Episode 058 - Does Printed Marketing Material Still Make Sense?

Print feels special now. Getting something in the mail, and especially if it's personalized, and if you can personalize it from gathering information online, you know, that's just kind of the best of both worlds.

Okay, so today we're talking about nothing digital. We're talking about, does printed marketing material still make sense? By that I mean, we came up with this topic, is it worthwhile going and printing brochures, printing postcards, printing flyers, all that kind of stuff? And that's what we're gonna talk through. Jodi's got a big list of pros and cons. And I wanna address the elephant in the room. Jodi's not had a great afternoon.

[Speaker] Okay, here we go.

[Speaker] She did some work on a website, our website, and for some reason some technical glitch happened, and I think is when we migrated it, we lost a couple pages.

A couple pages?

Yeah, so she's been sitting here with a glum look on her face, so we thought we'd record a positive podcast for you.

So, okay, so starting with the first con, I think, which is the most obvious, is the fact that with digital marketing it's very easily tracked and measurable, and with print it's it's not so much. You can't get clear, defined, definitive metrics of how many people are seeing it, how many people are converting because of it.

I mean, you can if you do it, you know, if you use a specific URL or a specific coupon code or, you know, you promote a certain landing page that is only specific to that mail-out piece of item, then you can track it that way. I mean, if you're talking about how many people have seen it, and you're sending it to like 10,000 mailboxes, somebody's gonna take it out, whether they pay attention to it. That's the only thing you probably can't see, but you probably couldn't even tell that on social media scrolling by. So I'm gonna play the devil's advocate on the cons here and tell you that if you're doing printed material, you have to think about what do you want out of it? Is it just awareness? Then great, just send it to as many people as possible. But if you wanna track conversions, It's so easy to just put another URL on your site and let Google Analytics track how many people have hit it. And if it's the only place that's been, you know that traffic's coming from that piece of material.

I think the one thing about digital marketing though that you can't really argue is the fact that it's convenient. It's conveniently set up for you. If you look at the Facebook ads interface and all that stuff is tracked already.

I mean, it's definitely more convenient in the fact that you can do a lot more with variety. You can change something, you know, a couple days in if it's not working. So I mean, if you printed 1,000 postcards and you put it out there to, you know, 1,000 homes, and, you know, a week in you're not getting any sales, those 1,000 postcards are printed. It's cost, it's done. You can't change it unless you print another 1,000 and then try to send it back to those homes. Where on Facebook You basically just change the creative and like instantly once it's approved, you know, it's serving up that new creative there. So definitely not as convenient like you said.

Now next is the interactivity aspect. So obviously with print, nothing's moving. You can't leave a comment, you can't ask a question to the advertisement specifically, whereas if you're looking at digital, you know, there's buttons, there's movement sometimes, you know, they can be advert— or videos, they can be— there can be comment sections where people can interact even with other people, other customers seeing it.

So yeah, definitely no interaction. I mean, unless you get super creative in the way that you, you know, print the material and turn it into something that they can play with, you know, there's what they call, I think, chunky mail, which is bulky. You see people that are sending out elements where they can fold it and make an item out of it for their desk, right? So people get a little more creative with that. But definitely no engagement factor to comment or see what other people thought of it too.

Yeah, definitely. Now the next con I have is the cost. So if you do it, if you plan your digital marketing strategically and constantly adapt the variables depending on your results, those metrics that you're gathering, you can definitely advertise or market at a lower cost than with traditional advertising.

I mean, if you're looking at print and if we're going to lump in there like newspaper ads, right, extremely expensive. And you know, as less and less people are doing it, the cost is getting higher and higher because they have to cover their costs of everything. So, you know, the cost is more to get things printed in there. Then you've got your distribution costs. So even if you're trying to do direct mail to a whole subdivision in your area, if you're a service provider, you've got the cost of the printed material, you've got the cost of, in our case, Canada Post to deliver them to the mailbox, or if you're doing it yourself with stamps. So definitely higher costs. So if you're going to go that route, and I suggest that you look at seeing if it's a viable option because printed advertising or printed material still does convert if you use it, you know, effectively. But making sure that you've taken the time to think through it and it's worthwhile spending that cost.

