Has print really had its day?
How can print be used to promote your website and brand?
Aren’t print media marketing campaigns the domain of big companies who have a massive marketing budget?
Answer: Absolutely NOT
Print plays an important part in your overall marketing mix and is a great way of consuming information.
Online content does not engage us in the same way as reading a direct mail piece or magazine.
Reading from a printed page has the effect of making you slow down.
Reading content online requires it to be written in bite-sized chunks because our attention span is shorter.
Try it and you’ll see what I mean. You end up scanning the content to find the bits that you want to read.
Print is tangible and engages us in a different way by eliciting a meaningful and emotional response.
A printed document has a more linear structure when we read it because we tend to read or scan from top to bottom, left to right.
Online differs, various navigation and hyperlinks embedded into the content tend to make us jump around the page and from one page to another.
Very quickly forgetting what it was you were looking for in the first place.
Think about it
When was the last time you read a sales email from start to finish before hitting the delete button?
How many unsolicited emails do you receive in a week VS direct mail?
When was the last time you read a piece of direct mail and kept it because there was a really good offer?
Or, it was worth keeping because it contained something useful information?
Using print to promote your brand is a great way of driving customer engagement and personal referrals.
Let’s take a look at this offer as an example.
Creating a special offer for your customers so they can pass it on to family and friends is a great way to encourage new customers to visit your website.
People are more likely to take up an offer when it is recommended by a friend.
(Let’s assume you have an email list and are sending out newsletters regularly, you’ve added a great offer and also a QR code. Customers can scan the code which takes them to your website to view the details and at the same time capture their address which can then be used for future mailings, just don’t forget the opt-in)
Sending customer marketing letters is permissible under the GDPR, the ICO view this as marketing performed for the purposes of ‘legitimate interests’.
Unlike emails which require your recipient’s permission to opt-in, sending a direct mail letter is a great way to stay in touch with your existing customers and newbies.
Why not send a thank you card to a new customer with a personalised special offer?
Print provides a unique touchpoint not only does it carry your brand message and your brand colours it is a reminder to your customer that you are there.
Sending a marketing message via email won’t have the longevity of a printed document and is often dismissed as soon as it arrives in your inbox.
In an age of likes, retweets, tagging and impressions print is reassuringly simple and unassuming.
There isn’t the immediate pressure to respond and share but your printed marketing sales letter, card or brochure is a constant reminder of your company and your bran.
Customers can easily find you if there is a printed reminder sitting on their desk.
So before you ‘write’ it off, give print some thought the next time you decide to market your brand and business.
Need help designing a direct mail piece or want some well-written SEO content or blog for your website?
Then drop me a line or fill out the contact form and let’s have a free no-obligation chat about what I can do for you.
Further reading for you
https://onewomansview.co.uk/why-a-content-writer-is-good-for-your-business/
https://onewomansview.co.uk/creating-your-brand-values-online-seo-web-content-writer/
