I’ve heard it said that print marketing isn’t as important a part of the marketing mix as it used to be.
I can’t argue with that. Not really. The Internet is opening a whole new horizon for marketers to break past people’s natural resistence to marketing messages. Print publications are slipping to the wayside in favor of digital production. So what does that say for the future of print marketing?
It says people are still checking their mail, so it’s worth taking the chance.
Print marketing is one of the most direct ways of reaching your target audience I’ve ever seen, because you can catch them in their home, on their time. You’re not cornering them while they’re between meetings and hoping they’re going to remember enough of your spiel to remember you when they walk away, and you’re not advertising on a page that’s going to make your ad disappear when they flip back to it.
Which means if your ad happens to catch their eye as they’re changing pages and they try and flip back, that ad is going to be long gone. I don’t know about you, but I really hate that.
When you land in their mailbox, however, you’re giving them an option. They can take you on the road. They can look at you during their kids’ soccer practice. (I spent the last 2 dance classes flipping through Alloy and Pampered Chef.) They can hold you and read while they make dinner. They can set you on their desk for when they have time to give you their undivided attention.
So, with that in mind, I’d have to say that print marketing is THE way to bridge the gap between what you have and what you need to connect the dots between you and your customers.