Print media is a powerful communication tool — whether you are looking to break through the clutter of digital messages or are looking for a way for your message to be placed directly in the palm of your consumer’s hands with a targeted and personalized message — direct mail and print marketing enable your brand to do just that.  Today we are going to discuss just a few of the factors of print marketing that help to set it apart from other forms of communication.

Print is tangible.  Print cannot be easily ignored.  It cannot be cleared from a screen or delete from an inbox.  A print message must be handled and with over 85 percent of people reading or skimming the printed messages they receive, print is powerful.

Print is personal. Personalized marketing campaigns have been shown to produce higher return on investments.  Print’s ability to be personalized can be created through variable data printing and database marketing.  Through database technology you can produce messages built on customer’s interests.  By using your database to personalize a message, you create a higher response rate.

Print and paper are the gateway to your digital messages.  Over sixty percent of online searches are instigated by printed messages.  Furthermore, when paper is combined with QR codes and personalized URLs it seamlessly transfers the person to your digital messages.  From here you can communicate additional information and measure what your users are most interested based on what links have the highest click-through rate.  When print and digital media are combined together, they create multiple touch points with your audience, increasing its reach and frequency.

Overall print is a powerful way to communicate your message.  It allows you to touch your customer and let them touch you back.  Your message is not only seen and read, it is held in a person’s hands and through all of the clutter in a recipient’s life, your message is read.

Timothy Freeman
President
Print & Graphic Communications Association