Print is NOT DEAD
We’re in a time where many people have proclaimed the imminent “death of print”.
You’re reading this digitally right now, aren’t you? How many other sources do you go to for your information? Is it mostly digital? This digital-era makes it easy for information to traverse between countries without the cost of shipping and manufacturing and going through a lot of barriers.
On the 23rd of November of 2015, California Polytechnic State University’s Graphic Communication Department received a $2.3 Million donation to preserve the history and knowledge of the printing and imaging industry by Printing Industry Expert Raymond J. Prince.
This doesn’t mean a lot to many people, but helps emphasize that the print industry isn’t dying, but changing. By educating students in commercial printing practices, it’ll be ensured that there will be continued technical innovation in the field so no one has to build up from scratch another time.
These are all great things for people in the industry, but maybe you’re just curious on how Printing is relevant to your industry.
Print Products is Key to Promotion
Let’s say you’re a business owner, new to your market. You want to branch out and get more people aware of your brand. You start a social media page and ask all of your friends to join the page and share posts when they enjoy it. But you’re a busy business owner and you can’t have a social media specialist handling your page every day to keep promoting your page. In fact your page hardly branched out and anyone following you might not be looking for your kind of service or are too far away to be a customer.
Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) is a great way to announce yourself to your area. Especially when you just opened a brick and mortar shop, EDDM is a great way to send out your message to all of your neighbors without having met them yet. EDDM is a mailing service, meaning everyone that gets your mail piece will have had to hold and look at your advertisement before they decide if they want to get rid of it or not. Investing in a mail piece is the best use of your start-up funds as it’s more likely to get seen rather than generating email lists of which only a small percent of people that get your email will actually look at it. (kind of like the success rate with a single tweet on twitter)
You also need some form of a business card to share with your new and potential clients. You could give out your phone number and ask that someone puts the address into their phone, but just another number on their phone never stands out. Giving someone a professional looking calling card is the best way for them to remember about you and their service and they are more likely to share it with someone else if they have something they can give.
Loyalty and reward cards are also a great method of retaining customers. When someone has to go back to your particular store to get their goods in order to get points or value added to their loyalty or reward card, then they’re also more likely to buy more from your store and have a higher likelihood of recommending your location when asked by someone looking for your services.
Print is Friendly
Most people aren’t angry at companies sending them mail that they sort through on their time. Most people don’t realize that just looking at something a few times puts them at the back of your head, and your branding and message are all things that get processed. Color schemes and organization isn’t even subjectively noticed.
Emails on the other hand are more aggressive territory. How many times have you found yourself reading a subject line and realizing they just fished you in to something you didn’t care about at the time? The subject line and the contact name are the only thing someone might see about your service in an email. They might recall your name if they see it more, but unless they open the email they won’t get a feel for your company’s image unless they open it up and read into it more.
We acknowledge for sale signs and lawn signs on the side of the road, accepting their existence and not getting angry at them for being there. We ask for brochures and information on things we’re interested in and many people prefer having something physical to look at instead of being directed to a website every time they want something.
At the beach we can find any number of people relaxing with a good book to entertain themselves. Some people have fancy digital book devices, but a print text doesn’t get messed up with sun glare, lack of battery power and doesn’t devastate you if it accidentally gets wet.
So even though Digital things are coming into popularity, print is not dead and is still appreciated by a vast majority of people. Your business plan should have print working for it instead of turning down individuals who don’t want to look at a screen longer than they have to.
For all your Print and Digital needs, contact us at Graphics@michaela193.sg-host.com