Yeah, and that actually ties in perfectly to my next one, which is reach. So obviously, as with anything, the online world has incomparable reach. I think that that really depends on what business, what your goals are for advertising and marketing. For example, if you're a local business and you want to attract that local client, then print might be an awesome option because you can deliver right to their doorstep, right? But with the online world, if you're kind of targeting people that are across the world, print might not be your best option.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, very, very good impact with local. You know, if you're in that service, you know, lawn care, household services, real estate, where you're trying to target locally, great way to do it. Because I mean, especially now, there's less and less people doing it, so it's a huge opportunity to do it again now. I mean, I've noticed a huge drop-off in the last 18 months of the amount of mail that I actually get. I check the mail once a week now versus daily. So, you know, you've got that window of opportunity to kind of step back into that space before it becomes saturated again. And, you know, all these things will ebb and flow as well. Everybody is still kind of in that, like, let's all shift to digital phase.

So yeah, and that's certainly one of the pros of, of print advertising is it's, it's not as competitive as digital advertising right now because with the pandemic, as you said, like I barely receive any mail now. It's all, you know, my inbox is certainly receiving lots of ads, but— Now the next thing I wanted to touch on, because I personally love, especially with the clothing stores and online shopping, logging into a site and seeing them specifically say like, "Oh, these items are specifically chosen for you," that personalization and like the, "Hi, Jodi, how are you doing today? Here's—" Items you abandoned in your cart, we are offering 20% off. I personally love that. I know some people are creeped out by that, but I, I, that gets me every time.

I love it too. Yeah, I just don't get it when people are like, everybody's following, I hate this. I'm like, if it's going to make my life easier and make those suggestions, I'm all for it.

And we're your big Amazon guy too. I'm sure you love that logging in and seeing all the suggested items for you.

Yeah, you'd be surprised how much stuff I've bought because it was suggested.

Yeah. But again, you know, that doesn't really exist to the same extent as it does on digital when it comes to print.

Yeah, and in one way, and I think I've mentioned it before, where, you know, we worked with a financial advisor I have in the past who had a question on their initial form of, you know, if your finances were in order and you could afford to take your family on a vacation somewhere, where would you like to go? Right, and there was like 4 different options. It was like golfing, Europe, Disney, and maybe down south, right, wherever it was. And whatever they chose, then the actual printed postcards that came out in part of their campaign had images of one of those 4 destinations that was directly in correlation to the answer they, they gave early on in the whole life cycle, right? So there was a level of personalization there to continue on that thought pattern. So again, you have to be a little creative, but you're not going to have a postcard come out every time where, you know, unless it was print on demand where it would have your name on it aside from your address. Yeah, right. Yeah, definitely.

And you know, that's kind of interesting. You took the hybrid approach, which I think would be very effective, is, you know, using both to the, to the advantage, right? Like the print feels special now, getting something in the mail, and especially if it's personalized. And if you can personalize it from gathering information online, you know, that's just kind of the best of both worlds. Yeah.

And we started, you know, we just started sending out new client packages And, you know, we got some items in there. We really kind of found the items to be unique to it. It wasn't promotional material of ours where we're sending out pens and jackets, like little, you know, things to hold your credit cards, or, you know, all that kind of cheesy stuff that normal people do. But I made sure that we had an element of handwritten elements in there and took the time to write a message for each person. So, you know, if you can do that and spend that time, It's going to be huge and remind me before we end to talk about Christmas cards because I'm a big fan of this. Okay.

All right. I will remind you. All right. This last con is just regarding the connection between consumer and business. Obviously on social media that's a huge one for businesses now in the digital world is being able to communicate with them, you know, Immediately, the second they have a question or even if they just have a comment about a product or even if it's something completely unrelated like memes. I know a lot of businesses will post and add that kind of touch of humor and, you know, that's huge for creating brand loyalty, especially people feeling a connection to the brand and on top of that, social media, you get to show the kind of behind the scenes factors of the business and show the faces behind the brand when, you know, you look at print not so much because you have that small space or, you know, that postcard that you have to convince them that your product is worth it, right?

