Marketers and business owners have been using traditional marketing for decades, and print has been a reliable channel for driving results. After all, studies show that 75% of consumers say that print advertising makes them feel special, and 82% report trusting print when making purchasing decisions.
However, many don't know that adding digital channels to the marketing mix has more powerful benefits. Although print can be powerful, the advantages of print advertising don't compare to major digital marketing components like reach and targeting.
In terms of reach, more than half of the world's population, or 4.2 billion, can be reached on one digital media type (social media). Regarding targeting, data and analytics ensure your ads reach and resonate with the right people, which reduces time, money, and wasted effort.
Ultimately, for better results, print-only marketers should implement digital. With McClatchy, you get solutions and audiences for both.
The answer is yes in many cases, but digital is still the powerhouse every brand needs. Not only does it continue to evolve into a powerful tool for reaching and resonating with the right people, but there's no end in sight for what technology has in store for us. The problem with print is that we've already seen how far it can go, and it's not likely to advance much further on its own. Digital, however, seems to be naturally progressing with new technologies.
Digital, however, has something for everyone in one way or another. Millennials and Gen Xers have gone digital for work, and Gen Z spends most of their time online for entertainment. Grandparents flock online to stay in touch with grandkids and old friends. When it comes down to it, the kind of customers you find on digital depends heavily on what type of digital media you're leveraging.
Examples of print media channels include newspapers, magazines, billboards & posters, and direct mail.
Examples of digital channels include email, eBooks, social media, websites, digital audio, apps, content/blogs, SEM, SEO, and more.
Take, for instance, digital advertising's ability to pinpoint exact audiences and measure ad performance. These abilities are crucial to targeting and reaching the right audiences. Measuring also allows for continuous improvements that ensure your campaigns are optimized to their fullest potential.
On the other hand, print advertising doesn't have the same technologically advanced opportunities to back it. That said, it has its own strengths, like bringing in better response rates and higher levels of brand recall & recognition. The same report that reported the powerful effectiveness of combining print and digital also noted that print generates a 9% customer response rate (digital is only around 1%) and drives more than 30% higher recall & recognition results (77% vs. 46%).
You need a media partner to support your leverage of both marketing channels. McClatchy's services and audiences are ideal for print and digital, reaching consumers who prefer a mix of multiple channels when interacting with brands and utilizing several marketing solutions to do it. Contact us for experts who can help longtime print advertisers convert their successful print ads into effective digital campaigns.