Lately, we’ve been talking a lot about digital advertising and social media marketing strategies. Digital marketing is definitely important in this day and age, but we don’t want to give you the impression that print is a thing of the past.
We’ve worked on numerous print projects in recent years, including the *award-winning* birthday zines we made for ourselves. One of the most engaging ways to deal with this battle between print and digital is, of course, to do both! A couple of our clients lean into this idea, and we like the way they think.
We like using them to support each other instead of thinking that one is better than the other. Maybe we just like to have our eggs in multiple baskets, but we believe creating both print and digital campaigns that work together is more effective than putting all your focus on one method and neglecting the other.
One of the smarties we do this for is The Wilder, a gastropub located in Portsmouth, NH. The Wilder hosts tons of events, especially in the fall and winter seasons.
To get the word out, they have us design posters that they hang outside their door and around town leading up to the event. But that’s not all! They also have us make accompanying social posts to match the posters.
This way, they get eyes on the event from foot traffic and web traffic. Plus, if people see both, they immediately know it’s the same event because of the matching visuals. Sometimes we just resize the poster we’ve made and make it better suited to a social post, but sometimes we add a fun animation – because who doesn’t love a good animation?!
We’ve found this double-whammy to be very effective in drawing in a good crowd for these special events.
Another client who likes to use both print and digital advertising is Cypress Cove, a senior living community in Florida. We create direct mail pieces and complimentary landing pages for them where their prospects are brought onto their website to learn more about Cypress Cove living.
While we think print and digital should work together instead of against one another, we acknowledge that it has to be done right to be effective. The two campaigns have to be made together, with the other in mind throughout, so that they make sense and create a compelling message when put together.
We think the belief that you have to do one or the other and shouldn’t do both is just a common misconception. In our experience, using the two in tandem expands your audience and helps you meet your goals. According to Top Media Advertising, an online ad campaign can become 400% more effective when paired with a print one.
Although print is a little bit more expensive because you’re printing out a physical product rather than just sending out the digital version online, print campaigns are generally considered to be more trustworthy and don’t carry the air of uncertainty that some people feel with digital campaigns.
You also get a higher chance of getting your prospective customer’s undivided attention with a print than a digital one. All those distractions that come with being online are eliminated with a physical poster or mail piece.
Multimedia is definitely the way to go. Print is definitely NOT dead, and our current society is largely chronically online. Dealing with both print and digital advertising, and letting them support one another, may help your marketing efforts more than you would’ve thought.
