The Power of Direct Print Marketing

In an age dominated by digital technology and online advertising, it's easy but ill-advised to overlook the enduring power and significance of print marketing, especially for small businesses.

There's an interesting trend emerging in the marketing space. While digital channels are a massive part of how we consume information, print marketing not only continues to have a crucial role in the overall marketing strategies of small businesses, but it's actually emerging as a secret weapon for savvy brands and teams.

We sat down for an interview with our co-founder, Joanna Moore, who has spent more than 15 years in the marketing industry working on direct-to-consumer communications and marketing. Joanna has a particular fondness for direct print marketing and great tips for why this "old" marketing method is new again.

What is Direct Print Marketing?

It's a method of reaching your target customer or client base by using printed marketing

materials such as magazines, brochures, booklets, pamphlets, direct mail, or postcards and sending them directly to their homes or businesses.

Why do you think that direct print marketing is relevant to stand out in today's business landscape?

Print marketing helps you stand out from the crowd. These days, everyone is relying primarily on digital marketing, which is essential, but this is now a very crowded channel with a lot of noise. With direct print marketing, you're putting something in the customer’s hands that they can see, feel, and experience.

Why is print marketing coming back?

Interestingly, it's because of Gen Z and Millennials. They are the fastest-growing consumer segment, and they are showing an increasing interest in receiving marketing messages in print.

Those generations (Gen Z and Millennials) are hyper-digital; is print meaningful to them because it's not on a screen?

Yes. Statistics show that Gen Zs spend an average of 9 hours on a screen across different devices daily. So, receiving something physical that arrives at their door stands out more to this consumer segment than seeing yet another digital message.

What are the benefits of direct print marketing that small businesses should know about?

The first significant benefit is that you can count on your print marketing materials to reach a recipient. The same is not given in digital channels with algorithms, spam filters, and stats showing that 33% of millennials use ad blockers.

The other key consideration is that we all like the experience of print ads more than digital ones. Recently, I read a stat that 90% of consumers find print ads easier to read than digital and that a majority of consumers prefer to read print ads over digital ones.

Consumers who receive printed ads have a stronger brand recall and trust, so investing a few hundred to a thousand dollars in a print campaign can ensure that your business stands out and is remembered.

Is there a difference in the conversion rates for print and digital marketing?

Yes, there is a difference. Industry stats show that print conversion rates can go up to 9%, whereas the average conversion rate for digital ads hovers around 3-4%, depending on the platform.

This is mainly because digital marketing is so popular there is less noise in the mailbox than in an email inbox. It's an excellent time to experiment with print marketing, and my advice would be to start simple and have a clear goal.

Is there a difference in the way we respond to a digital message versus something printed that we look at in our home or business?

Printed materials offer several advantages in marketing campaigns. They tend to yield a higher conversion rate and boast a superior open rate compared to their digital counterparts. Furthermore, they provide a unique opportunity to send tangible samples, creating a more engaging and memorable experience for recipients. Additionally, the realm of print allows for a level of personalization that digital platforms often struggle to replicate, enabling businesses to forge more meaningful connections with their audience.

When you get an email, on average, we spend only 10 seconds reading a branded email and only 14 seconds looking at a social media ad. We're chased away from these digital content pieces by the sheer volume of digital content that finds us everywhere. Conversely, when someone receives a printed marketing piece, they are likely to take their time to read the information.

Print marketing isn't free; is the cost worth it?

To be fair, no marketing efforts are truly free. Even organic digital marketing costs you and your team's time. You'll need to pay for digital advertising to reach a target audience segment in digital channels, which can quickly get expensive.

With print marketing, you set the campaign budget and can control the spend.

The critical consideration is spending the money on the right printed materials for your business and ensuring they get into the right hands. For example, if you are a small business owner with a retail location, sending out those printed pieces to targeted addresses can drive traffic to your physical location and website.

How do you set goals for print marketing?

There is little difference between print and digital at the strategy stage. You'll want to always start with your end goal - what do you want your customer to do after seeing it? Match your print strategy to that goal.

You aim to get people to purchase your food if you're a restaurant. In a digital ad, you can't display your whole menu, but you can direct consumers to your website, where the menu can be viewed. In contrast, with print, you can send your target customers your entire menu, which they can use to order. If you do this well, your customers will save your printed menu and keep using it to place new orders for weeks or months. You don't have that chance for longevity and multiple uses of an ad in a digital channel - most are seen for a few seconds and then gone forever.

How do you build targeting for print materials? Can you segment?

Like digital, you can use targeting and segmentation to deliver your printed marketing materials to the right consumer.

The first and easiest route is to collect a database of mailable customer addresses. Unlike email marketing, you do not need to ask for consumer consent to receive mail from you if they give you their mailing address.

On the paid targeting side, you can purchase mailing lists from a third party or work with the post office to select specific geographical areas, postal codes, or zip codes to mail. You can also hire someone to deliver your print materials in a select area. This is a more generic approach, but it's good for retailers as it allows them to target areas close to their retail locations.

Is personalization an option with print?

Yes, and personalization is always a win. Mail that is not personalized would be considered

unaddressed mail and is much cheaper to produce and distribute. For example, Canada Post offers a Neighbourhood Mail service that costs as little as $0.17 per delivered piece. However, this type of print marketing comes with some drawbacks.

Statistics show that people spend more time on materials that are personalized to them than when they are not. This makes sense. Think about pieces you may have seen in your inbox. How much time will you spend on a piece of mail addressed specifically to you, as compared to a piece addressed to the "homeowner" or not addressed at all?

The types of personalization you can add to a printed piece range from simple name and address identification to references to past purchases. With a healthy budget, you can turn to variable printing, sending unique messages to recipients based on their purchase history or preferences.

As a business owner, should I consider spending all of my budget on print marketing, or should I think digital and print?

A holistic, omnichannel approach is what I recommend. Print and digital marketing work best when they support each other. For example, research done by the UK's Top Media Advertising agency showed that combining print and digital ads can make a campaign 400% more effective.

This is why your printed and digital marketing materials should always be cohesive.

Want to learn more about how to use the power of print direct marketing to grow your small business? Get in touch with Joanna and the rest of The Marketing Apothecaries team, and let us help!

• Your Marketing Apothecaries, Joanna and Monika