Are you giving up on commercial printing?

Please don’t give up on commercial printing

Because commercial print is alive and well, and living, or should I say, working alongside a new, powerful partner—web-based integrated marketing communications. Once you do the research, you’ll discover that print should still be part of your marketing campaign. Being in the business, I do a lot of reading on the subject -not to convince myself of the merits of commercial printing, but to help my clients and prospects see the advantages print advertising has over its digital counterparts. Here are some things I learned that you might find interesting.

Commercial printing, it’s time to get real.

A piece that is commercially printed is real, not a bunch of bits and bytes. Printed pieces such as postcards, brochures, catalogs, newsletters and enveloped letters can stay in houses or offices for months, even years, while Internet ads can disappear into cyber space in a nano-second.

A business of substance.

Printed pieces provide a company’s product or service with a degree of authenticity that the web, especially with all its intrusive pop-ups and banner ads does not. Now add the fear of spam and viruses to the mix, and it’s enough make people afraid to click. However, with a good “old-fashioned” printed piece, there’s no worry of being invaded.

A leisurely read.

Customers and prospects are also more engaged when reading printed material, especially when compared to websites, which are often skimmed over in mere seconds.

Be a standout.

With more and more businesses spending most, if not all of their advertising budgets on the internet, the decline of printed pieces can actually be a marketing advantage for you. Think about it: with fewer printed pieces cluttering mailboxes, your direct mail campaigns will get noticed more than ever.

This is not a denunciation of online marketing…

…just a way to let you know how you can make it more effective. Online marketing does work. If it didn’t, no one would be using it. After all, almost everyone with a computer, tablet or smart phone uses the internet to search for information about the products and services they’re interested in purchasing. To get them pointed in your direction, I suggest you use direct mail to urge them to visit your web site.

For a more in-depth discussion on the subject (which includes some jaw-dropping statistics), please read the March issue of the Ferrante Speaks Newsletter, Print isn’t dead. It’s alive and well with a powerful, new partner: web-based communications.

Have a great Day

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates