When the internet came into our lives, digital marketing did too. As the internet has grown and become a huge part of our day-to-day, digital marketing has adapted and evolved into being one of the favoured methods of marketing for many businesses, overtaking traditional methods such as printed marketing.
However, printed marketing has a huge track record of being successful.
In this article, we’re going to talk about the history of printed marketing, why businesses can use it, and how you can use this to your advantage to reach your target audience and stand out from your competitors.
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A Brief History of Printed Marketing
The industrial age was a time that changed how businesses worked forevermore. The introduction of new machines and technology meant that businesses could scale quickly, and therefore needed to reach new customers further afield than before to continue their growth.
Printed marketing became a popular method of reaching these customers because it was affordable and could be scaled as the business grew. In the late 1800s, it became incredibly popular and one of the most common choices for businesses, typically due to the popularity of newspapers and the ease to reach people at the time.
This continued until the internet entered our lives. Many businesses realised that they could utilise this new platform and share their message online by using the different forms of digital marketing we know today.
As time went on, printed marketing slowly quietened as more consumers spent their time on the internet, and so did businesses advertising their products/services.
Although printed marketing is still used quite frequently today, it’s a lot quieter for a lot of industries than it has been previously and therefore poses a great opportunity for businesses looking to stand out from their competitors.
Why Would Businesses Use Printed Marketing?
Because many industries do not use printed marketing and instead focus on digital marketing, it opens an opportunity for many businesses to reach their target audience and stand out from their competitors by using printed media.
There are lots of ways it can be used, including:
- Direct mail
- Uniforms
- Brochures
- Posters
- Banners
- Flyers
- And lots more.
If you can utilise a marketing channel that your competitors aren’t using, your chances of standing out are increased and can help your business to stand out in front of your potential customers a lot easier, making it an investment worth looking into.
How to Use Printed Marketing to Your Advantage
Printed media helps you to build brand reputation and should typically aim to get your target audience to take a call to action. If you can do this with little competition from your competitors, you may experience a higher response rate.
Printed marketing doesn’t have to be solely offline, however, as it can also help you drive digital traffic too. If your printed media includes a call-to-action to head online and visit your website/send you a message/something else, you can link your printed and digital marketing together into a powerful unified approach.
A few ways you could use printed media to your advantage are:
- Using posters at exhibitions or in your offices to establish brand reputation
- Handing out flyers with information about your business to prospective clients
- Putting your branding and contact details onto a professional-looking business card
- Printing/embroidering your branding onto clothing to wear
- Creating catalogues/brochures about your business to share with potential clients
And in each of the above, include a call-to-action where possible for your audience to guide them to the next step of your customer journey.
How printed marketing could make a comeback
If you utilise printed materials for your business whilst your competitors aren’t, you’re already positioning yourself into a strong position with your target audience. By giving them something physical to hold and see, they’re much more likely to read through what you have to say compared to on a screen, increasing your chances of starting those important conversations – especially if your competitors aren’t!
As more businesses become aware of this, more of your competitors may also start to use it for their business. The sooner you get started, the sooner you can reap the rewards!
There are lots of ways to use it to your advantage. Contact our team today to talk through your ideas and see how we can help.
How to be eco-friendly
Printed media requires physical materials. Here are some things to consider before investing:
- Consider how much you’re printing – don’t buy too much if you don’t need it!
- Look for environmentally safe/recyclable materials to support the environment.
- Consider your target audience and how valuable your printed materials will be.
How to get started
Weave Studios has an effective and easy three-step process to turn your ideas into printed reality.
Step 1: Design
Our in-house design team specialise in understanding your vision and turning your thoughts into designs. After understanding what you’re looking to achieve, we’ll get to work and create some mock-ups for you to review.
Step 2: Print
Once you’re happy with a final design and we’re all agreed to move forward, we get printing. We use trusted local printers who use high-quality equipment and materials to take your final design and bring it into the real world.
Step 3: Delivery
Once your design has been printed, it’s over to you! We can send it directly to you via a courier, or you can collect it from us in person (we’re always happy to say hello and show you how good your work looks!).
To see real-world examples and how we’ve helped our clients build their physical presence, look at our Print Services.
Not only do we help with printed materials, but we also have extensive expertise in digital marketing.
And we’re incredibly passionate about helping businesses like yours.
We can help you by designing and creating the printed materials for your business and creating a strong digital presence too. Combining the two, we can help you create a strong marketing approach that makes the best of both printed and digital marketing.
Our team of experts are ready to help you. To talk through your vision and see how we can turn it into a reality, come and say hello!