I’ve seen numerous so-called marketing experts nowadays who minimize the importance of printed materials, shouting out lout that they are a waste of your time and budget compared to online advertisement. Shocking to say the least!
Printed marketing materials are here to stay and they are unlikely to go out of style anytime soon. Perhaps the confusion experienced by certain companies comes from one or more unsuccessful advertisement campaigns. However, in this case, the low ROI is not due to the ineffectiveness of the printed ads, but rather from the company’s erroneous approach to selecting the right printing medium. Commercial printing comes in many forms, yet not all of them are suitable for each business niche or purpose. They comprise of:
- Catalogues
- Brochures
- Flyers and postcards
- Magazines
- Posters
- Books (Yes, books!)
- Calendars
Let me show you what I mean.
Catalogues
Printed catalogues constitute the optimal medium for companies that need to market a wide array of products or services. The advantages of the catalogues include the larger amount of space (more pages of bigger dimensions) and the flexibility of the layout. Simply put, it is much simpler to organize the information when the available space does not pose limitations.
A word of advice though, always select the type of paper and binding method in accordance to the price of the products or services you are advertising, lest you want to end up paying more for the marketing than you stand to gain. It is natural to utilize expensive thick paper and state of the art bindings when you sell Rolex watches, but this approach is inadvisable for 1$ pens.
Brochures
Brochures can be a more cost-effective alternative to catalogues when the services or products advertised by your company are not that numerous.
Brochures typically have a lower page count and in some cases they are actually made from a single page folded several times, so it is easy to see why the costs of printing them are significantly lower.
Flyers and postcards
The printed mediums do not serve the same purpose as brochures or catalogues, but will mostly act as follow-ups to them or preceding notifications regarding the Coming Soon offers. Flyers and postcards go hand in hand with direct mail marketing and companies should send them as reminders.
Magazines and books
A magazine is always received better by customers because, unlike the other mediums which have the exclusive purpose of promoting the products and/or services, it enables you to integrate the information within a story. Just like the newsletter, details and updates related to your inventory are the main content of printed magazines, but in a version that also includes cleverly written text content complemented with attractive images on the background. There’s nothing quite like a carefully redacted magazine to help you keep in touch with your clientele!
However, the books’ scope is slightly different: establishing your company as an authority in your niche by presenting the services and products in an eloquent manner and from an expert’s point of view. Keep in mind that most people would rather listen to the facts presented by a reputable professional with a wide background of relevant experience in the field, rather than an average Joe stating his personal take on the matter.
Posters and calendars
There are two types of posters I want to talk about. First of all, you have the immense posters that are displayed in key locations around town, notifying your audience regarding certain events organized by your company or the launching of a new line of products/services. The second type refers to those handed out to the public during the actual events, which have smaller dimensions and can be hanged on your clients’ wall.
In order to display street posters, you will need to pay advertisement space, but they get the message across easier because people passing by will inadvertently notice them. On the other hand, the handout small frame posters are useful marketing tools only when their design is in accordance to your audience’s preferences. To put it simply, carefully constructed designs are instrumental in determining a person to decorate the walls of his home with your company’s posters. On a side note, the useful nature of calendars (displaying the date and time) makes them a superior alternative to standard wall-hanging posters, but the same design rules apply.
Hey, I’m Chad and in addition to the topic of presentation folders, I also enjoy blogging about other forms of printed media utilized in marketing!
