You have heard the trends. When it comes to
marketing, “digital” is the big buzzword, and “social” the new marketing
religion. You cannot do marketing nowadays without using digital methods and
engaging your market using social networks. From the street, what they say is
that print marketing is dead, and we all must embrace the new technologies of
marketing.
There is nothing wrong with that. Frankly
all businesses should be open for adaptation and innovation with their
marketing methods. However, before you throw out those printers and printing
materials, you might still want to know what you can DO with some of those
print marketing materials. They might not be the trendiest tools for marketing,
but they can still actually help you out in marketing.
Let me present to you here 5 of the most
popular print marketing tools out there, and their new roles now in modern
marketing.
Flyers
For many people now trained with digital
marketing methods, flyers may seem to be an archaic tool for marketing. Not
only does it seem to have a limited scope, the returns are not as quick and
measurable as other digital methods.
These assumptions are correct, BUT these
limitations are present because of how people used flyers in the past as
general marketing tools. You have to think that flyers nowadays are tools that
you can use to market to people as they are offline and are on the move. Today,
to make flyers work, you have to do two things. FIRST you have to distribute
them effectively. SECOND you should add some modern additions to its design.
As for the distribution, refer to this nice
guide
from ehow on the best ways to distribute flyers. In summary though, you
SHOULD NOT just distribute them randomly. Seek opportunities where there are a
lot of people such as events to give out your flyers. Events for example are a
great venue to distribute flyers, if there is a big even in your community such
as conventions, seminars, sporting events and other kinds of meetings then
having a person distributing flyers there is a great way to catch people as
they are offline.
For a modern twist to flyers, you can add a
QR code. QR codes are those black square blocks that people can scan with their
mobile phones. From there they get lead to a website where more marketing
content such as videos or even a coupon is located. Get more information on QR
codes here from Authority
Labs.
With the right modern additions and
distribution methods, your flyers become a complimentary tool to your online
digital campaigns as you can “catch” offline markets and encourage them to
engage you eventually online.
Posters
The role of posters today is a very simple
one. While they cannot be as mobile as flyers, or as targeted as your typical
social media campaign, what they have is an enduring presence and size. These
are what you put up in your shop windows or at the community billboard. They
“FLAG” your marketing offer and sales establishment for attention. Hence, the
trend right now is to create very artistic, eye catching posters that entertain
or amaze people. The marketing message comes after that fact.
As an example, you can try review these 35
clever poster examples. If you see these in your community, you are bound
to eventually checkout the product or firm being advertised by those. While low
tech, those posters can keep on doing their job without extra money needed
other than the initial printing cost. Posters become part of you real world
marketing efforts basically that will lead people physically to your store.
Direct Mail
Sending stuff via “snail mail” is touted by
others as useless nowadays. The only things people expect in mail are their
bills and even that is steadily being phased out. Interestingly enough though,
therein lies the opportunity. Direct
mail marketing these days is actually about creating buzz.
One of the best examples of this is the
campaign by grasshopper.com. In B2B
Marketing’s Article here, you see how the grasshopper.com site sent REAL
chocolate grasshoppers to leading bloggers and other high influence people. THE
RESULT is that many of those people blogged, tweeted and shared the experience
online. This of course lead to a serious viral marketing wave that came not
digitally but from REAL WORLD direct mail marketing.
It is a great idea, and it is something
that direct mail materials can now fill as one of their roles. They can be the
ones to create the buzz that will light a fire online. So it is all about
creativity in that direct mail campaign. Discover more creative direct mail
marketing pieces here: http://blogof.francescomugnai.com/2009/12/30-brilliant-examples-of-direct-mail-marketing/ .
Business Cards
The age of the “rolladeck” is over and
today, people would rather exchange mobile phone numbers than business cards. Most
of the time, you SHOULD always be ready to give out numbers, email addresses
and company websites as this is the mark of the modern business professional
these days. However, it is this preference in digital exchange of contacts that
gives some cunning people ideas and use business cards to stand out.
Think about it. The reason is simple
really, since most people are no just giving out their digital contact details,
there is a lack of customization and distinction in the process. You just give
out numbers and pass along digital data, but they won’t be able to really
remember you unless you have a truly charismatic personality.
However, if you send business cards that
have very unique designs like the created examples here
from myinkblog.com you will see the difference. The memorable factor of
these business cards assures you that you will get remembered more than the
other people that just exchanged contact information. It works as it is simple
and still not outdated. So it is worth it printing business cards these days.
Checkout printplace.com if you need some reference on how to create great
business cards.
Newsletters or Magazines
If you are waging a more targeted marketing
campaign, newsletters and magazines are a great tool even today. Why you ask?
While they are pretty hard to distribute these days when you compare it to
digital methods, newsletters and magazines have a key factor up their sleeves.
Usually the consumers of newsletters and magazines are enthusiasts. That is why
we have a lot of community or local newsletters as well as specific hobby
magazines of every kind of interest that you can think of really.
The concept here is that every enthusiast
will consume everything, both online and “offline” content. That is why
printing newsletters and magazines nowadays is usually done if you want to
engage your target market. You know they will be interested in YOUR type of
magazine because it will cater to their specific kind of interest, which so happens
to be your product or service. Take a look at this nice article from Venture Publishing on why custom
magazines work to learn more.
Whatever the case, if you do want to target
local markets or your specific interest
markets, these newsletters and magazines are the key tool now to engage them
even when they are offline.
Complimenting Online Campaigns with Analog Tools
Now that you know how these “analog” tools
may work, you should take note how they can compliment your existing marketing
campaigns. All the tools above can actually be fitted with QR codes as well as
simple links to your online portals. You can coordinate them both actually
supporting each other and giving you a holistic multi-platform approach to
marketing.
This is a lot more effective and you gather
a lot more leads both online and offline with complimentary campaigns such as
this. So it might be good to invest still in some of these print marketing
tools. They still have their uses today.
