color printing and print marketing are not only here to stay, but they still play a vital role in finding and bringing in new customers to your business. The more effort you can make to augment the print aspect of your campaign the better the results will be.
Talk to Drew at 757-646-5612 for more information on innovative ways that printing marketing can help your business.