Print is Not Dead: 5 Types of Print Marketing Materials Trending Right Now

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IntelligentHQ

Print is Not Dead: 5 Types of Print Marketing Materials Trending Right Now

With the recent push for small businesses to invest in print marketing, there’s no doubt tangible marketing tools increase customers’ brand awareness. But choosing how to market your business in print can be difficult. You want print materials customers will use—and you don’t want to waste money on something they won’t like.

These five types of print marketing might just provide the solution you’re looking for: they’re simple, customizable, and can be scaled to fit your budget.

Postcards

Postcards are one of the most affordable, effective print marketing tools—a recent study suggests they might even work better than email marketing. They’re perceived as more thoughtful and less intrusive than emails, because customers receive fewer postcards for more specific reasons.

They also come with ample creative options, so you can personalize designs for specific clients or events. Or, make one that’s totally unique to your brand—like this cool tomato stain postcard for an Italian laundry company.

Stationery

Most businesses send customers notices about upcoming deals, terms of service, and so on. You can give this correspondence a professional look with branded stationery. In addition to 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper, you can order smaller stationery made of thicker cardstock to distribute promotional offers, event notices, or thank-you notes. These pieces reward or express gratitude to keep past customers coming back.

Binders

Some businesses have no problem creating printed materials—they print so many marketing kits and info packets, they need binders to organize all those papers. Rather than buying boring binders from an office supply store, create an original binder for your brand.

Customizing binders with your business name and logo reinforces customers’ brand awareness. You can also include original graphics or photos for a stylized design, apply custom coatings to create unique textures, or add die-cut disc pockets to make a multimedia presentation. The more creative your design, the greater brand recognition you’ll spark.

Outdoor ads

The average person spends 26 minutes commuting to work, but nearly 27.8 million people take twice that long. And these times are only projected to increase. With so many people spending so much time on the road, outdoor advertising is one print marketing tool you can’t afford to overlook.

The key is to know your audience—where they commute, what mode of transit they use, and what’s most likely to catch their attention. If you cater to an urban clientele, placing ads in subway stations or on public buses are most effective. But for a rural audience, you’ll be better off using highway signage and billboards.

Promotional items

U.S. businesses spend $20 billion a year on promotional products for one reason: they work. All major world cultures have social rules that say accepting a gift requires reciprocation. Giving customers a promotional item invokes their cultural conditioning to respond favorably toward you.

That said, some gifts require more reciprocation than others. If your item isn’t useful, you’ll get a much lower return on investment. It’s better to choose a handy gift that people can use for a long time. Personalized items are also a nice touch, since adding a client’s name next to your own makes them feel like a partner.

Conclusion

Choosing the right print marketing is a matter of knowing your target audience—and knowing the best way to communicate with them. These five marketing channels are effective and certainly popular, but now it’s up to you to discover which one will work best with your audience. Once you do, your print marketing campaign will be unstoppable.

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