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We live in an ever-increasingly connected world, and if we’re not glued to our smartphones, with digital adverts being thrust upon us on every conceivable social media platform and app, and businesses and brands sending marketing messages via SMS, alerts, websites and more.

It could be easy to believe the hype that print advertising is a dead medium and a waste of your precious marketing budget. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. Print is alive and well, and any brand that bases its marketing strategy on a ‘print is dead’ basis is doomed to fail.

Even in this digital age, your customers still pay attention to the world of print, and by investing in print advertising, in newspapers, magazines, and direct mail, you can boost your sales and increase brand awareness.

Let’s have a look at some print marketing statistics that may surprise you.

Print marketing statistics:

  • When combining print and digital advertising, marketing campaigns were 400 per cent more effective.
  • Newspapers are read by 13.6 million Brits every day.
  • An astonishing 95 per cent of those aged 25 and under still read magazines.
  • According to a US survey in 2016, 82 per cent of internet users trusted print ads when making purchasing decisions.
  • Readers will spend, on average, 20 minutes or more reading printed publications, compared to just five minutes on digital news sites.
  • Print advertising requires 21 per cent less cognitive effort to process.

Digital vs. Print Advertising Statistics: 

  • There is a 20 per cent higher motivation response to print adverts, which increases if it appeals to more senses than just touch.
  • There is a 77 per cent higher brand recall for print advertising, compared to 46 per cent for digital.
  • In the 18 to 23-year-old age group, 92 per cent find print content easier to read than digital content.

Benefits of Print Marketing Statistics

  • Newspapers are read by 25 per cent of Millennials, Gen-Z, or those aged under 35 years old.
  • Over 60 per cent of adults aged over 35 years old regularly read newspapers
  • Consumers who see print ads are highly likely to also visit the advertiser’s website.

It’s plain to see that print publications still have a profound effect on consumers, even among those who grew up in the digital age – the Millennials and Gen-Z, aka the advertising goldmine.

But what is it that makes print advertising so appealing in the digital age?

Print advertising commands more attention

Despite the naysayers, the digital age has not killed off print, and if anything it has helped draw a sharper focus on how much impact print advertising has compared to digital marketing and advertising.

Print advertising commands attention that digital adverts are unable to achieve, as our brains are able to remember print advertising better than digital. This is why those who grew up in the digital age will still pay more attention to print ads than digital ads.

Print advertising also has better longevity than online advertising. Banner ads disappear once the user clicks away to another page. Viral videos and memes only grab attention for a few seconds or minutes at the most, while print adverts live on. Pick up an old magazine or newspaper, and those ads will still be there.

Print advertising offers stronger credibility

Consumers place stronger credibility in print advertising, which is an aspect that marketers should pay attention to. Consumers trust print in far larger numbers (71 per cent) than TV advertising (41 per cent) or online advertising (25 per cent).

Undoubtedly, digital advertising will continue to grow, but this does not mean the end of print advertising. Sales of print advertising did decline, but this has levelled off, demonstrating that print is not going anywhere, and the most effective advertising strategies will combine the power of print and digital media.

Print is still an inexpensive and effective way to advertise your business, brand or product, attract new customers, and generate sales, as well as helping to drive people to your website.

Magazine advertising

Magazines also still have a massive impact and are still read by millions of Brits (44.3 million between April 2019 and March 2020, according to Statistica). Most people who read online magazines also read print magazines, and many of these could potentially become new customers.

While social media advertising can help you reach more potential customers, magazine print advertising has a higher likelihood of reaching the right customers.

Of the three different types of readers – those who read both print and online, those who read print only, and those who read online only – print/online readers tend to have the highest average income, followed by print-only readers, while online-only readers make up the lowest average income of the three.

Direct Mail

Around 80 per cent of marketing emails are disregarded, with the remaining 20 per cent opened, but not necessarily read. However, 80 per cent of traditional direct mail is opened, showing that there is little doubt about the effectiveness of direct mail.

Email marketing has gained a bad reputation, with email spam filters and unsubscribe buttons causing a low engagement rate, while direct mail has maintained a high engagement rate. The average response for direct mail is 4.4 per cent, compared to just 0.12 per cent for email.

Alive and kicking

To refer back to the title of the article, it is plain for all to see that print marketing is certainly not dead. It is currently going through somewhat of a resurgence, as many people, particularly following the lockdowns and working from home, look for ways to disconnect from a noisy and cluttered online world.

It has long been proven to be a trusted and tangible medium that helps provide more of an emotional connection that can be achieved via a smartphone or computer screen.

Digital will continue to grow, and the print industry is predicted to experience a continued decline in ad spending, the impact of print advertising on consumer brand recall and purchasing decisions will still be a major consideration for marketers, particularly if they want to implement a multi-channel marketing strategy.

If you want to know more about how print advertising can help your brand, then come and talk to us at Tonic today!