Why print marketing is far from dead – and how to design the perfect leaflet
Find out why, despite the rise in digital advertising, print is very far from dead – and how you can deign the perfect leaflet.
You’ve read the news articles and feature pieces claiming that print marketing is dead. But is that really true?
It’s true that digital marketing appears to have has overtaken more traditional forms of marketing today. And it makes sense; the internet enables us to connect with customers all over the world, and sell our products and services on a global scale.
Even a billboard advertisement doesn’t typically see millions of views. And even if it does, it’s out of reach of the budget of small businesses, and you can’t accurately track results as you can with online ads.
Digital marketing is a much cheaper, more accessible option for small businesses. Social media pages are free, and many companies see encouraging returns on advertising campaigns on Facebook for as little as £5.
Plus you can experiment with digital ads, running several for a short period of time, and then stopping ads that aren’t performing and putting your main budget behind the winer.
Customers trust print marketing more than digital
However, even taking all that into account, print marketing isn’t dead. It still has an important place in the marketing plans of small businesses.
Apparently, 56% of all consumers trust print marketing more than any other advertising method. And 7/10 of Americans have stated that they find direct mail advertising more personal than online advertising.
Perhaps it’s the familiarity of digital marketing, or how it has been misused over the years (you only have to look at the many lies told by MLM reps to realise how cheap and easy it is for anyone to sell online) that means people are less trusting of an online ad.
Printing physical flyers, leaflets or brochures takes more time, thought, and money. However, it is a physical item that is tangible, with credibility that enhances engagement from its target audience.
It’s also more permanent, which means businesses will need to stand by what they print; it can’t be edited like a digital ad. Digital content can be manipulated and edited, whereas print is final, with the potential to have local impact, multichannel integration, and longevity.
Most businesses use a mix of digital and print marketing
Most small businesses today (as many as three quarters) cleverly use a mix of print and digital marketing. This strategy usually offers the best return on investment and gets the highest response rates.
When it comes to leaflets, The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) found that 89% of consumers remember receiving a drop door mailing – more than any other marketing channel. And 45% of respondents to their survey confessed to keeping leaflets in a kitchen drawer or on a corkboard.
Mixing online promotion with printed leaflets means that your company is able to stay visible for longer, and gain authority from being passed around friends and family members.
But, if you want your leaflet to have standout and to be useful and attractive enough to be kept and passed on, you need to make sure you get the design right. And to help you plan the perfect leaflet, Quinns the Printers have put together this simple but handy infographic.
Infographic by Quinns the Printers
Photo by Kelly Sikkema
