The on-going, critical theme you hear from us is the importance of incorporating both printed and digital communications is your marketing plan to achieve maximum results. While the importance of print is easy to overlook due to the ease of digital communications, according to Nielsen Research, nearly 90% of customers today say they want to receive print marketing collateral that relates to promotions and sales.
- There is a significant amount of inaccurate information about the print industry that has left many with the wrong perception as to how truly eco-friendly and effective printed marketing materials can be. In the hopes of preventing you from missed opportunities due to a weaker marketing presence for your brand, we wanted to offer up these points of information:
- An International Communications Research survey states that 73% of consumers said they prefer to receive printed mail announcements rather than email announcements from the brands that they like.
- Not only can paper be recycled, the majority of the paper we use comes from managed forests or farms, which replant almost 4 million trees every day, which averages about 4 times more than the number they harvest.
- Two Sides surveys show that 70% of Americans said they prefer to read things on printed-paper over a digital screen, and 67% said they are partial to the feel of print media over other mediums.
- Each year, the percentage of paper recycled in the US continues to increase. In 2010, 63.5 percent of the paper used in the United States was recovered for recycling, an average of 334 pounds for every man, woman and child nationwide and an 89 percent increase in the recovery rate since 1990, according to the American Forest & Paper.
- On the Internet, there is an unlimited amount of content to distract the audience from your brand; meanwhile, with direct mail marketing, there is a smaller pool of competition and thus you have a greater chance of connecting with the audience long enough to make a conversion.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, in today’s marketing environment, the most effective marketing strategy is one that covers all your bases with both printed and digital media. Adding QR Codes and URLs to your print media will help make your print pieces even more effective by steering your audience to your website or social media page. Although we all utilize search engines, 67% of online searches originate from offline communications—which means a strong print presence will actually lead to more online conversions and sales for you.
In our next Blog we’ll explore various techniques on how to make your print marketing collateral more effective.
Authored by Rick Hall, Director Business Development