With the advent of social media and email marketing, printed advertisement has taken something of a backseat. However, its relevance cannot be overstated even today. According to published reports, 38% of US adults visiting a business’ online page based on printed ads. Wow! That is quite significant, don’t you think?
From the psychological marketing perspective, research showed that printed ads require 21% less cognitive effort to process compared to digital marketing content. Therefore, diversifying your marketing tactic to cover both digital and print advertisement niches will enable you to reach more potential customers than before. Let’s take a look at how you can benefit from using print advertisement in addition to digital marketing, which is standard in today’s day and age.
Types of Printed Advertising Media to Consider
There is a wide range of printed media that you can use to promote your brand and reach new audiences. Based on statistics, 56% of customers find print marketing to be the most trustworthy type of marketing, with 66% of direct mail printed ads opened.
In some ways, you can’t go wrong with the printed advertisement for the simple reason that people are used to it. Whether you target the elderly, millennial, or teen demographic, your audience is bound to appreciate printed ads far more than their digital equivalents. With that, some of the printed mediums you can explore to market your business includes but are not limited to:
- Magazine ads
- Posters and billboards
- Brochures and flyers
- Stickers
- Office supplies (notebooks, mugs, lighters, pens, etc.)
- Business cards
- Direct mail (catalogs, newsletters, coupons, etc.)
Balancing Printed and Digital Marketing
Adding print advertising, like magazine advertising, and even guerilla marketing to your digital marketing mix helps your brand stand out and attract bigger public interest than it would otherwise.
This will organically seep into your online engagement, sales, and word of mouth, given your reliance on print. While some may mistakenly regard magazine advertising as retro, the reason print advertising accounts for nearly 40% of website traffic proves that consumers continue to read physical printed materials. However, you shouldn’t neglect the power of digital advertisement as it can improve your printed ads and create an omnichannel campaign with greater reach.
Great Return on Investment
Studies found that “Average advertising costs for small business operations that use Google Ads as part of their online advertising strategy are between $9,000 and $10,000 per month.”
So, compared to digital advertising, Magazine Print Advertising is typically cheaper for the small business owner.
Another hugely important reason I recommend diversifying online marketing with traditional magazine advertising is that platforms like Google (and social media) can change the rules of their game at any time. Case in point: take the latest Google core update, which changes the search engine’s algorithm. Google changed their rules so much that even the biggest SEO Agencies saw a huge drop in their website traffic and had to remodel their SEO strategy to play by the new rules. Using both digital and magazine print ads will help protect your business from the risks of ‘putting all your eggs in one basket” while providing your business multiple sources of traffic to your website.
Grow Your Local Franchise Location
If you’re a small business owner who owns a franchise, you want to follow what the mega brands have been doing for years. Many international brands like Coca-Cola not only advertise on global networks, but they also continue to advertise in local magazine ads to make their brands relevant to local niche communities.
Build Website Engagement and Conversions
While many small business owners like to advertise your phone number in magazine ads, you should still always publish your website address on all your print ads. If you’re running a full-page magazine ad you should also include your brand’s social media handles. This will help to increase your online engagement while greatly increasing trust, assuming you have an updated professional website that provides quality, trust-building content.
RELATED ARTICLE: 7 Reasons Why Your Website is Leaking Leads
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Extended Longevity Compared to Digital Ads
Finally, magazine advertising has much longer longevity compared to Google PPC or Social Media ads.
One downside with Google, Facebook and LinkedIn ads is they appear and then disappear on the user’s screen. So, there’s no way for that user to go back to that ad at a later time when they now have a need for the services that you offer.
Magazine ads, for instance, do not disappear. When a magazine subscriber sees your ad, if they don’t have the need yet, they may not visit your website or call you right away. But, when a triggering event occurs, they remember seeing an ad for it months prior. That’s when they go back to the magazine and find your ad is still there. That’s when they contact you to become a customer.
Each time someone comes across your printed ad, even long after the initial publish date, you are increasing your brand awareness, so more people will know what the name of your business is, what you do and your contact info.
Opting for Omnichannel Marketing in 2021 (Conclusion)
So, the purpose of this article was not to convince you whether magazine print advertising is better than digital advertising. It was to educate you on the different benefits magazine print advertising offers. Ultimately, it’s best to diversify your marketing efforts to having an omnichannel approach, which is synonymous with multi media marketing or cross media marketing.
This does not negate the importance of having a compelling message in your magazine ads presented in a professionally designed ad. A confusing ad or an ad that looks like cheap clip art is highly unlikely to bring you that 38% traffic to your website.
RELATED ARTICLE: Print Advertising Tips
If you need help coming up with your wow factor message that’s laid out by professional graphic designers, book a complimentary discovery call to see how we can help you.
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Yoon, you’ve written a very informative post! While we live in an increasingly digital age, print media remains a highly significant component of the marketing mix. Print marketing allows you to present your business in a communicative and relevant approach in order to capture a person’s attention. In addition, it is said to be more engaging since you physically engage with and reply to the print marketing content.