It is a fact that technology is advancing quicker than the large majority of us can get used to it! However is the use of traditional paper as a form of communication quite as obsolete as it is made out to be?
Convey who you are
When it comes to promoting your business, the tactics which you incorporate as a part of your marketing strategy can be a key player to whether your target audience pays attention to your marketing pieces or not. When you are structuring a piece to be printed to promote your business, one of the key things to keep in mind is that you are conveying what YOU are about and what your identity is. In terms of a corporate identity it is important that your material accurately represents what your company stands for in terms of customer treatment and their experience every time they have contact with you.
It is important that your material accurately represents what your company stands for in terms of customer treatment and their experience every time they have contact with you.
The marketing materials that you produce, if anything, should under promise the service and experience a customer should expect to receive – never over promise and under deliver. A study by the White House Office of Consumer Affairs showed that information about a bad experience is twice as likely to reach double the amount of people as a good experience will. So it’s crucial that paper-based marketing materials are of an accurate representation of the actual service being delivered.
Reflect YOUR business
How you display your information can massively effect how you are portrayed as a business and also how you are perceived in comparison to your competitors; for example a hotel which has achieved a 5* rating you would expect their brochures to replicate this by being of a high standard of production and presentation, utilising for example a glossy cover with a well formatted layout. Quite different to what you would expect from the local kebab house takeaway menu! It doesn’t make sense for the kebab house to have a glossy brochure; it does not match the product/service on offer. It is important to have this balance of projection and reality. The key element to all this is the accurate representativeness of your material against your business’ brand and the products/services you are offering.
Print is tangible
Upon writing the post I conducted a bit of research online into the values of print to find out from a business professional’s perspective just how much it is crucial to the development and growth of your business. One page I stumbled across, originating from our friends from across the pond, highlighted a very good point. Print is tangible. Publications, brochures, leaflets, posters and other types of printed materials are all physical items. These items can stay in offices or homes for months or even years after they are received. Whereas ‘virtual’ material just gets moved to the junk box. Having something tangible goes a long way in helping to engage with your target audience.
Having something tangible goes a long way in helping to engage with your target audience.
Sticking to traditional paper printing for marketing your business is more invaluable now that everything is becoming digital. Potential customers’ inboxes are overflowing with the bombardment of various marketing communications which, with a quick click are vanished forever. So, surely if you were to go against the grain and not follow everyone else, sending out a physical, printed item to people's homes will ensure you have a much greater chance of connected with your target audience?
