The Learning Center

With the forceful push towards digital marketing, many small business owners are questioning whether or not print marketing is worth it. What’s the point in spending money on business cards, flyers, and presentation folders, when everything and everyone is online?

While many naysayers will try to convince you that print is dead and done, that couldn’t be further from the truth. If you want an unstoppable marketing strategy for your small business, combine print marketing and digital marketing.

Similar to all marketing tactics, print has its pros and cons – you just have to decide for yourself, which outweighs the other.

The Pros of Print Marketing

More Engaging Than Digital

Even though our world is continually favoring gadgets, technology, online marketing methods and constant digital innovation, we are still human. Humans enjoy engaging with objects, each other, and our environment.

The word ‘engagement’ is tossed around all the time with reference to online marketing. But do we actually engage with those viral videos we share online? We look at them and laugh along, but can we touch it? Smell it? Dare I say taste it?

Humans have five senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Unfortunately, digital marketing can only interact with your sense of sight and sound. In addition to sight and even smell, print marketing can interact with the most important sense of all – touch. Humans make connections through touch, from handshakes to hugs to high-fives.

If you want to take it a step further, one could say that print marketing actually engages with all five of our senses. While you technically can taste print materials, I do not advise doing so!

With print marketing, you have opportunities to truly interact with your customers through various textures, raised lettering, embossing and other tangible options. You are not confined to a flat piece of boring black and white paper.

Brand Extensions

I’m sure you’ve heard of brand awareness. You know of popular brands such as McDonalds, Nike, Coca-Cola, Toyota, and more. Now think, why do you know these brands? Because they’re everywhere! With print marketing, your brand can be everywhere too. Existing and future customers will begin to recognize, identify and associate with your brand upon receiving tangible print materials from your business.

Since these print materials could very well be the first time a customer interacts with your business, you want to make a great first impression. Don’t hack a few images and words onto a word document and call it quits. It is in your best interest to have a professional graphic designer, who understands the principles and practices of print marketing, create your print materials.

More Opportunities in Print Today

With everyone flocking to join the online marketing revolution, this leaves several opportunities for you to take advantage of print marketing. Not too long ago, every person and their mother had a business card, brochure, flyer and presentation folder ready to go. Today, it’s quite rare since our society is more active online than face-to-face.

It says something about a business when they go out of their way to meet face-to-face with a customer. Customers have a greater appreciation for businesses that make the effort to connect with them personally, rather than behind a computer screen. Want to have an authentic connection with your customers? Use print materials in combination with your face-to-face conversations and interactions to create a loyal group of core customers.

The Cons of Print Marketing

As with anything in life, print marketing does have its cons.

Print Can Be Costly

If you want your print materials to look fantastic (and you do), it can run a fairly high bill. The overall price of your print materials depends upon several factors, including:

• The type/amount of paper
• The type/amount of ink
• The cut of paper
• Shipping and receiving
• And more

It’s simple. The more you order, the higher your cost. The better quality of materials you order, the greater your cost. Most small business owners are able to find a happy medium where they can order the right amount of materials they need at a price they can appreciate.

Paper Cuts

They’re unavoidable.

Your Success Depends On You

While this may sound like some inspirational quote poster you’d find in a guidance counselor’s or HR manager’s office, it holds true for print marketing. You could have the world’s snazziest design, top quality print materials, and the most convincing copy known to man, but if you don’t distribute your materials, how will your customers know?

When you use print marketing in conjunction with your online efforts, you need to take charge of distribution. You can’t push a button and have the owls from Harry Potter take your print materials to houses and professionals all over your city. While that would be highly convenient, that service has yet to exist. The overall success of your print materials is solely dependent upon you!

Do the pros of print marketing outweigh the cons? You bet they do. There is nothing more invaluable to a business than a branded and tangible piece of their brand. With print marketing, you can have that and more.