Brand awareness is pivotal to growing a business. It not only establishes a company’s presence but also differentiates your products in the market. Digital media has become a prominent alternative for many marketers, given the increasing number of digital platforms and internet prevalence.
What’s more, digital channels enable marketers to identify the content being viewed most, the amount of time visitors spend on ads, and when conversions happen. All such advantages have caused many marketers to invest in digital marketing campaigns, completely overlooking traditional channels like print media.
Does it mean that print media is no longer an effective brand awareness medium? Certainly not. On the contrary, many consumers still prefer that close experience of print advertising. A survey conducted in 2016 found that 82% of respondents prefer print ads on newspapers and magazines, the highest among other advertising channels like social media ads (43%), search engine ads (61%), and online pop-ups (25%).
What’s more, the most successful marketing campaigns use a mix of digital and print ads. An irrefutable example is for ebook sellers. While ebooks provide the convenience of carrying large volumes of books in mobile devices, readers still prefer the look, feel, and smell of a real book.
This means digital and print media advertising can’t be used as standalone advertising channels, more so to enhance brand awareness. Reports show that 88% of audiences view print ads for 2.8 seconds, and only 4% view digital ads for more than two seconds. In fact, 35% of digital ads barely attract views. The text further explains why print media is still relevant in modern-day advertising and how marketers can optimize the channel to increase brand awareness.
Benefits of Using Print to Enhance Brand Awareness
Creates an Emotional Connection
Print creates a much more personal and emotional bond as it leaves a lasting impression. This is because the parts of the brain that absorb and store visual information are more active when viewing print. While the content is short and crisp, it creates a specific brand perception on the audience’s mind, further enhancing brand awareness.
Facilitates differentiation
Print advertising goes a long way in enhancing a brand’s awareness, especially when using customized advertising tools. Companies using custom retail bags, for example, set their brands apart while creating awareness about their product or service.
Easy to Absorb Content
A study conducted by TrueImpact, a Canadian Neuromarketing firm, found that the average person needs 21% less cognitive effort when processing direct mail than digital media. This means that print materials are easier to absorb. The study further backed its findings by demonstrating that 75% of people exposed to print ads are more likely to remember the brand compared to a sad 44% of those who have viewed digital ads.
Better Performance
A 2015 study to determine the power of digital and print ads found that the latter had more influence than digital ads. This is because they affect the consumer’s journey in two stages: information retrieval and exposure to information. The research was repeated in 2019 and found that physical ads were still effective despite the increasing proliferation of social media platforms. Moreover, the study found that physical ads created stronger memories across all age groups.
Print Media Options to Enhance Brand Awareness
Posting ads in a newspaper is not the only way to enhance brand value. Marketers need to explore a range of options to increase the customer base as well as enhance brand awareness. Here are some options:
- Coupon campaigns
- Print newsletters
- Business cards
- Magazine ads
- Postcards
- Catalogs or brochures
- Traditional newspaper ads
How to Enhance the Effectiveness of Print Media Campaigns
The most critical phase of enhancing the effectiveness of print media campaigns is the set-up. The following tips should come in handy:
Use Publications that Match the Profile of Your Target Audience
The ads created should have the ideal reader in mind to enhance effectiveness. Since readers resonate with different publications, it’s up to you to curate ads that match their interests and capture their attention. The ads can be interest or industry-based or target a particular gender or location.
Have a Single Message
The cost of ad space is expensive, regardless of the medium used. As such, many marketers are tempted to include as many words on the ad to maximize the space. It shouldn’t be the case. Print ads should have a brief text and a single image to communicate one, highly specific message; in this case, increase brand awareness.
Provide Value
Value has different meanings to an audience; it can educate the consumer or provide monetary benefits. For example, when a retail store includes a coupon in a print ad, it provides monetary value making it an excellent ad option for companies that want to increase brand awareness and encourage consumers to take action. A 2018 study on the average shoppers’ behavior found that coupons influenced 83% of the respondents’ purchasing behavior, including driving them to a particular brand.
Think Color
Color print ads are more likely to grab the audience’s attention than plain ads. Moreover, they enable the reader to focus on the message making it easy for them to recall the ad. Marketers should, therefore, include colors on print ads and ensure they match the brand’s logo.
Monitor Performance
Some marketers shun away from print media campaigns because it is more difficult to track performance. While print ads don’t generate an analytics report, there are other ways to determine whether the campaign is effective.
For example, you may notice a spike in traffic if the print campaign is directed to a landing page that receives traffic from other digital marketing platforms. It would help if you included a vanity URL with UTM parameters applied to the URL.
Alternatively, you can use a promo number or tracking code to track sales resulting from the ad. If your primary goal is to increase brand awareness, establishing a unique point of contact should help monitor performance. Include a phone number or an email address on print materials specific to that campaign to make tracking traffic easier.
Print media still plays a vital role in enhancing a brand’s awareness. When done right and along with digital marketing platforms, companies can achieve this goal fast. Gone are the days when brands owned brand perception; a brand is what consumers perceive it to be regardless of what your message has been. Print media ads brands can shape consumer perception, increase awareness, a consumer’s ability to recall and recognition.
printed advertisements -DepositPhotos
