To say that print is back might be inaccurate. A more concise statement would likely be that print is still one of the most valuable ways for any business to share information with potential customers. It’s impossible to argue with the fact that today’s world is a digital one. Research shows that 96% of Americans own some type of cell phone, and 81% of those are smartphones. It’s easier to keep track of what’s in your inbox than ever before. Many people think this makes print irrelevant. Perhaps not surprisingly, the opposite is true. Practically all consumers spend a significant amount of time each day browsing online. Most businesses seize the opportunity to reach out to potential customers with emails and visuals. As consumers are swamped with digital images daily, they lose significance and even trustworthiness.
The Truth About Email Communication
Email can be a valid way to connect with customers for some types of correspondence. However, it’s important to understand exactly how many of your emails actually get read before being deleted. An average of 9% of all emails end up in a spam folder, and the percentage is higher in some industries. Every piece of correspondence that hits your potential customer’s inbox has one thing in common. Email must be opened to be viewed. Sadly, the average open rate for emails is only 37% and if you’re not keeping track of your email statistics, your rate could be even lower.
Millennials and Gen Z make up over half of consumers. The majority of these groups have grown up with the digital world at their fingertips. Many marketers make the mistake of assuming this means all marketing should take place online. However, younger shoppers have developed a unique resistance, or a natural filter, to the onslaught of commercials on digital media.
5 Reasons Print Why Print Engages and Retains Customers
1. Print is Tangible
You can’t accidentally delete a print advertisement or brochure. Realistically, there’s typically a way to retrieve something you accidentally clicked into oblivion, but there’s a level of security to having a print copy of important information. Printed media surpasses the typical forms of advertisement with its versatility and visual appeal. Posters, flyers, brochures, and even business cards can remain in a home or place of business for months or even years.
2. It’s Trustworthy
Most people have heard the less than sincere statement “If it’s on the internet, it has to be true.” It’s no secret to consumers that certain dangers come with shopping and seeking information online. Fake news, scam websites, false advertising, and intentionally misleading comments plague all types of digital media, forcing consumers to be overly cautious when receiving targeted advertisements.
Print is something all consumers have come to recognize and still depend on. While new scams reach the internet every day, print remains comfortably unchanged in its reliability. Pop-up ads desperately entice impulse buys, print patiently remains available for consumers to return to, and carefully consider an important purchase.
3. It’s Engaging
When consumers are online, there’s always something new popping up or waiting in the sidelines (flashing impatiently in the sidebar) for attention. The average office worker receives over 100 emails each day. Compare that to how many pieces of tangible mail you receive daily (that aren’t bills). Print offers a sense of leisure that consumers simply can’t obtain online.
Printed materials come in a variety of shapes and sizes, colors, materials, and even smells. Print engages multiple senses in a way that digital copy can’t emulate. Consumers react to the thickness or smooth feel of certain types of paper, the smell of ink, and the depth of color layered on a physical page. These qualities lead consumers to linger over a printed piece of material and even return to it again and again.
4. Print Materials Help Establish Your Brand
While it’s true that many consumers make purchases online, the entire shopping process is often more complicated. Leaflets, flyers, and catalogs often serve as informational pieces that help the customer make a final decision. Advertisements reach consumers in both print and digital formats. However, the human brain doesn’t receive them the same way. Memory tests have revealed that brand recall after consumers review a printed advertisement is a whopping 70% higher than after seeing the same information digitally.
Print materials come in a variety of tangible products that consumers can return to again and again. Consider brand posters that hang in retail spaces, or brochures that take up physical real estate on counters. These pieces of information are available for long periods of time and create a lasting memory for consumers. Promotional products are available in a wide variety of options that can be used again and again.
5. Multiple Formats
Brochures, posters, advertisements, postcards, flyers, and business cards are only a few ways for businesses to spread information in printed formats. Perhaps more importantly, is the fact that each of these types printed of media serves a different purpose. For example, a medical facility may require a variety of brochures to highlight multiple services and physicians. Pocket folders with a designated space for business cards make this information easy for patients to access when they need information at home. Conversely, a children’s tennis camp proves successful with the use of self-mailers that include a simple tear-off application.
While magazines and newspapers can be read online, print versions continue to be successful because they serve different purposes. Online sources are typically used for immediate current information. Print is savored in periods of relaxed introspection where a well-placed advertisement is more likely to be noticed, remembered, and returned to in the future.
Whether you believe that print is making a comeback, or that the valued medium never really faded away, this classic media form is a valuable way to reach your intended audience. Cut through the noise and clutter of digital media with tangible information your customers will actually have time to absorb. To learn more about a wide variety of quality printed materials, get in touch with Superior Resource Printing and Graphics, today. Whether your goal is to establish a brand or spread important information, our professional team is here to help.
