A Recipe for Success: Combining print and digital advertising

With the recent move towards digital marketing seemingly in full swing, many are missing out on a valuable opportunity to diversify and maximize their sales returns. Many SMB owners believe that going for a digital approach for their marketing needs will be more efficient because of SEM or SEO based targeting, but this is unfortunately not necessarily true. In fact, having a healthy, multi-channel marketing approach has been proven to be a far more effective avenue for maximizing your return on investment and attracting the highest amount of significant interactions. To help show you the benefits of utilizing print advertising in conjunction with digital channels, we did a little bit of research! Here’s what we found:1. Combining Services Is KeyPrint is a very capable medium of advertising that has continue to deliver high-end results and a solid return on investment. However, the most successful advertising initiatives will generally use print and another medium (email, search engine, social media and more) to achieve their goals. According to a recent study done by the United States Postal Service, effective print ads have proven to drive digital purchases. This means that having a strong combination of both print and digital marketing can assist you in driving more traffic to your website/store, while also increasing your potential sales!Having a multitude of solutions allow you to circle back on a big chunk of customers who aren’t exposed to the first medium you’ve selected. An example of such an opportunity would be the inclusion of a URL in your travel company advertisement.Studies have shown that connecting your digital platform within your print advertising creates a greater sense of trusts, as there is a 186% chance that readers will go online and check it out. In fact, recent studies have found that websites supported by product catalogues yield 163% more revenue than those not supported by catalogues. Thus connected your print advertising to your digital storefront and brand can help increase your credibility and brand awareness as a whole. In short, print and digital go hand in hand in the recipe of success.2. Merge Print & Online For Optimal SuccessPrint & digital marketing can work together, hand in hand, to create more effective marketing campaigns. Merging print and digital campaigns into a multi-faceted endeavour has become a significantly growing trend in the marketing field; with 46% of consumers merging print with digital advertising initiatives. There’s a proven behavioural trend amongst consumers who are exposed to a multi-channel marketing where consumers are more likely to buy after being exposed to a company’s ad on various platforms. In the case of print and digital initiatives, it has been found that shoppers are most likely to start an online search after viewing a magazine ad. Thus, as discussed above, print can effectively act as the first touch-point with a client, en route to a significant interaction and, eventually, a sale.However, the positive outcomes from diversifying your marketing portfolio don’t stop there! Studies have found that people are 70% more likely to remember businesses seen in print and online . Enhancing your brand awareness is another excellent and measurable outcome in the use of both print and digital marketing. In doing so, you add further credibility to your brand, while enhancing the frequency through which you can interact with your target audience.Lastly, the importance of quality, significant interactions is always on the minds of Canadian SMB owners. Fortunately for them, Consumers that consulted multiple media before making a purchase spent 30% more than those that only consulted a single medium.You read that right! Having both print and digital advertising campaigns running in sync has proven to increase sales in a very important way. Upselling is a very difficult thing to do, but how advantageous is it when your marketing initiatives can do it for you? We’d like to think your answer would be: Very advantageous.The power of print is indeed still very strong, and it only increases when coupled with other marketing channels, especially on the digital side. Print advertising has been proven to greatly increase your return on investment and attract high amounts of significant interactions with potential and returning customers. Adding it to your existing marketing portfolio can significantly increase the quality of sales, while exposing you to the highest spending audience in Canada. Whether you’re a small SMB owner looking to get his name out there, or a larger company seeking to drive up sales, print advertising can help you reach your goals, one page at a time.