Companies and their marketing managers often mistakenly believe that they must choose between digital and print marketing. This is simply not the case. In fact, using both digital and print marketing is incredibly beneficial for numerous reasons. Below, you can learn about the similarities and differences between the two so you can make better decisions when it comes to growing your brand.
What You Should Know about Print Advertising
Even though more companies than ever depend on digital marketing to get the word out about their products and services, print marketing is still as effective as ever. Print advertising is incredibly useful and effective, even for brands focused on technology. In order to reap these benefits, though, you must know how to use it. Here are three things you should always keep in mind when it comes to printed ads:
- People can understand it with ease. There is research showing that people find it easier to mentally process printed advertisements than their digital counterparts. Logic would have it that anything that is easier to process would also be easier to remember, and this is one of the key reasons why so many brands still rely on printed ads for growth and revenue.
- Tangible ads affect customers differently. Whenever someone can physically hold an advertisement in his or her hands, it has a greater effect on the part of the memory reserved for lasting emotional connections. If you want to build trust with potential and existing customers, there’s no better way than with printed ads.
- Print ads can be interactive, too. Finally, keep in mind that the technology behind print advertising is always changing, and things like interactive elements (QR codes, for example) and augmented reality are making them more fun for the people who use them. Failing to stay in the loop about the latest tech and features in print ads could cause you to miss out on huge opportunities to really catch your audience’s attention.
Facts about Digital Advertising
Just as there are numerous benefits associated with print ads, the same can be said for digital advertising. If you want to reach a large audience, for example, digital ads cannot be topped. Once upon a time, companies simply created ads and put them anywhere they could. These days, though, things are changing, and new technologies make it possible for you to deliver the right personalized ad to the right people at just the right time – and even in the right way, too. Here are three things to remember:
- Digital advertising is personal and engaging. With print ads, companies spend a lot of time trying to make them appear personal and authentic. However, digital ads are authentic by their very nature. You can show people content that appeals to them at a personal level rather than wasting their time with ads they don’t want to see, and that’s a great way to build your brand.
- The content changes based on the viewer’s preferences. A printed advertisement always remains the same no matter who views it. Digital ads can change based on the viewer’s interests and actions. Thanks to new technology that collects non-personally identifiable information about individual viewers, you can even consider digital marketing intuitive.
- It’s emotional. Finally, if you want to truly make an impression, you need to make viewers feel something. Print ads are certainly capable of this, but digital advertising is the perfect foundation for generating emotion because it allows you to tell a story. Storytelling has always been an emotional activity, and digital advertising gives you the opportunity to tell any story you want.
As you can see, print and digital advertising are two totally different things, but when used together, the benefits are incredible. Print ads are easier to understand and they help viewers learn to trust you while digital ads are far more personalized and emotional. If you truly want to grow your brand, one of the best things you can do is learn to use both forms of advertising effectively.
