Despite marketing being primarily digital nowadays, good old print marketing is still a thriving industry and any business would be foolish to ignore and not include it in their marketing strategy.
Although digital marketing is the most effective marketing tool today, print marketing still has its uses. If you are considering using print marketing to supplement your digital efforts, it really pays in the long-term to be aware of what works and what doesn’t.
Print and digital marketing are not interchangeable; you cannot just print out your digital marketing and stuff it through letterboxes, hoping for good results.
Here are ten simple tips for advertising in print media.
10 Print Media Tips for Advertising
1. Keep it simple
Print marketing isn’t like digital marketing and those reading it are unlikely to remain interested if they are greeted with cluttered, superfluous information. If your print marketing is too scattered, the reader will instantly be put off and likely stop reading.
When creating print marketing materials, it is important to not get too carried away – keep everything simple and to the point, so as to get your message across in a quick and concise way.
2. Invest in quality design
Nothing says amateur more than low-quality marketing materials. Your marketing’s design will be the very first thing which the reader sees, and a good design will instantly engage and make them want to learn more about your brand or business.
Boring, low-quality designs, however, will simply be tossed aside and forgotten about rather quickly.
3. Choose prominent locations
If you are going with banner advertising or billboards, choose a prominent location where it will get good exposure to both traffic and footfall.
Billboards and banner printing are a little different from other forms of printed media and should be as concise as physically possible – drivers and people going about their day do not have time to stop and read more than a short sentence.
Also, placing your advertisement in a place with little exposure is just a waste of time, effort and money.
4. Engage all the senses
Try and make your print media marketing as engaging to the senses as possible. Not only should it be visually captivating, it should be captivating to the other senses too.
Use a high-quality paper or print material which feels nice and, if possible, make it smell nice too! If your brand is focused around perfumes, homewards or beauty products, this is a great way for you to market a specific scent which is available in your product line.
Certain papers absorb scents better – apply a small amount to your marketing materials prior to distributing them for the best effect.
5. Use local areas to your advantage
If possible, tailor your print marketing to the area in which you are distributing it. Leveraging the local area is a fantastic way to engage your target market; personalization is very important with marketing as it makes potential customers feel valued and that you exist only to meet their needs.
You can easily use localization to reflect your brand’s culture, values and how they are similar to the local area or the people who live there.
6. Keep it customer-orientated
This especially applies to print marketing because, when your customer picks up your physical marketing material, they do not want to read about the history of your brand, your values or anything else.
As soon as a customer picks up your physical marketing content, they want to see one thing: why the brand or business matters to them and why they should invest in your products or services.
They want to be told straight away what your brand is and how it benefits them. That’s it. Save all the excess information for your website and email newsletters.
7. Leverage special offers
Because print marketing generally feels more personal, any special offers or discounts included as part of them also feel more personal.
Leverage this, too! Use your print marketing to make your audience believe that they are being given a special offer just for them, and make it time-dependent so that the reader has a sense of urgency – if they like the sound of your brand, they’d better act sooner than later before your offer expires.
8. Only use suitable channels
Use print media channels which closely fit your brand. If you are a trendy new clothing line aimed at teenagers and young adults, your ad isn’t going to get much attention at the back of a broadsheet newspaper. You need to know your target audience well to be able to determine what they are most likely to notice.
By only using the right print media channels, you are only spending money where it will increase your return-on-investment.
9. Keep your marketing consistent
Marketing is great because it enables you to quickly build a strong brand identity, so long as your marketing materials are consistent. If you take a look at any company’s marketing, you will see there are certain things which are consistent across the board.
The logo, colour schemes, design and tone of the marketing copy itself remain the same, and this enables customers to associate certain colours, patterns and designs with certain brands. You know you have created some stellar print marketing when a consumer knows which brand it relates to before they get close enough to read it.
10. Ensure your marketing has a friendly tone
Nobody wants to be lectured to, not least by a company with whom they are not familiar with, via the means of a piece of marketing. Even if you are a professional services company, there is nothing wrong with adopting a more casual, relaxed and friendly tone in your marketing.
You should always strive to give off approachable and friendly vibes, as this will encourage potential customers and clients to reach out to you.
Although digital marketing is by far the most popular marketing method today, print media is still very much alive and well. Print marketing is something which needs to be in every marketing brief, regardless of what industry you operate in, where you operate and who your target market is.
Author Bio: Michael Deane writes for Printroom, and has spent years developing different marketing strategies. His greatest passion is content marketing, and he is addicted to his phone – as most marketers often are.
