Print is sustainable, effective and powerful.  Print, a renewable resource, has the ability to be customized, targeted and sent to qualified segments of your target audience.  Print also brings marketing results.  Not only does print drive online inquires, but including a print component in your campaign also increases the probability that a potential customer will make a purchase when they visit your brand’s website.

Print is sustainable. Paper comes from trees, a renewable resource.  Additionally, of the trees harvested for production, only 11 percent of the trees are used for producing paper.  While the number of trees used for the production of paper is small, the print and paper industry are largely responsible for the fact that today there are 20% more trees in the United States than there were on the very first Earth Day, held in April 1970.  Finally, print is the only marketing medium that has one-time carbon footprint. All other media —television, online, radio, mobile — all require energy, and therefore add to their carbon footprint every time they are viewed and used.

Print is effective. Print brings results.   Print can break through the clutter of the mass amount of digital messages.  Additionally, over 60 percent of people feel that they’d prefer to receive a direct mail piece from a brand over any other form of media.  Finally, at the end of 2011, it was reported that direct mail increased U.S. company sales by $702 billion.

The print industry is one of the largest industries in the world — a $640 billion industry that drives $3.8 trillion in related services, it’s bigger than the auto industry and 18 times bigger than the video games.  Print is powerful, print is effective and print is sustainable.

How are you using print in your marketing mix?

Timothy Freeman

President

Print & Graphic Communications Association