Attention spans are getting shorter, and there is an increasing amount of ‘noise’ in digital and social marketing, so much so that people are now paying not to see ads.

How many times do you click through your email and simply delete before you have opened one? 

Digital may be convenient, but we are all humans and humans need to touch and to experience products.

We also have feelings of nostalgia, and right now it’s fashionable to be retro.

There’s a resurgence of sales of real books versus e-readers, vinyl records are massively popular, some of the big online names are now investing in bricks and mortar – Amazon and Funky Pigeon to name just two. Even Google sends you letters to market to you!

In our increasingly digital world, many businesses migrated their marketing to digital channels, but with the daily assault from digital marketing and mediums more and more companies are seeing better results from print media when used within their marketing mix.

Why are consumers responding more to print?

Print is tangible – with all good publications there’s a feeling of substance and sensory stimulation; you can feel the paper, fold the leaflet or cut out the voucher.

Reading print demands your full attention and is a means of escape from today’s ‘always-on’ culture. Recent research from Bangor University has found that readers of print maintain their capacity to read longer articles since the reading situation doesn’t offer so many distractions, this capacity called deep reading also cultivates deep thinking and encourages brand recall. It generates more emotion, helps to develop more positive brand associations, the materials have a more personal effect, and therefore aid motivation.

Print is physical and consumers tend to hold on to it. The Data andMarketing Association found that :

• 66% of consumers kept their mail for two weeks, unlike a quick hit on the delete button of an email or online ads which disappear into cyberspace.
• direct mail has a 30% higher response rate that an email.
• 56% of people believe that printed marketing is the most trust worthy form of communication (DMA 2014)
• Print helps to connect the online and offline worlds.
• 67% of online searches are driven by offline messages, with 39% ultimately making a purchase.
• Shoppers who receive a direct mail piece directing them to an online site spend on average 13% more than those who do not receive the printed piece.
• Printed catalogues associated with online sites have been shown to boost online spending by 28%. The most effective campaigns are those using print as part of the integrated solution.

Print is personal… Who doesn’t love getting a proper personalised letter?

Print media can be mass produced (hundreds to millions of copies) or one-to-one (and uniquely personalized) but the beauty of modern digital printing is that it has the ability to print flexibly and adaptively, personalising unique messages making it more become engaging, versatile and creative.

Print adds great power to a multi-media campaign, it can build a brand and influence decision makers.

So this week’s message from me is – have a look at how you can be creative with print and join the other businesses who are going back to the future!

If you need help working out how you can use print effectively to promote your business – please send me a message or call me on 07900242918.