We live in a busy world where consumers are constantly barraged with messages from competing advertisers. In order to carve a space in this flood of information, businesses must deliver a consistent message to a common target across multiple media channels. Consistent local marketing success relies on an integrated media strategy that serves both brand and promotional purposes. Integrating print and digital media has proven to be one of the most valuable strategic tools local marketers can use for acquisition and retention purposes. Integrating print and digital offers both the redemptive value of promotional print and the brand connectivity of digital marketing through two very targetable channels.
Local marketing success relies heavily on frequency and continuity of message. By creating a strategy that layers both print and digital media together, common targets and geography can be reached in a way that is trackable, reportable and versionable to a local level. Using an integrated approach to local marketing, businesses can deliver impactful messages to a custom audience in high value geographies, maximizing resources and ensuring desired growth. This integration allows for more frequent, more understood messaging that helps moves a prospective customer from Awareness to Engagement to Purchase to Adoption to Advocacy.
Many say that print doesn’t work like it did 10 or 20 years ago. This is true. What media does? Those that question the comparative value of print today are those who have failed to adapt to its evolution. All media has changed in terms of how they should be viewed, measured and relied upon strategically. Print continues to have a redemptive quality that is tangible with a physical held-in-hand quality that is invaluable in creating brand awareness and the conversion of prospective customers to brand advocates. 80% of consumers engage after receiving direct printed mail advertisements while about half of that number are moved to act on ads received through electronic platforms. The printing business is a $640 billion industry that is growing at a rate of 6.8% annually worldwide. Negative experiences have made consumers wary of potential misleading or confusing online material, whereas print remains a straightforward and trusted form of marketing information. Print captures a customer’s attention more effectively than media content, which is often consumed while engaging in other activities. Britt Fero, executive vice president and head of strategy in the Seattle office of New York-based ad agency Pulicis, commented about print that, “just buying it or getting it in the mail provokes the reader to engage in a way that digital doesn’t. If you have time to read a magazine, then you’re going to really engage with the ads in there. Print ads should inspire you to look at them even longer.” Print also provides businesses a way to create continuity by connecting customers to their digital platforms which reinforces their message and establishes a relationship between brand and customer that is interactive, dynamic and relevant.
The evolution of digital marketing has allowed businesses the ability to adjust and adapt to the nuances of local markets, tailoring strategy and message to reach targeted customers. Consumers are becoming increasingly adept at the integration of both print and digital coupons as they plan their purchases, with over 90% of customers using them from a variety of online and offline sources. Combining media solutions along with the proven power of print helps create a better alignment of brand strategy and the capacity to address immediate needs and the unique conditions of the local market. “An integrated strategy will dramatically expand your capabilities to communicate,“ according to Adam Dost, VP of Strategy and Marketing at Printek, “Integrating print and technology improves targeting, enhances personalization, and increases conversions.” Campaigns with integrated multi-media strategies can reduce overall cost while producing higher customer conversion rates.
Again… frequency and continuity of message are the most important factors to local marketing success. The print and digital combination allows businesses to achieve these goals to create a consistency of message and an ability to deliver on this message that is accessible to a customer on multiple layers. The targetable and trackable qualities of this integrated combination is designed for the acquisition and retention of the multi-market customer. Businesses must take advantage of this opportunity to create a strategy which maximizes resources as well as the improving the quality and effectiveness of the delivery of their message which in turn will ultimately result in the achievement of their marketing goals.
