Our world has gone digital. We receive important notifications by email or text, banking and buying are done mostly online and many prefer talking to friends via social media instead of in-person. That doesn’t mean direct mail is any less effective in a digital age. All forms of print marketing maintain relevancy in our world today. Here is why your company should still implement B2B marketing via direct mail.

Marketing that stands out

Work emails are flooded with spam and inquiries, sent from a mix of legitimate and illegitimate sources. Sifting through them is something businesses often have to do but never want to. Sending direct mail to the right person means they are significantly more likely to receive and read it, as opposed to just hitting “delete” on an email. Sending direct mail with the person’s name on it straight to their mail slot means much more than a quick email blast, and will continue to hold its usefulness for years to come. Also as a bonus, your direct mail won’t get caught in a spam filter the way an email can.

Some marketing doesn’t reach the right people

Any smart marketing campaign begins with knowing exactly who you need to market to. Unfortunately, certain people can’t be reached via email. This could be a higher-up at a company whose email is unlisted or you could be sending an email to a person who already left the company. Sending direct mail can reach these potential clients in a way email never will. Even if the person who left the company never got the mail, their replacement will, and notice you as a provider of something they need.

Easy to track results

Marketing through social media or email makes for difficulty in tracking results due to fighting spam filters, ad blockers, returned emails and many other factors. It’s nearly impossible to tell who was truly engaged in your advertisement. Direct mail makes tracking conversions easy — just offer a special rate or code only through direct mail.

Direct mail continues to be money well spent on marketing. If you know your target demographic and send personalized mail, results will follow.

http://technologyadvice.com/blog/marketing/direct-marketing-still-relevant-b2b/

Print advertising has been around long before the internet. It is one of the most original forms of advertising and has not gone out of style even with the introduction of new methods like social media advertising campaigns.

An interactive print advert is a new form of print advertising used to better engage with the customer and compete with all the new marketing methods out there. Advertisers are using this new and exciting method to bring products and their amazing features closer to the consumers. Because of this it is almost impossible to ignore.

Motion Silhouette

This method has been used for a long time in interactive print advertising to stand out from the ordinary flat paper and images. Especially in children’s books, shapes are cut out and arranged to pop up when a page is opened to illustrate a message. This has become more advanced over the years with detailed cut outs and more lifelike silhouettes projected between pages. This can be used in different types of advertising whether for products or services.

Conductive ink

Printing with conductive ink is fast becoming a trend. The ink is sensitive to touch and can emit smell and different senses of touch as designed. By using this method, print advertising is able to appeal to more than just sight but to other senses as well.

Video in Print

Video advertising has now been incorporated into print side by side for a more elaborate explanation. With this new technology direct mail pieces can now become more than just static pieces of paper, but a work of cinema, helping it to gain grounds in advertising.

Augmented solutions

Interactive print adverts with augmented technology now combine technology and print to bring a better picture of the product to consumers. For example, a famous furniture company made a phone app to go with their catalog so that customers could scan the catalog and project furniture in their rooms with the app.

Companies are continually becoming more innovative with interactive print adverts and changing the game of advertising to keep customers interested using some of the above methods and more.

http://www.printingdeals.org/specials/interactive-print-ads.html

http://www.publicationspress.com/blog/10-innovative-print-ads-that-will-change-the-way-you-think-about-print

John Wanamaker, a 19^th century department store tycoon from Philadelphia, once said: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Mr. Wanamaker had only print options at his disposal and advertising at the time was in its earliest stages, so imagine how confused he would have been if he were alive today. Print options such as newspaper and magazine advertisements, direct mail campaigns, and flyers compete with an explosion in digital advertising techniques that use social media, influencer marketing, games, and advertising that interprets a user’s online activity to curate advertising content. So how would we advise a modern-day Wanamaker to navigate this complex landscape? Here are a few pointers to keep in mind when choosing between print and digital advertising:

• Humans still respond strongly to print: A 2015 study by Temple University’s business school found that while digital ads were a cost-effective way of quickly getting the attention of consumers, physical interaction with print left a stronger memory that more directly affected purchase decisions.
• Geographic target: Digital has no geographic boundaries, whereas print is typically focused on a particular town, city, region, or country (for national campaigns). International print campaigns are not unheard of but are less often used given their expense. So as a rule, if you’re trying to target geographic area, print may be your best option, whereas digital is best if you’re trying to reach the widest audience.
• Cost: For a tight budget, digital ads can be the way to go. First, digital campaigns are typically priced on a variable cost basis, meaning they are more easily scalable to a target budget amount and digital’s ability to target certain types of users enables you to create a campaign focused on certain user types, whereas print campaigns tend to hit a specific geographic area for a fixed price. Second, digital ads generate data on user trends that can be used to further customize the campaign to fit a demographic.

For many companies, some combination of print and digital can be exactly what is required. Modern advertising is increasingly a mixture of art and science, so a professional marketing firm that specializes in both print and digital can be a big help in designing the right campaign.

Once upon a time, print marketing was the only game in town. Flyers, banners, posters, business cards, and ads in newspapers were essentially your sole options for getting the word out about your business.

Then the Internet happened.

And with the advent of company websites, email lists, and social media, everything changed. In the last few decades, marketing has switched almost entirely to a digital platform.

So does this mean that print media is a thing of the past? Not even close. In fact, there are many reasons for why it is important to incorporate print advertising into your content marketing strategy.

1. It hangs around.

Emails can be archived and never seen again with just one click. Top-of-the-page banners and side-of-the-screen ads are instinctively ignored. But a brightly-colored brochure with engaging pictures or a fun and unique business card is something you might not immediately throw in the recycling.

To the contrary, you might put it on the fridge or keep the business card in your wallet. In other words, print media hands around, and that’s what you want a good marketing strategy to do.

2. It’s already “printed.”

Much of marketing involves coupons and discount codes that must be printed to be redeemed. This is a pain for a lot of people, which is why most skip this step and never engage in that type of marketing.

On the other hand, coupons and discount codes that have already been printed and mailed or handed out are much more likely to be used. Furthermore, even though some coupons can be redeemed by showing a barcode on your phone, most people find even this cumbersome. Taking a coupon out of your purse, though? That’s easy.

3. People trust it.

Finally, remember that most people today remember the old ways of marketing. They remember looking for jobs in the newspaper and clipping coupons from magazines. They remember handing out business cards at mixers. This makes these marketing strategies trusted. People have confidence in print marketing because they remember using it to great effect once upon a time.

Digital marketing still offers numerous advantages that print marketing will never rival. But what we should recognize is that current and potential clients and customers will often respond positively to print media tactics in ways that they wouldn’t if you just shot them a mass email every week. Try implementing print media into your marketing strategy and see what it can do for you.