The publishing world is currently witnessing a fascinating dichotomy. On one hand, numerous studies indicate that readers, including younger demographics, maintain a strong preference for print media. On the other hand, advertisers are increasingly shifting their focus and budgets towards digital platforms, often prematurely declaring the demise of print. This divergence between reader preference and advertiser behavior is creating a palpable tension within the publishing industry.
Advertisers are drawn to digital advertising for compelling reasons. Digital ads offer precise tracking capabilities and allow for granular audience segmentation, promising a higher return on investment through targeted campaigns. This shift away from print advertising is causing some publishers to reconsider their print offerings, potentially neglecting a significant readership base that still values the tangible experience of print. Dismissing print entirely to cater solely to digital trends risks alienating loyal readers and may ultimately be a self-defeating strategy for publishers.
Instead of forcing a transition to digital-only consumption, a more effective approach would be to explore innovative ways to bridge the gap between the advantages of digital for advertisers and the enduring appeal of print for readers. The key question then becomes: How can we revitalize Print Advertisements to make them more attractive and effective for modern advertisers?
Here are several strategies to enhance the appeal of print advertising in today’s market:
- Leverage Print to Enhance Digital Data: Encourage print subscribers to register for digital accounts. This allows publishers to gather valuable data on their audience, enriching their understanding of user demographics and behavior across platforms. By using the print edition as an incentive for digital engagement, publishers can enhance their digital advertising offerings and potentially justify higher digital ad rates. In this model, print can strategically function as a “loss leader,” driving value to the more trackable digital side.
- Integrate Trackable Elements into Print Ads: Collaborate with advertisers to incorporate trackable elements directly into print advertisements. This can be achieved through the use of custom URLs or QR codes that direct readers to specific landing pages online. This provides advertisers with tangible metrics on ad performance within the print medium, linking print engagement to digital analytics.
- Refine Print Audience Segmentation: Improve the segmentation capabilities of print editions to offer advertisers more targeted reach within the print medium itself. By providing options for demographic or interest-based targeting within print publications, publishers can offer advertisers greater precision in reaching their desired consumer groups, making print buys more efficient and appealing.
To gain further insights, perspectives were sought from publishing experts, including Ryan Dohrn, Founder and CEO of Brain Swell Media and publisher of Sales Training World. Dohrn offered several impactful ideas to reinvigorate print advertising sales and effectiveness:
- Modernize Print Advertising Sales Training: It is crucial to equip sales teams with contemporary sales techniques specifically tailored for selling print advertising in the current media landscape. Traditional, outdated sales approaches are no longer effective. A key element of modern print sales is emphasizing the “Familiarity Factor” that print generates. Print advertising effectively boosts brand recognition and familiarity, leading to increased consumer confidence and a higher likelihood of engagement with digital ads from familiar brands. Thus, print advertising can demonstrably enhance the ROI of digital campaigns.
- Strategic Ad Design Beyond Direct Response: Publishers should guide advertisers away from solely focusing on direct response ad formats in print, especially for products or services that are not inherently impulse purchases. High-value items, for example, require a more nuanced marketing approach. Print excels at building social influence, facilitating price comparison awareness, and providing personal validation for purchase decisions – all critical elements for considered purchases. Sales teams need to effectively communicate these unique strengths of print to advertisers.
- Emphasize Unique and Contextual Ad Content: Ad agencies often make the mistake of running identical ad creatives across multiple publications. To maximize impact, ad content in print needs to be highly unique and tailored to the specific publication and its audience. This principle of content customization should extend across all platforms, ensuring consistency and relevance in the advertiser’s message across the magazine’s website, newsletters, and all digital extensions.
- Invest in Continuous Sales Training: Ongoing training is paramount. Millennial account executives often outperform veteran sales professionals simply because they are fluent in the contemporary language of today’s media buyers. Print is not obsolete; the methods of selling and articulating its value need to evolve. The key is to train sales teams to effectively demonstrate how print advertising drives tangible ROI in a multi-channel marketing environment.
The narrative of “print is dead” is clearly an exaggeration that overlooks the nuanced realities of media consumption and advertising effectiveness. By embracing innovation and focusing on bridging the gap between digital demands and print’s inherent strengths, the publishing industry can ensure that print advertisements remain a vital and valuable component of the marketing mix.
What innovative strategies do you believe can further enhance the effectiveness of print advertisements? Share your ideas and contribute to the ongoing evolution of print in the modern media landscape.
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