Cover story: The power of print

THIS IS A PROMOTIONAL ARTICLE PAID FOR BY RICOH

In a digital world dominated by pixels, tech fatigue is on the increase and communicating the tactile value of print is becoming more important than ever before.

Bombarded with a range of media like radio, television and the internet; marketers have a range of options when it comes to determining the most effective option for increasing ROI. But there is no silver bullet and each choice should be integrated into a broader marketing mix. But which choice is likely to provide the biggest return on investment?

It is true that each channel has its own strengths and weaknesses but print is the only one that has stood the test of time and it remains a viable option, even if it has faced a significant degree of questioning throughout the 21st century. However, the fact is that people spend less time with digital advertising, while print is long lasting. It gives audiences something tangible to hold in their hands that can be put down and picked up later.

There are many challenges facing today’s commercial printers, from learning how to drive demand back to print, staying on top of changing technologies, and trying to carve out a niche to stay competitive, but Ricoh believes that these challenges should not be tackled alone.

So to help commercial printers address these challenges, Ricoh is set to launch an online community space that connects printers to sales resources, market insights and peer-to-peer events where printers support each other by sharing their successes and challenges

As part of this launch, Ricoh is releasing the Power of Print (PoP) Kit—a set of four high-value sales booklets that printers can customise with their details to support print businesses in driving demand and educating the market on the power of print and the innovative ways it can be used. Later this year Ricoh will also release an inspirational series of Printer Success Stories.

This PoP sales kit will enable printing businesses to:

 

  • Get the market thinking about the innovative ways print can be used
  • Provide their customers with valuable data and insights regarding the use of print in their marketing mix
  • Feature their business with dedicated space for their company details
  • Drive demand and generate prospects directly for their business

 

What’s next?

This set of PoP booklets is just the beginning of Ricoh’s move to give commercial printers access to resources designed to help grow their business and adapt to the changing market.

Over the coming months they plan to continue to share some fresh and innovative content and success stories exclusive to Ricoh, which are designed to provide inspiration and practical knowledge.

Ricoh’s vision is to continue to provide a wide library of essential resources specific to the printing industry that can be accessed and utilised to help business owners to make smart and strategic business decisions for long-term sustainability and growth.

 

Other great ways for printing businesses to use this powerful content

Provided with the kit will be three marketing campaign ideas with brief instructions to further leverage this powerful content to assist in the sales and marketing effort. These include:

1. Email campaign

Use content from the booklets to create an email campaign. For example, you could pick your top six ideas from the PoP booklet ‘Reignite your Relationship with Print: 10 Companies that Nailed the Art of Delighting and Disrupting with Print’ and create a set of six emails, each one highlighting a reason for your customers to use print in their marketing for a different print application. Then produce an email to introduce your themed email series. Send the intro email to whet the appetite, then send the other six emails on a regular basis.

 2. Direct mail campaign

Select from your list of customers and prospects the accounts that you think are most likely to take action or draw inspiration from the PoP booklets. Send a hand-written note alongside a printed application, something that stands out and shows you creative and innovative ways for customers to market themselves. Also include a copy of one of the PoP booklets.

 3. Social Media

If you use social media channels to promote your business, you can use the content within the booklets to create your posts. Consider creating a social media calendar to develop a schedule of when you will post stats, insights or print innovation examples. If you want to get really creative, you could produce a video series in which you dedicate each episode to discussing a unique print application that you provide, featured in the PoP booklet ‘Reignite your relationship with Letterbox Marketing (Catalogues & Flyers)’.

 

TEN REASONS to still believe in the power of print

 With consumers feeling overwhelmed by the number of emails they receive each day, printed marketing materials have become a welcome disruption – when executed in a smart way. This guide provides ten reasons to let your clients understand the benefits of enhancing your next marketing piece with print, and how to make print work for you.

 Print persuades online purchases

According to Plumtree Marketing (2011), print increases online traffic to your website. This study shows that 67 per cent of online searches are driven by printed messages. From this, 39 per cent of these people ultimately make a purchasing decision, based on the print materials they initially consumed.

Higher engagement rates

Consumers are more engaged when reading printed material – unlike websites, which are often skimmed through in as little as 15 seconds. Printed material offers a longer time to engage your reader and catch their attention because the information is physically in their hands. People are more likely to do something with this information.

More creative potential

Print enables organisations to wow their customers with creative excellence. In fact, a lot of brands take advantage of this, using innovative techniques such as thermochemical inks, holograms, video brochures, scented paper, pop-ups and many more formats to grab their attention.

Leave an imprint

Print is by far the strongest performing medium when it comes to etching a brand’s messages into the minds of consumers. People remember what they feel and see more than what they hear. This gives a distinct advantage by putting something in their hands. Companies can be memorable with marketing by utilising the power of print.

Legitimacy and trust

Print retains a sense of legitimacy. The saturation of email banners, email marketing and other digital forms of communication can become overwhelming. The fear of spam, viruses and privacy invasion is enough to make people wary of clicking. With print, what you see is what you get – there is no imminent danger in picking it up.

Print is affluential

Print is popular with those from an affluent background. From 2012 to 2013, the number of affluent people in Australia who read a print publication rose to more than 50 million (Ipsos 2013). Print has the right tools to produce high-end quality with style to convey feelings of luxury and glamour. You can integrate print with your other marketing channels. For example, simply by including your Facebook or twitter URLs on your printed material, you can direct traffic through to these channels so that customers can continue their buying journeys. This enables you to continue the conversation with your customers to really drive and engage them.

Build stronger relationships

Print has a close relationship with its readers. It is often referred to as the me-medium, and can become an integral part of a reader’s world. More importantly, this relationship extends well beyond the initial read-through. Print materials can stay in the one place, be picked up, or moved around with ease, and referred back to over time.

Personalisation

Print media exists in many forms – from mass media (hundreds to millions of copies) – to one on one more personalised version. In between, there are formats such as the personalised newspaper or magazine, with titles that have content tailored to the specific reader. This adds flexibility and adaptability in print technologies to supercharge your marketing.

Sensory engagement

Different types of substrates can add to the overall print experience. They can include textured samples, such as metalics and pearlescents, to maximise the effect on the consumer. When you combine this with generating certain feelings and memory triggers, the opportunities for print are endless.

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