We may be living in a digital world, but many businesses still prefer to have some printed materials to advertise with, whether those are leaflets, direct mail or in the pages of a local newspaper.
There’s no point pitting print and digital media against each other when you’re planning a marketing strategy though. The secret to a great marketing campaign is a multi-channel approach spanning a variety of advertising formats and media, and few combinations are more effective than print and digital media.
If you’re advertising with one but not the other, here’s why you should consider combining print newspaper and digital advertising for serious marketing success.
A print advertising campaign actually needs digital ads running in tandem in order to really fulfil its potential.
An important study on the effectiveness of different forms of news advertising recently showed that the print newspaper is more effective than any other news source as an advertising medium for building your brand.
However, running digital on top of your print efforts has an almost magical effect. Your campaign becomes more powerful than the sum of its parts in cementing your business in people’s minds - 3.4 times more powerful, to be precise! This depends on print being somewhere in the mix though, and won’t happen by running digital ads alone!
It might not come as a surprise to learn that older people read more print media than younger people.
That doesn’t mean that younger generations aren’t keeping up with the news though. 40% of all 18-34s are exposed to news titles every day, so guess where they’re reading them? Yep, on news websites via their smartphones, laptops and tablets.
If you want to diversify your customer base and reach different generations without losing touch with your most reliable demographics, doubling up your advertising efforts across platforms is the way to go.
In addition, advertising online lets you target specific audiences with precision, guaranteeing that your budget goes towards connecting with the people you really want to get through the door.
Not only does pairing print and digital media expand the composition of your audience, it also maximises the chances of customers making meaningful contact with your brand at some point during their day.
Our lives are suffused by different forms of media. Your target customer might read the morning paper on the train to work, glance at websites and social media at the office, and check a smartphone app on the way home.
At some point, you want that person to see your ad and take notice - an interaction that marketers call a ‘touchpoint’ between your business and your prospective customers.
You can’t always predict which touchpoints are going to bear fruit, but having an advertising presence across print and digital will increase the chances that one of them will pay off.
It’s not just a question of whether your ads are appearing in print or somewhere on the internet. Context matters, so you’ve got to make sure your ads are hosted on a platform that readers associate with quality - the kind of ‘premium environment’ that news titles provide.
Ads on news websites get noticed more frequently and are looked at for longer than ads elsewhere on the internet, so having your digital presence in the right places should be a top priority.
If you’re already running print ads in your local paper, it’s easy to extend your campaign onto that publication’s website, reaping big rewards at a low extra cost. Our online advertising experts can help you do this.
A combination of print and digital advertising will pay greater dividends than sticking solely to either format. A multi-channel approach exposes your business to a greater range of potential customers, repeatedly showcasing your branding and message at the points where people are most receptive to them.
If you want your business to win out in a competitive market, integrating print and digital media is the way forward.
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