So yeah, absolutely. I completely agree with that. You know, that openness and intimacy factor of it is not there. So let's talk about the good stuff. All right.

So obviously prints are tangible. Yeah.

They—

and a lot of things that marketers will talk about is the fact that it's kind of the gift that keeps on giving, right? Because say you have a magazine and that magazine might hang around somebody's house for years and it could be, you know, a year, 2 years, couple months, whatever it might be later when they flip back through that magazine and see your ad for you know, however many times, and they're like, oh yeah, maybe I do need to go and purchase that.

Yeah, and, and, you know, getting back to just that thought of, of those promotional items, you know, thinking of something that is so unique and creative, whether there's a humor factor to it or something that people don't expect to receive in the mail, is something that's going to stick around, right? So, you know, there's a lot of examples of what you could do out there where you could throw, you know, your, your name on it and give it to somebody, and they're just gonna be like, I never expected that from it. I mean, we had a story of, of a client that used to send a scratch lotto ticket in every invoice that they sent out because people hate getting invoices. But the fact that there was something fun in there, people talked about it, right? You know, they would come in for a meeting like years later, and that scratch ticket like was like stuck to the computer because it was a reminder of a unique experience, right, that was there. So, you know, just finding ways to make things stand out— colors, odd sizes, um, you know, how you get it delivered. Um, you know, if you're, you know, maybe you're, you're a consultant and you want to send a welcome package in a pizza box, right, and have it delivered, right? I mean, a little higher cost, but what about that experience? You get this pizza box in the mail, in it is the welcome package. Yeah, right. So just be, be unique and creative with your tangible items.

And, uh, About the digital side, too, when you think about how many advertisements we're exposed to and, you know, we talk about how on social media especially it's an interruption. You know, you can see an advertisement and not even remember it for even a second or even acknowledge it online, again, because it's so oversaturated, so.

Yeah, for sure.

Now, I also wanted to talk about the credibility aspect, because I think online, again where it's oversaturated, the scams, the pop-ups, all that stuff is, is bound to kind of enter that, that world. Um, just the other day I had sent, um, my friend this, this TikTok ad that I saw, and it was this awesome workout bench. It had— came with dumbbells and, um, you know, like exercise bands and stuff. And I was like so excited because it was only $60. It was originally $200 and now it's down to $60, and I was I was so excited. Surprising. So close to ordering it, and then I was like, wait a minute, okay, I've seen this stuff before. I got scammed last year. I ordered a pair of boots, never came. I realized wasn't an appropriate advertisement, so I looked it up, and sure enough, it's a scam website, right? And that's, that's an advertisement on social media that was specifically targeting me. So it just feels so like you can't trust any of the, the ads now. And with, uh With print, that's certainly not the case. It seems more credible just knowing that they put in the time and the effort and, you know, they're in reputable magazines or newspapers or whatever it might be.

Yeah, and then, you know, you have to— there's a little more that you have to do to actually get those placements or those things mailed out, whereas online, I mean, you can get anyone in the world to design an ad for a couple bucks that looks high-end, and then you can just mask your identity behind something and send it out. Right, so I mean, I've seen a lot of those as well, and I've heard many horror stories of people buying it, and there's, you know, there's a lot of things you should look at, and that's something we should put on the list to look at an episode of what to consider when, when visiting a site online, what you should look for to see is this a scam or not. So I think that would be helpful.

Yeah, definitely would be for me a couple years ago. Okay, so the last point I kind of wanted to touch on was is the average time spent, you know, actually looking at or acknowledging the whatever media it might be. So if you think about websites, the average visit is 15 seconds. Just skimming a website, right? But if you look at, say, the average amount of time spent reading a magazine that somebody purchases, you're looking at 45 minutes. So it's a big difference.

Yeah, for sure. You know, even things that come in the mailbox, I mean, a lot of communities even around here are going to these community mailboxes you have to drive to, right? So they're not being delivered at the end of your driveway. So I mean, for me, I go up, open the mail, I pull stuff out, so I'm touching it. I get in the truck, I flip through it, I put it down, I drive home, I pick it up, I bring it in, and I go through it again, right? So there's a couple times where I'm handling this stuff to kind of validate whether I want to keep it, read it as well. So Again, I keep saying postcards because a lot of times when you're working with people that are delivering digital campaigns and you complement some of that with print, it's usually sending out something in the mail that comes into the inbox that way or the mailbox, like a postcard or a chunky piece of mail that goes with it.

