Print marketing still plays a critical role in reaching and engaging with potential customers locally. In this article, we discuss the role print plays in local marketing and how it fits into an overall strategy that combines digital at a local level. Local advertising spending is growing exponentially, and Money Mailer is well-positioned to help businesses grow through its print and digital offerings.
Print still rocking the ad world
Sometimes it seems everything has gone digital as far as advertising goes, and there has been a steady increase in advertisers using digital marketing in recent years. However, because of the onslaught of digital technology in our everyday lives, people are inundated with so much digital information, it is no wonder that a lot of digital marketing gets lost. With all of the digital advertising going on, it might be surprising to know that direct mail advertising is still thriving. Several factors contribute to this phenomenon including the fact that American consumers receive a lot less printed mail than ever before, thus well-designed high-quality print ads have the ability to disrupt the digital noise.
- 7 out of 10 consumers find direct mail more personal than digital ads
- 56% of consumers trust print marketing more than other forms of advertising
- 82% of consumers say they trust print ads more when making a purchasing decision
- Over 91% of direct mail is opened and read.
- Direct mail receives the highest ROI of 112% across all mediums, followed by SMS at 102%, email at 93%, and paid search at 88%.
Print is more geared towards human consumption
Print media does something that digital media will never be able to do, put a physical invitation into the hands of a business’s target audience and prospects. Consumers can feel direct mail and respond to it at their leisure. Also, our brains are better at processing printed information than digital information. Neuro-scientists, examining the respective impacts made by print and digital media, have determined that human brains process information on the printed page, differently than we do digital input. A physical piece of mail is more deeply understood, embedded, and recalled with more detail. It also creates a more powerful emotional engagement that translates into purchase intent. Print media:
- Evokes emotions that digital advertising can’t
- Feels more personal, and consumers like to interact with brands that send them personalized mail
- Results in better recall as consumers spend more time with physical mail, so the information is more embedded than it is with digital ads
- Expedites the purchasing time frame. On average, any purchase decision takes longer than a week and over a third more than a month. However, with direct mail, 73% of purchase decisions take only 1+ day.
Direct mail builds relationships with local consumers
In the local advertising market, your small to medium b2b clients are looking to connect with consumers to establish and grow their brands. The numbers show that consumers respond more readily to direct mail that offers them a discount, a BOGO, or some kind of special deal. Your clients may want to attract other segments of the local population, maybe a younger or older age group, so Money Mailer can help them with hyper-targeting direct mail to the various consumer segments they are looking to attract. A gym or fitness center can offer discounts to seniors on annual memberships or offer a free workout to younger consumers as a way to attract more memberships from two different segments.
Direct mail helps consumers get to know and trust brands
While consumers might pass by a store every day, they may not notice it unless it is able to connect with them on a personal level, via a well-designed direct mail piece that offers them an invitation to special promotions. Offering discount coupons or deals on a consistent basis can help consumers feel like they know a brand and can trust it enough to shop it on a regular basis. As a Money Mailer franchisee, understanding how direct mail marketing works will help your clients get the most out of a direct mail campaign.
Direct Mail is Cost-Effective Marketing
While digital marketing can be more convenient than print marketing, paid digital advertising has been shown to work better than an organic presence online. With today’s advancement in print technology, variable printing techniques, a form of digital printing, including on-demand printing, where text, graphics, and images can be changed up from one printed piece to the next one, without hindering the printing process, making direct mail faster to process and get into the hands of your clients’ customers.
Another important aspect about variable data printing lies in its ability to track and measure your clients’ direct mail campaigns. Additionally, consumers hang on to your clients’ direct mail ads in their physical spaces for a while which reinforces your clients’ brand message, whereas most consumers don’t try to chase digital ads, once they’ve clicked on to another digital message, if they bother to open your clients’ emails, at all. However, print marketing or online marketing alone cannot boost your clients’ businesses as effectively as direct mail with digital components. The numbers show that direct mail in conjunction with a digital component, such as a QR code or a link to your clients’ websites, work together to increase traffic and sales for local businesses.
Money Mailer: More than just a link
The Money Mailer model does more than just add a link and a call-to-action to your clients’ online presence. Money Mailer’s mobile app displays your clients’ coupons and offers on your clients’ customers’ mobile phones. Additionally, we create a business page that leads more customers to your clients’ websites and improves their Google ranking. Money Mailer consultants work in their local communities to help local businesses grow their brands while growing their own businesses.
Money Mailer: Marketing Done Right
Print is still very much a viable media in local marketing strategies. Direct mail is a $46 billion industry that is growing annually. Direct mail marketing still ranks as the third largest advertising medium in the US, second to television ads. Money Mailer consultants work in the same business communities as their small to medium business clients. We attract more customers for our clients with the use of direct mail that offers a discount, a promotion, or some kind of deal and connect the direct mail offers to digital outlets our clients’ customers use on a daily basis. Get the best of both worlds with Money Mailer! Contact us to learn how you can become a consultant or how we can connect your business to a local Money Mailer consultant.