Print Advertising

A decade ago I started hearing people demand that a portion of their ad budgets be spent in online venues. Great branded companies insisting that 10, 15 even 25 percent of their budget to build their brand be spent online. Even today, I talk to Advertisers and I sometimes hear, “We are going all in on online advertising” and I just want to jump on my desk and scream, “Why? Your customers and prospects aren’t! They are reading print!”

I think it is a big mistake to vacate print ads when your customers clearly prefer to read and believe print!

According to an article by Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, “…highly niche, highly targeted publications are flourishing as a marketing tool. For example, ThinkMoney magazine from TD Ameritrade sees about 90 percent of its customers take direct action on a product it sells through its print magazine.”

There are several, common-sense reasons for this. People engage with printed, published materials more intentionally, and for longer periods of time than they do with other forms of media. According to Pulizzi, “I talked to a journalist the other day who said it’s harder and harder to get people to agree to an interview for an online story. But mention that it will be a printed feature and executives rearrange their schedules. The printed word is still perceived as more credible to many people than anything on the web.”

Although online advertising may be easier to “get people in the door,” those who have made the effort to pursue a print advertisement are there intentionally, looking to satisfy more than just fleeting curiosity.

Simply put, trade magazines are a direct line to your prospects. I won’t deny the importance of using the web to cast a wide net to reach potential customers, but it would be a foolish move to miss the “fish in a barrel” opportunity that print advertising presents.