Veteran Marketers Know How Print Plays in Their Plans. Do You?

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to read Joe Pulizzi’s blog and started doing backflips. The premise of his blog, “Time to Rethink Print?” wasn’t just right, it was damn right! Then I stopped for a minute.

Rethink? For most seasoned marketers, print has never been far from our minds. In fact, back in 2013, I wrote a blog for this newsletter titled. Print Advertising is Dead. Or is it?. So, it’s not news to me or our marketing brethren. Then, the backflips started again. But why?

Because a new crop of marketers, coming from differing schools of thought, are seeing what marketing vets have always seen. Joe’s bona fides as a content marketer are beyond impeccable, but his eyes were opened to the fact that good content doesn’t exist solely in the digital realm. It also exists on the piece of paper in a target’s hand. And it’s effective.

Analyzing this blog, I think his arguments for print fell into two categories: social and psychological. On the social side, his key points were:

• Customers still need to know what questions to ask
• There are no audience development costs

On the psychology side his points were:

• Print still excites people
• It grabs attention
• Its focus on information retention
• Print lets people unplug

First, a quick look at the social side of Joe’s key points:

Indeed, customers need to know the questions to ask, but does digital provide the information needed to formulate those questions? I think not . . . or at least not as well. According to Website Builder Expert, the average time spent on a web page is 53 seconds. Ask yourself how much info can be conveyed and retained in that time span. My guess? Not much.

Einstein is quoted as saying “True genius lies in asking the right question. The solution is just mathematics.” That ad or spec sheet you put in your prospect’s hands gives them a chance to think critically about your offering. They can cross-reference your features and benefits to their needs and ask those questions. The result? A logon to your website, or a phone call or email, to explore your offering.

Saying there are no audience development costs is, to paraphrase Jefferson, a truth that is “self-evident.” With print advertising or direct mail marketing, the list compiler or publication has spent beaucoup bucks assuring your message covers the target. With your own printed material, distributed by sales reps or distributors, on sales calls or at trade shows, you did the leg work to make sure the audience was right.

Next, on the psychological side of Joe’s thinking, the evidence to support him is formidable indeed!

As for print exciting people and grabbing attention, Joe’s own writing puts it very well:

“I talked to a journalist recently who said it’s harder to get people to agree to an interview for an online story. But mention it will be a printed feature and executives rearrange their schedule. The printed word is still perceived as more credible to many people than anything on the web.”

Moreover, credibility is a key word here. Ask yourself, if a major news story breaks, are you just going to read about it on the web? I’d think not, you’d immediately turn to a video news feed and grab any printed info at hand to feel fully informed.

In terms of information retention, studies published by Temple University, neuroscience research firm True Impact and other research institutions suggest that printed marketing materials tend to outperform digital along several key dimensions.

Last year, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey on American reading preferences across all age groups. Their findings:

     •  39% of respondents said they read only print books

     •  29% said they read both digital and print books

     •  7% responded that they exclusively consume books in a digital format

 It’s not much of a stretch to think the same is true for print advertising or collateral.

Without a doubt, the printed page is focused on information retention. Multiple studies have linked printed materials to better retention of information compared to digital media. In 2016, researchers from the University of Maryland published their findings on this topic in The Journal of Experimental Education.

The researchers first asked college students which medium they preferred for studying, and which they felt offered them the best recall. Students overwhelmingly chose digital content for both responses. When they were tested on their actual retention of information, the results demonstrated these students clearly had better recall after reading printed materials.

And, finally, about print letting people unplug. The time spent on our digital gadgets isn’t just about quantity of time, it is also about the quality of lifestyle. As Azadeh Aalai Ph.D. wrote in Psychology Today, “While there are benefits in having access to such a plethora of information in real time, there is also a risk of developing information overload and mental fatigue.”

Multiple studies have shown discrepancies between print and digital results are partly related to paper’s physical properties. With paper, there is a literal laying on of hands. Equally important is mental perspective. Print is a one-person immersive experience, devoid of distractions like pop-up ads and videos. In simple terms, print’s just calmer.

All this psycho mumbo-jumbo is crud. Why should I spend money on print?

Consider this, recently published in Finance Online, Review for Business:

• Print and direct mail marketing bring a 9% customer response rate compared to other digital marketing channels, which hover around 1% or less (R.C. Brayshaw, 2020).
• Print ads generate a 20% higher motivation response (R.C. Brayshaw, 2020).
• Advertising in print drives higher brand recall vs. digital (77% vs. 46%) (Newsworks, 2020).
• 92% of 18- to 23-year-olds find it easier to read print over digital content (Forer, 2017).
• The response rate for direct-mail marketing is 37% higher than the email rate (Medina, 2019).

Convinced that print still has a place? I sure hope so. It’s an integral part of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC . . . if you don’t know about it, look it up) which espouses the strategy that the best marketing program puts messages in front of prospects when they need it, in the form they want, whenever they want. I’m a big believer in that philosophy.

Here endeth the lesson.

Need more information?
Mark Semmelmayer, CBC
Chief Idea Officer
Pen & Inc. Marketing Communications
Saint Simons Island, GA
770-354-4737
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About the Author

Mark Semmelmayer, CBC

Mark is a past international chairman of the Business Marketing Association (BMA), the 2015 recipient of BMA’s prestigious G.D. Crain Award and an Inductee into the Business Marketing Hall of Fame. A 40-year B2B marketing pro, including 32 years with Kimberly-Clark, he’s the founder and Chief Idea Officer of Pen & Inc. Marketing Communications, a consultancy in Saint Simons Island, GA.