You might be thinking: ‘Isn’t print dead?’ the short answer is No. While there are lots of exciting things happening in digital marketing and promotion online, the print industPreview Changes (opens in a new tab)ry is still booming.
Increasingly, companies are focusing their marketing efforts online. However, people are getting tired of being bombarded online with pop-ups and ads. In a recent Apple software update, the company gave users the option to opt-in to ad targeting, meaning they would be tracked on phones, iPads and their desktops to provide tailored ads. Only around 5% of users opted into this.
On the other hand, people engage more positively with printed products. Printed books are still outselling eBooks. Printed invitations and cards are still favoured over e-cards. Why? People still love the tangible feel of a product in their hands. It’s more personal and can form great relationships with customers in a way that emoji’s and emails just cannot.
That is why large and small businesses are still using print marketing alongside their online marketing efforts. It can complement your business marketing and build strong relationships with customers, and extend your audience to the less tech-savvy people who don’t spend much time online.
So how can print marketing help your business grow? We’ve listed some of the top ways that printed marketing products can help you grow and connect with current and potential customers:
Stick to your branding
Your brand is your identity. Having an easily identifiable brand allows your customers to become familiar with your services and the quality of your products. Print products are a great platform to get creative and enforce your brand identity through colours, fonts, logos and images.
In order for your customers to easily recognise your brand, it’s important to be consistent. If you don’t already have a brand guideline, there are plenty of templates online to help you get started. Be sure to stick to your brand colours, fonts, and language style. Is your brand playful and casual, or emotive, or dark and dramatic? Bear this in mind when creating your print products.
Reuse your online material
The odds are you already have a website or online presence. That’s great! Rather than creating designs for your print products from scratch, you can reuse a lot of your online content for your print products. Any images, graphics, logos and text can be recycled into flyers, business cards and signs.
Another benefit of reusing online content is that it can be measured. You can see how many people like a post, click a link, or engage with your content. So you can pick out your top-performing posts, images and blog posts, and turn those into great printed brochures, posters or leaflets that you already know people will respond to positively!
Connect to digital
You’ll want to tie all your online and offline marketing efforts together. So it’s a great idea to link your printed products to your online store, website or campaigns. Consider including a QR code. You can make these easily, and for free, online. Our favourite is QR code monkey.
Once you’ve made your QR code, your customers can scan the code on our promotional materials you have printed and be taken to a webpage, pdf file, or video. Alternatively, you can simply include your website and social media handles on your printed products.
Cater to your audience
Make sure the products you print are going to benefit your customers. Think about the intent of your promotional material. Do you want to advertise a sale? Inform people about specific products/services? Or promote your business to a large group of people?
For example, say you own a landscaping company, If so, your customers might benefit from a leaflet detailing your services. It could also be a good idea to carry business cards in case a client’s neighbour is also interested in your services too!
Be useful!
Customers appreciate promotions that give them real value. If you give them value before they even become a customer they are much more likely to consider becoming one.
In a recent study, 69% of consumers were likely to pick up a promotional product if they deemed it useful. Everyday stationery like notepads, pens, and calendars would be useful on a daily basis to most people.
Stand out
If all of your competitors are focusing solely on their online marketing efforts, it leaves a HUGE space for you to get a competitive edge in print. No matter how amazing an online campaign can look, it cannot compete with the feel of a luxurious card or the effect of shimmering gold leaf.
So rather than limiting your business to your online audience, complimenting your marketing strategy with print marketing can increase engagement, provide value, and grow your business.
