Print Collateral Still Has a Place in Your Communications Plan
As you set your annual marketing budget, you may be wondering if traditional print collateral still has a place in your communications strategy. After all, doesn’t everyone receive their information online nowadays?
Not necessarily. Before you delete that print collateral line item from next year’s budget, consider some of the benefits of brochures, direct mail, postcards and flyers.
Salespeople find that prospective clients still expect to receive printed brochures or sales sheets, and these materials often get handed off from middle managers to upper-level decision makers. Professionally printed collateral lends credibility and enables you to sell your company… even after the sales pitch has ended.
Some segments of your market may prefer print marketing. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that 53 percent of Americans age 65 and older use the Internet or email.¹ If your marketing efforts are exclusively digital, you’re missing nearly half of all seniors. A study by the Direct Marketing Association also shows that Spanish-speaking households have a higher response rate from direct mail than non-Spanish-speaking households.² Depending on your target demographic, you may miss opportunities if you eliminate print from your marketing toolkit.
Digital printing and other strategies make printed collateral more cost-effective than in the past. At Grapevine, we recommend clients use offset printing and high-quality paper for information that is unlikely to change. In other cases, we create pre-printed templates that our clients modify for information that changes frequently, creating a cost-effective alternative that also allows for greater flexibility.
We can show you how to combine with email marketing, web sites, search engine optimization, social media and blogs with traditional print to make a successful integrated marketing campaign. Combining online marketing with compelling print pieces can result in a powerful communications mix that doesn’t have to bust your budget.
Allison Imre is the owner and president of Grapevine Communications. Contact Allison at wowme@grapeinc.com or call 941-351-0024 to find out more about our services or get started with your new marketing campaign today.
