With today’s obsession with everything online, when it comes to marketing and developing a marketing strategy for our businesses, the focus tends to be online marketing – do you have a website, are you active with social media, what are you doing to generate traffic and build your audience and similar questions. While this is necessary to be successful today, there is still a key element that you should not overlook – your print materials.
In fact, it could be argued that you could be missing a significant opportunity to connect with your customers and potential customers if you do not incorporate some good old-fashioned printed collateral into your marketing mix. Content Marketing Institute suggests that 2 out of 3 marketers don’t include print in their marketing strategies. Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at what print can do for you that will give you a leg up on 66% of the competition:
- It helps you stand out. How many times have you met with a small business and asked for some information that you could take back to your office? Or even just asked for a business card and been told that they don’t have one? By having the right piece of marketing collateral available for your customers or potential customers gives them physical evidence of what you do and stand for.
- The trust factor. Let’s face it. There’s a lot of fake news going around on the internet today, and it’s hard to know what to believe. If there’s even a bit of controversy in what you say online, people will try to discredit it. On the other hand, a printed brochure still has a perception of trust build into it. The logic says that since you put a lot of time and effort into a printed piece it should be more accurate that something you “slapped” together for your blog or website. (Yes, it is faulty logic, but a current perception nonetheless.)
- It’s more effect for learning. A study in Norway tested student comprehension based on what they read in print vs on a computer screen. The results showed that students who read the printed material retained more information than those that read from the computer screen. The reason: there’s just something about feeling the document that helps our brains retain more information.
- You can go into more detail. Our attention spans on the internet are minimal. If you can’t say what you want in a few sentences, you’ll lose a lot of people’s attention. On the other hand, we soak up printed articles and brochures, often going back more than once to re-read and make sure that we understood what was discussed. Your printed materials give your customers an opportunity to get to know you and your business in a way that you can’t show online.
These are some strong reasons to reconsider utilizing printed marketing materials in your business. If you used printed collateral in the past, maybe it’s time to dust off those old brochures and update your look. A lot has changed in the print world over the last few years, including some incredibly creative ways to utilize print while keeping costs low (if that is your concern). Do some research, check out what your competitors are doing, and what makes sense for your business.
If you need help determining what the best strategy for tackling print is, the award-winning 21-13 Impact Graphics is ready to guide you through your print journey! Give them a call at 855.438.2113.
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