Print With Purpose
1. It’s Effective
Would you go to war using only one type of tactic when your enemy is using multiple approaches? Marketing strategy is much the same—you need a strategic double-pronged offensive to make inroads. That’s why print is such an essential component in any effective marketing campaign. Technology may advance, but the need to communicate and engage consumers still remains; the combination of both print and online media has proven to be the most effective method of marketing and communication.
• Consumers receiving a printed catalog are twice as likely to make a purchase than those consumers who do not receive a catalog.
• 67% of online action is driven by offline (print) messages.
• 86% say shopping is easier when they have a printed catalog.
2. It’s Personal
While email is impersonal and free, remember that people want to feel special. Email is transactional, print is relational, which is why people don’t read email to the same degree that they read print. Print pieces have been proven to be more effective than a screen full of information. Think of it this way—your mind can easily ignore ads in magazines and junk mail, but your fingers cannot ignore a piece of paper that feels different from all the rest. When the senses are awakened, so is the attention span.
• 80% read or skim direct mail, 38% find direct mail interesting.
• 82% like getting catalogs in the mail from the stores they patronize.
• 70% have renewed a relationship with a company as a result of receiving direct mail.
• 59% of Senior Executives prefer printed resources over online resources for information.
• There is a 48% increase in response rate when higher paper grades are used.
3. It Sparks Action
Print provides a personal, portable and meaningful interaction with your message which is critical in today’s over-saturated media environment. Print stands above all media in driving response. Direct mail, specifically, leads in spurring action. If a picture or a simple message speaks to a person, they’re likely to keep it around instead of throwing it away. They’ll return to it to experience your message again, and a call to action is more likely to occur. Emails are deleted.
• The average consumer is exposed to 3,000 marketing messages per day.
• The attention span of the average person is 9 seconds—about the same as a goldfish. You have 9 seconds to convey your message. Direct mail is the perfect vehicle for accomplishing this.
• Consumers rate direct mail a 3.9 on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best) for most acceptable forms of marketing.
• More than 75% of people say they have made a purchase as a result of direct mail, two-thirds say they made purchases as a result of an email.
• 40% have tried a new business or service for the first time as a result of direct mail.
• Catalogs and direct mail generate the second and third highest response rates after telemarketing.
• 29% of revenue generated from a communications campaigns is from direct mail, followed by email at 21.6%.
4. It’s Environmentally Responsible
Print is more environmentally friendly than you think. People are concerned about saving forestry, as well as saving money. Papers are now offered in various “shades of green” and printers are using more environmentally-sound practices. There is also little talk about how large of a carbon footprint electronic media really leaves. We have computer systems that run all day long, they are backed up by larger systems that run 24/7…These things consume a lot of energy and need to be taken into consideration as well, when evaluating carbon footprints.
• U.S. forestland has increased 10 million acres in the last 20 years.
• 45.2 million tons of paper and paperboard were recovered from recycling in 2007. That’s 57% of all paper and paperboard waste.
• The actual amount of municipal waste generated by advertising mail was reported at 2% from the EPA. The same survey found that 50% of adults thought the percentage was 53%.
So, the next time you’ve got a message to convey, consider adding a printed piece to the mix.