Why Print Is Still Here

Welcome to the Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog. Today's post, "Why Print Is Still Here," serves as a reminder to all brands and marketers that printed collateral continues to be the game-changer when it comes to creating brand recall. Print also rises above other mediums by engendering a higher level of trust, sensory triggers, and cementing messaging with a sense of permanence.   


Our Quote of the Day: 

"If print was invented tomorrow, it would be the death of digital."
      —— Vaughan Oliver, Graphic Designer, Epsom, England


Today, all marketing strategies contain digital aspects. Any brand lacking a digital presence would be hard-pressed to be taken seriously. As Stephen A. Smith, the highest-paid sports journalist, might say, "We get all that." However, anyone who is up to speed on digital advertising, and notably social media advertising, must realize that you have to post multiple messages throughout the day and night if your messages are to be seen.  

Why you might ask, the answer is relatively simple. Your prospect may see a post, but because the prospect is scrolling, the prospect may not get the info on the first swipe. Unless you have posted your message multiple times, that prospect may have trouble finding your original post. When this occurs, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of potential leads, may be lost.    


Consumers Buy From Those They Trust

The Babson College MBA Entrepreneurship program has ranked number 1 for more than 25 years, according to the US News & World Report. Within Babson's program, new students must learn the basics of business ethics at the start of the semester. The business of ethics is a primary educational stream and generally a program kickstarter. 

The reason is that ethics is a critical element in any transaction, merger, or entrepreneurial effort. Ethical behavior raises the level of trust. Similarly, print extends ethics to advertising and marketing. Print delivers a higher level of ethical supremacy over all other mediums — a statement backed by several years of research that states that print is the most trusted medium. 

People buy from organizations that they trust. When printed communications are delivered, it implies a higher level of credibility and trust. This signals to prospects and consumers that the investment in print raises the value of messages. 


Print is Tangible

Print is the only medium that triggers interactions in the real world by real people. You may say that the digital world does the same; however, the digital world contains an excessive amount of bots and fake social media accounts that are highly suspect. Therefore, real people who receive print collateral that they can touch, feel, and, in some cases, even smell, perceive printed products as tangible. 


Print conveys what retail brick and mortar sales deliver when the consumer can touch and experience the product. When prospects can see it, feel it, and trust it, the business typically yields higher ROIs. This idea is relatively simple. Human beings, in general, have a difficult time letting go of a product that feels good to them. Instantaneously, product in hand, prospects have subliminally taken ownership of the product, although they have yet to complete the purchase. 
In some ways, print collateral sells the product or service. That's because the prospect can feel it, experience the sensation that suggests that they have to have the product, and are prompted by their tactile interaction to follow through and take the necessary steps provided in the call-to-action. 


That said, we contend that not all print collateral and accompanying marketing campaigns will yield top sales numbers. Final results depend on several factors, including but not limited to the level of expertise, messaging, data collection, graphics, and more.  


Print Helps Digital

In some ways, print has become a companion to digital. All marketing should contain digital or social media footprints, along with consistent messaging across multiple mediums, that should be ongoing and evolving.  


Note that print is an efficient and cost-effective tool that increases digital interactions, thus improving ROI, while growing the brand's market share.


Print is more of an invite that politely offers recipients the ability to view printed collateral on their terms, void of any other clutter or distraction, where the prospect can read and consume the information when and where they want.  


Print is Non-Intrusive

Have you noticed that most advertising mediums such as television, radio, and digital present impediments that block the intended content? 


For example, NBA fans that use the official NBA app, have to wait for commercials to play, before they can view game videos of their favorite teams. 


The same thing happens on YouTube. The only way to avoid the advertisements that pop-up at the beginning of a YouTube video, and sometimes during the video, is to pay to have the intrusive ads removed.  


Print does not carry this baggage. Print is more of an invite that politely offers recipients the ability to view messages on their terms, void of any other clutter. 


Print is The New Digital

For many brands and marketers, to even suggest that print is the new digital would most likely elicit sneers and boos from the marketing gallery. However, for the sake of discussion, let's consider the following observations. In the digital landscape, almost everyone has a website, and further, they are living their lives, both personal and professional, online through social media. One could make the argument that social media is their digital home. Those social media homesteads are extremely busy and quite noisy.

In a sense, the noise that emanates from social media reminds me of an instance in the movie "The Hunt for the Red October." When the US naval officers were observing sonar data showing the Russian ships moving fast during the hunt for the Red October, they noted that their sonar could not pick up the target due to their speed. Similarly, social media messaging moves so fast that many marketing messages disappear in the endless scrolls and swipes.  Therefore, in a world where everyone can be a digital publisher, print is the new shiny object. Print offers stunning quality and prestige, thus elevating print collateral above any intrusive media noise.


The Net-Net

Print is still here because it offers a myriad of tangibles that no other medium can challenge. It makes good sense to invest in print collateral. The choices are innumerable and include direct mail newsletters, magazines, newspapers, books, booklets, flyers, brochures, artwork, calendars, annual reports, charts, infographics, catalogs, and coffee table books and tomes. We hope you enjoyed this article, and thanks for reading "Why Print Is Still Here"!

Let's have a conversation about integrated business solutions and how they can help grow your business, change behavior, and improve the customer experience. Join us at our next Open House. You can learn about our solutions, including direct mail strategies, printing, print software, transactional documents, variable digital printing, brand equity, and unified marketing collateral.

We invite you to join us for an hour or two at our next Open House on January 30, 2020, from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm. You can also tour our 58k+ Sq. Ft. facility and experience our vast array of state-of-the-art print, mail, and sorting infrastructure. Let us show you how to improve your document processes to optimize your workflow, reduce your costs, and maximize your organization's printing, letter shop, and mailing capabilities. Dove Direct does have an official USPS certified bureau located within our offices that will save you time and money. And, if you bring us your files, we will create a demo file for you.

For more information, call Carla Eubanks at 404-629-0122 or email Carla at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Dove Direct, your Atlanta based print and mail solutions provider, offers organizations end-to-end data, printing, and mailing solutions: Data Management, Variable Digital Printing, LetterShop and Fulfillment, Fully Automated MLOCR Presort Bureau, Marketing and Production Management Support and Secure Data Life Cycle Management.

If you don't want to wait for the Open House, you can reach Dove Direct today by calling 404-629-0122 or use the Contact Form for Dove Direct.