With so much focus on Web 2.0, social media, SEO (search engine optimization), financially distressed newspapers, and reinforced by blather about the “paperless office,” one might believe that printed media is gasping its last breath.
It’s not. While the ongoing recession has curtailed growth, print is more relevant than ever.
Ironically the digital technologies many thought would lead to the end of print now provide a path to more effective print communications; namely by direct mail. Variable data printing (VDP) customizes direct mail, still one of the most effective marketing methods, at the same time providing a faster — think “real time” — more accurate tracking and, most importantly, lead generation.
PURLs of wisdom
Going a step further, software-generated personalized URLs (PURLs) — links containing the person’s name — create web landing pages where engaging a prospect proceeds more in accordance with how they prefer to continue contact.
Intimis, a UK company, is typical of many companies offering a range of lead-generation and tracking based on PURLs. (The informative and entertaining four-minute video below provides a clever overview of the process. An informative PDF[1] may also be downloaded at the link beneath the video.)
The bigger point, however, is that it begins with printed direct mail.
Studies also show that while magazine advertising is highly effective for driving targeted traffic to websites where it is tracked, it lacks the personalization factor. But that may soon change.
Print’s longevity owes to not being a prisoner to ever-changing formats. Printed materials needn’t be transferred from floppy disk to tape to CD to DVD to whatever. The Dead Sea Scrolls are in essentially the same lettering-on-material format as today’s printed media. Print requires no device in order to read it. Whether it’s a screen-printed T-shirt, graffiti on a wall, or a book, print provides a simple permanence that digital has yet to match.
By embracing the strengths of digital technology, we’re able to maximize the benefits of print media today. Who knows? We may even be able to extend print’s life for another millennia or two.
If you have questions about variable data printing, contact info@viprintshop.com.
[1] Download Intimis PDF: “Innovate to Survive”
Filed under: marketing, printed media | Tagged: print, print design
I liked your post, but have a little problem with the logic. And believe me, as a print designer, I’m a sympathetic reader.
“Print’s longevity owes to not being a prisoner to ever-changing formats… CD to DVD to whatever.” This seems silly – print media isn’t competing with similar products on these media, it’s competing with ubiquitous, inexpensive storage and instantaneous retrieval (or push) from billions of always-on servers. And with most consumers having easy access to a browser, well…
Print on paper requires no reading technology perhaps. But if the power goes out, no ones going to go shopping; they’ll have bigger problems.
The bigger point of print as a valuable marketing partner to other [online/electronic] media is a sound one however, and gives print designers like me confidence to recommend exactly such a mix to clients.
Hi, Bruce,
Your main point: that print isn’t “competing with similar products” is certainly correct. But it misses the greater point of print being incorrectly declared dead or rapidly dying by so many.
I suspect that when massive power outages occur — and I’m sure they will — a lot of folks will be damned glad to have a printed copy of instructions for building their own generators.
Your comments are always thoughtful and thought provoking. I hope you’ll continue reading and commenting here. The comments are often the best material on blogs. — CD