Every time some kind of new disruptive technology comes around, you will hear people shouting about the demise of whatever the last reigning technology was…

Video killed the radio star! MP3s killed CDs! (Streaming services killed MP3s.) The print is dead!

Of course, none of these things is true. Radio is still a very popular form of entertainment and likewise, many people still use Print media, and is far from dead.

There are still solid print marketing ideas and effective strategies used by both small and big companies and several printing companies in the US, UK, Canada, etc are still going green in their financial reports.

Many business owners asked different experts in marketing if print advertising was dead in 2017 and many are still curious to know if print media is still alive and effective since digital marketing has grown exponentially and every business is coming online, developing websites to showcase their products and services.

A huge amount of dollars are spent on social media influencers annually and brand exposure online has gone so expensive because of the competition in recent years, however, print media still matters and is effective in 2018.

Benefits of Print Marketing

Print marketing is still important today as we have print books still selling in big numbers and print is still an important force in magazines and newspapers.

If you are a ‘digital marketer’ who has never even thought about the ‘old-fashioned’ print forms of marketing, then you’re hugely missing out on the importance of this traditional way of marketing.

Uses of Print Marketing

Print marketing can very simply mean the use of flyers and advertisements.

It might mean printing out a large batch of marketing messages with an Orange County agency and then slipping them through people’s doors.

This has some great advantages over other forms of marketing that you might be used to as a digital entrepreneur.

For instance, print marketing in this way means that you have something physical and tangible to give to your audience. That is instantly more memorable, and it means that your audience has to interact with it in some way.

At the same time, there are other ways to use flyers, business cards, different types of print advertising such as newspapers, magazine, directories etc, and a whole host of print marketing materials.

For instance, how about handing out flyers to people outside of a specific venue? Maybe a club?

This could then allow you to reach a very targeted audience, as you can choose a location where you’ll be able to accurately anticipate the demographic.

How about creating a portfolio of your best work to keep in your waiting room? This is a fantastic way to get people to see your brand the way you want them to see it – to ’prime’ them for the interaction to follow.

If you make a sales pitch and they’ve just spent the last five minutes looking through pages of your very best work and shining testimonials, then you can bet that they’ll be more likely to place an order!

Now is the Best Time

Far from print marketing ‘dying’, we’re seeing something of a renaissance for the strategy. The reason for this is simple: it is now more affordable and more efficient than ever before for companies to print their materials.

Having said that, many still don’t get the desired result with their campaigns but this depends on the individual marketing strategy in my own opinion.

However, you can combine print and digital marketing since the two working together has proven to be a great combo.

The reason companies are now embracing print media is due to something called digital printing, or occasionally ‘POD’ (print on demand).

Simply, this means that it’s now possible for companies to provide much shorter production runs of flyers, leaflets, and whatever else is needed by the client.

That in turn means that small businesses can create the precise materials they need and not spend any more than necessary. It also means they can get the required materials much more quickly to use them in a pitch.

And there are more ways than ever before to combine your print media and online marketing too: for instance, how about adding QR codes to your leaflets?

These are like hyperlinks for the real world: providing a very easy way for you to send someone to your website after they’ve read your flyer or leaflet.

And we haven’t even talked about the potential impact of getting featured in a print magazine.

So now, print media is certainly not ‘dead’. Make sure that you’re involved and making the most of it for your brand and you will see yourself thrive online and offline. Start by finding a local print agency.