Business

Why is Print Marketing Important for a Successful Business?

Why is Print Marketing Important for a Successful Business

The online world has changed the way we access information which begs the question, do we really need print anymore?

Despite the incredible scope of digital content available, the need for print is still apparent, particularly when technology fails us. Whether that’s looking at a printed menu outside a restaurant to checking directions on a map when your phone battery has died.

When it comes to print marketing, there are still many benefits to incorporating it into your general marketing strategy even in this ever-digital world. In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of print marketing and how to make the most out of it for your business.

What is print marketing?

It comes as no surprise that during the lockdown, print media certainly dropped in its usage and that’s due to many of us being at home and online. However, post-pandemic people are getting back out and about, where print marketing can be taken advantage of.

When it comes to print marketing, what does that mean? It refers to any form of marketing that uses physically printed media in order to deliver to its target audience. A few examples of this could include:

  • Leaflets and brochures
  • Promotions flyers and posters
  • Newspaper and magazine advertising

Print marketing has been around for a long time and printing technologies have helped many businesses provide relevant messages or information to their audience. Even with the pandemic, print is still relevant and should be used by your business this year and beyond.

Six reasons why print marketing is important

Printing marketing is far from dead and the statistics prove it to be so. According to Mansi Media, 70% of households with an income above $100,000 are newspaper readers. There are many reasons why you should be incorporating print marketing into your marketing strategy, instead of focusing just on the digital side.

1.Not everyone uses the internet

Whilst it might be mind-boggling to religious users of the internet, not everyone uses the internet or as much as most would on a daily basis. That means there’s a percentage of the market that you’re not reaching if you simply decide to stick with digital marketing.

It’s worth looking at your target audience and where you would typically find them. If they’re not internet users, then print media is going to be a lot more effective in reaching those consumers.

In the US alone, 7% of the country’s adults don’t use the internet at all. That represents 17.9 million of the 255 million over the age of 18. Despite the small percentage, that’s a lot of people and a lot of potential conversions that you’re missing out on.

Even though it’s a relatively small market, dismissing it for it’s potential may be the wrong move for many businesses who could make use of investing in print marketing. It is likely the case that your competitors are also choosing to ignore this demographic, so take advantage of this overlooked group of people.

2.Helps maximize your potential customer reach

Digital marketing and print marketing are often compared to one another to decide which one reigns supreme. However, combining the two will likely help you achieve more success and fully maximize your reach as a business.

Your target audience aren’t just going to be on one platform every time, even if it’s a niche audience that you’re targeting. Instead, it’s good to combine both print and digital within your marketing strategy.

Print marketing can compliment digital marketing and vice versa. Why hold your business back from the potential these two marketing types have together? If you’re struggling to improve the reach that you have in your business, then it’s useful to explore various methods of marketing that you’ve not yet tried out.

Top Media Advertising found that combining print and digital ads will make online campaigns 400% more effective. So it makes sense to combine the two, rather than being attentive to just one marketing type.

3.It’s portable

One of the benefits of print is that it’s portable. You can take it anywhere and you don’t need to worry about it running out of battery or connecting it to the WIFI in order to use it.

Print marketing is easy for someone to collect, whether it’s a business leaflet or brochure during a conference, to voucher codes you’re distributing in the post. It’s things that your customers can hold onto, on their person or at home until they need to use it.

Millennials are a generation that love digital media but they also love print. According to Quad/Graphics, millennials respond more to printed communications than email. It might be the novelty of receiving a piece of literature in a world that’s significantly dominated by technology.

The real experience of receiving physical media is also likely to be more memorable and something that the person comes back to. Whether that’s discovering it in their coat pocket, or finding it whilst sorting through the household mail.

4.Provides a high ROI

For any form of marketing, the ROI is something you want to achieve every time. However, not all marketing campaigns or methods are going to be successful every time. Print is still an affordable way of distributing marketing materials.

Yes, online advertising and marketing are cheap too but there’s a lot of people doing it, meaning your content might not get seen as frequently. With print, as it’s a smaller market now, that means you’ve got more opportunity.

Printing media is affordable and a great option for small businesses or start-ups that don’t have the big budget like most of the other big businesses have when advertising online. It’s easy enough to find a supplier like Helloprint’s online poster printing services that can print your marketing materials according to the budget you have available.

5.Boosts your brand’s presence

Boosting your presence in the world is a lot harder as a business, even despite the internet making marketing and advertising more accessible. You want to make sure that you are the brand your customers think of first before your competitors.

There are many ways in which print marketing can help to boost your brand’s presence in the real world. Custom-made tote bags to travel mugs are a go-to corporate freebie that’s handed out at events. It means more people will see the brand beyond the event or occasion it was given out.

Use branded letterheads and put logos on any of your business letters and send flyers targeted to your audience that reminds them of what you sell or provide as a service. Branded banners and outdoor signs can also be a great way of marketing the business through print.

6.It’s trustworthy

Did you know that 95% of people under 25 years old read magazines? Magazines are trustworthy in comparison to some websites that promise on delivering accurate information. In reality, though, that’s not always the case and as a result, we’ve seen a lot of this ‘fake news’ becoming a worrying trend online.

With print marketing, there’s more trust and there’s less intrusiveness when it comes to print media in general. They’re not as infuriating as promotional emails that you get a dozen of every day through your inbox. Even though more time is spent on analyzing data online and tailoring ads, they’re not always going to be trusted by those who see them.

How to use print marketing for your business?

If you’re looking to expand your marketing capabilities or want to focus more on your print marketing that you’ve been neglecting recently, here are some tips.

1.Make use of the basics in print marketing

There are basic printing materials that are often used when it comes to marketing and that should always be readily available. Create and use business cards where you’re able to so that all of your employees get the opportunity to advertise the business.

Offer loyalty cards of regular discount flyers that both new and regular customers can take advantage of. Posters and banners are also useful to have in your small business, whether it’s at events or on the premises.

2.Collaborate and reach out to newspapers/magazines

Newspapers and magazines in print form still collaborate with businesses so pitch your suggestions to those mediums, not just to add a generic advert. There are lots of ideas that you could formulate to share more about your business through interesting topics, so try to build up some relationships with these platforms where you can.

3.Advertise locally

Advertising locally is a useful way of reaching those customers immediately around you. The internet can only do so much to reach consumers locally but sometimes doing the groundwork by getting out on the streets or distributing to mail boxes is the best way of reaching those in your community.

4.Use online tools for designing print

Online tools exist to help with design and so it can help design a lot of your print marketing. Use platforms like Canva in order to create everything from leaflets, brochures, flyers and business cards all for free.

Print marketing remains as important as digital marketing and it should be valued as such. Make sure that you’re using print media where possible and appropriate, to promote your business and its products or services in the future.

Natalie Redman

Author Bio: Natalie Redman (LinkedIn)

Freelance writer for many clients across multiple industries. Natalie has two years of copywriting experience. Natalie has a wide range of experience copywriting for web pages for businesses across many industries. She’s also an owner of two blog websites and a Youtube content creator.