[Speaker] Right, yeah, and I think a lot of people think about the generation gaps and your age relevant to the type of advertising that they should do, you know, depending on their target demographic. If it's 20 to 30-year-olds, they're thinking only digital versus, you know, if you're thinking about older generations, baby boomers, maybe print would work a little bit better because it's what they're used to. So I'm interested to see your perspective on that.

I mean, if somebody's going to run a newspaper ad around here, I'm not going to see it. I don't read the newspaper. I don't get it. I mean, there's one that comes in our flyers, but I don't look at it. I don't even open the flyers because I look at the digital version. You know, maybe when I'm starting a campfire, I might see them, but I don't, I don't read it, right? And so, you know, that's not a method for me, but I read other printed stuff, you know, the, the coffee shop news things that are there, you know, placemat ads at a restaurant. Like, I'll read through and look at all the ads that are in there because I'm at, I'm at a place where, you know, I have a long time with this sitting in front of me. Right, just, I think placemat advertising in restaurants is a phenomenal option for local business. Especially if you find ones that go into some high traffic areas because look at the amount of people that come in there. They're sitting there after they order and it's right in front of them for a long period of time, right? They're not going to throw it away because it's where their stuff goes. So, I mean, I don't think that, you know, I'm of the belief that if you're trying to target somebody that's in a younger demographic, probably should stay away from the newspaper advertising. But on that flip side, a lot of these newspapers have digital means for their, their ads, so they have digital options as well. So talk to them. I mean, it's still not going to be super cheap, but they might have the distribution that you need with it. And if you can afford that, then, then great. But my biggest takeaway in this is you shouldn't just do all digital, and you shouldn't just do all print. There needs to be a blend between the two, and you can start to introduce digital into your print method if that's all you've been doing, or the other way around is start to bring some of that in there. And it's not like take your digital strategy and turn it into printed material. It's how can we complement that?

Yeah, and I think with, as with any marketing or even business-related decisions that you're making, it all comes down to research. You got to look at where your target audience is spending their time. You know, are they more relevant to the digital world or are they reading the newspaper? You know, like you just really have to do your research and be able to understand your demographic as best as you can to be able to make those good decisions.

Now, when you think of print a lot of times, and I've not seen so much of this anymore, but is, you know, the, the amount of business cards that are being handed around. I don't know if that's a COVID issue, but most people aren't even using it anymore, right? They're not getting business cards created because you can be found online, right? So I think you're going to see less and less of that. Um, you know, there's businesses that are creating these digital cards where, you know, basically you just have one with you and somebody wants your contact details, you just tap their phone with it and puts all their stuff in your phone. And it's using microchip technology. So, and I think that's where things are gonna go a lot easier. You know, AirDropping those details back and forth. You know, I think it's only up from where we're going. Yeah, definitely.

All right, I was told to remind you about Christmas cards.

Oh, Christmas, yes. I almost forgot that. So I love sending Christmas cards, but I hate receiving Christmas cards from companies and businesses that print the signatures on the cards. I will take a look at every card that comes in, and I will feel that signature to make sure it's been imprinted with a ballpoint pen of some sort. Um, and you know, sure, you think you thought of sending them out, but I think it's— you might as well not send it if you're just going to send them to like a mass printing thing and just like, here's our address book, print these, send these. I want to make sure that everybody touches it. So every year what I've done is I've bought like a pack of 30 or 50 Christmas cards, and then I actually think of who I want to send it to, and I actually write a message in there about either, you know, some kind of communication that we've had over the last year, or a reason why I want, you know, them to have a great Christmas. But I make sure that I can manage that and send it out, and I think it's much more meaningful to do it that way. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, so, you know, it is a— it's a level of print, and if that's all you do then do that.

I think that's the end.

Okay, now you want me to like celebrate your day and delete the episode?