4 Ways to Get More from Your Print Advertising

The Proof is in the Print

If used in the right context, with the right kind of creative specialists (e.g. your friendly neighbourhood marketing team), print advertising can be a highly effective tool in your proverbial advertising arsenal. Well-thought-out print advertising campaigns can saturate a local area with your brand, increase exposure severalfold in a short space of time, and even drive many inquiries if you’re clever with it. If your print marketing campaigns are failing to hit the spot, check out the following 4 ways to get more bang for your buck.

1. Grand Designs

Eye-catching, unconventional design has never been more important than in your print advertising campaign. Whether you’ve taken out an advert in a local newspaper, or hastily shoved a flyer into someone’s hand outside the local Tesco, you’ve got to be aware that your time in which to capture the reader’s attention span is extremely short. Innovative or bold design choices are often the most effective means of grabbing your readers by the eyeballs (not literally, don’t be weird); is your pamphlet perhaps a little text heavy? Could you say the same message with a vibrant infographic instead? Visual content and design is, and will always be, of paramount importance – both on and off the screen.

2. Measuring Up

One of the common criticisms of print advertising campaigns is that, unlike their shiny digital counterparts who eat loads of kale and go to the gym 5 times a day, they’re pretty difficult to measure. Well we’re here to tell you that that simply isn’t true. Think carefully about the calls to action you use on your print advertising materials; if they’re given a flyer in the street, how is a consumer likely to interact with your brand? They probably won’t call you whilst they’re doing their weekly shop, but they might drop you an email when they get back. Setting up dedicated email addresses and phone numbers is an extremely cost effective means of working out where your leads are coming from; use different contact deals for both print and digital assets, and you’ll get a rough idea of the ROI for each method.

3. Copy Cats

“Hello. We are Brand Y and we sell pet food that tastes good and makes pets happy and is really good for them and is also cheap.” Need we say much more? Content matters; with so many competing brands out there offering vastly similar products, the focus for consumers isn’t necessarily on what you’re saying anymore but how you’re saying it. It’s always good to re-assess your print copy; could your product descriptions lull and insomniac off for a solid eight hours? Probably time to rethink your content.

4. Blind Data

If you’re after brand exposure, doing a leaflet drop is a great idea – get some gripping graphic design, fill it with some killer content and set about saturating your local area. If you’re looking for some more direct response, however, wouldn’t it be a better idea to carefully target your audience based perhaps on their postcode, living arrangements or approximate income? In 2016, select companies have swathes of data on me, you and even your Nan, that you can purchase to help fuel your direct marketing campaigns. Using this data, you can make sure your marketing message arrives in the letter boxes (they’re like inboxes, but in real life) of the most relevant, ready-to-convert audience members. Remember as well that graphic design doesn’t just stop inside the envelope; getting creative with your packaging by adding branded elements is a great way to nail that first impression.

Making an Imprint

With the right combination of content, design and targeting, SO Marketing can help you to build flourishing print marketing campaigns that build brand recognition and drive those precious enquiries – why do you think we went to all the trouble of writing a blog about it? Drop us a line at [email protected] for more!

Image provided by: Niloo / Shutterstock.com