Why should you be using print marketing to promote your business?
(3 min read)
Doesn’t matter how you dress it up, if your brand only exists online – it’s flat. You can use colour, imagery, fonts…etc but nothing compares to the brand experience that is delivered by print; papers, media, foils, feel, appearance and tech (yes, tech!)
You’re missing a huge opportunity to create tangible value for your brand by ignoring print. If you’ve read our print facts book, you’ll know just how and why print works for brands and delivers a higher return, higher engagement and a better learning experience. We love busting print myths!! Print still has a place in marketing, there are many functions in everyday life that cannot really be replaced by a digital process, and these moments are your opportunity to give your customers a great brand experience whilst capturing their attention and, hopefully, their business.
On our Premium Print page we have hopefully instilled the benefits of how print embellishments, stocks & media can affect a higher perception of your brand but here we want to show you how print can help you market your business and actually gain customers and sales.
So, how can I use print to market my business?
The most important thing to consider when using print to market your business is to ensure that what you are marketing is both targeted and relevant to your audience. Your message and offer should be equally targeted to the recipients needs and wants in order to resonate with them. You can’t sell stair carpets to bungalow owners or Virgin Media to villages without cable (though they do try!).
Surprisingly, the primary role of print in your marketing process should be to get the user/recipient to your digital channels and you want a sure fire way of ensure these people take that action. Adding a URL or even specific landing page doesn’t quite cut it anymore but fortunately we have some great print marketing strategies and some pretty natty print tech that will impress your audience.
Everyone has their smart phone to hand so use interactive print to bridge to digital:
QR codes
They seem very yesterday, I know, but now Apple have caught up and made their camera read QR codes natively, and therefore are app independent, their use in on the rise and make short work of navigating to specific landing pages a doddle from anywhere that 4G is available
NFC (Near-field communication)
While Apple have been catching up with QR technology, Android has already surpassed them with interactive NFC print technology. NFC only requires a user with an NFC enabled phone (most androids; for many years) to touch their phone to a point on your print to be automatically launched into your online campaign or sales funnel. Thereafter, it’s up to you. NFC print can be used anywhere, anyhow, with a little bit of thought and know-how by us.
Augmented reality
Still in its infancy and very app dependent, AR allows users to augment your info and view digital elements on a smart phone by ‘scanning’ an image embedded in your print – this is most often video or 3D images used to enhance product understanding.
People have 2.7 devices to hand and see thousands of messages everyday but they only have one letterbox.
Personalised direct mail
It really *delivers. Putting personalised direct mail through the letterbox not only gets better response rate than all digital channels combined it also sidesteps any issues you may face due to GDPR. But, personalised direct mail needs to be combined carefully with a call to action in order to deliver a measurable result. Or you can add…
Purls
Not so tech based but still very clever, purls (personalised urls) are used on personalised direct mail to take recipients straight to their own personalised landing page for your product, service or event. The landing page is linked to their personal data to pre-fill forms; making short work of ordering or RSVPs. Most importantly, purl technology will give you a measurable open rate on your direct mail, and as part of an omni-channel campaign, automate users though sales funnel processes or digital campaigns.
The best of both worlds…
Omni-channel marketing
Combine personalised direct mail, email marketing, micro-sites and landing pages, PURL’s, mobile SMS and social media channels to create engaging, multi-touch, response-driven customer journeys. Omni-channel marketing campaigns can run completely hands-free, carrying people through a process (sales funnel) and delivering sales straight to your inbox or phone.
If you would like to explore adding any of the print marketing technologies above to enhance your print to digital conversions, you can make an appointment to get a demonstration in our ‘printspriration’ centre with our print marketing consultant. Just call 01234 907907 or email us.
You can read further on each subject below…
