The Internet has become a nexus for our social networking deeds and buying activities. Platforms like Linkedin recommend connections in alignment with our contact list. Allied to this, software that can engineer consumer behaviour based on their networks and preferences, has increasingly moved marketers online, as digital budgets habitually overshadow that of traditional print methods.
Although this preamble overwhelming emasculates print and favours digital marketing, it’ll be premature to deem this article decisive without considering the print collateral of newspapers, magazines and flyers.
Print advertisement was essentially the only medium available to vendors, when the internet was in its infancy. The online world was wieldy, simpler to update and faster to develop. Consequently, early adopters capitalised on this untapped resource, profiting hugely from the economical ad spend and contradicting buyer behaviour, to what we’re accustomed to.
Eventually, this became an extremely saturated and often expensive space for advertising. Though, the migration left a mammoth hole in the print advertisement framework, the concept of physical and tangible media limped along, refusing go away, as it quietly bubbled in the background.
This worked for a while, owing to their similarities and the fundamental principle that digital and traditional advertising can work together harmoniously.
Digital marketing allows for very granular targeting, making everything feel less valuable. The internet is awash with expendable information which can be unceremoniously altered or withdrawn, spontaneously. Whereas print advertising utilises a slightly different thought process, as it aims to identify the audience, position its products conspicuously, thus enabling actuality and increasing engagement.
Astoundingly, fresh statistics categorise 88% of visitors to websites consciously or unconsciously ignore online marketing and digital advertising banner-like information, because they’ve developed a discerning mindset capable of spotting when they’re being sold to. We don’t like being sold to, yet, marketing widgets or meeting sales targets necessitates thinking creatively about how we reach our audience.
Print advertising delivers on many levels, in presenting varying opportunities to breaks through the noise with a disparate approach. The actuality of creating a physical and tangible product, allows for multiple triggers far outweighing the fleeting glance of an ad on the internet.
The target market is unlikely to hastily discard your printed promotional material of real beauty and perceived value even if they don’t necessarily study your advertisement every day. Incidentally, it still existing in their physical world is often enough to sit in their subconscious mind.
Taking control of our own advertising compels us to identify opportunities to blur the line between digital and print advertising – thinking big, being bold and advertising on our own terms. There’re so many chances out there to break through the noise and do something a little different.
Short of ideas or need some inspiration – we’re here to help.
