Several recent posts and comments here at Print CEO have discussed various aspects of the "future of print." Because printed documents are used in many ways for many purposes, print does not have "a" future, but rather several "futures." One of those "futures" centers around the role that printed materials will play in the future practice of marketing. While we cannot predict accurately what the future role of print in marketing will be, we already know how that role will be determined.
Customers, both people and companies, "hire" products and services to do specific "jobs." In this respect, marketing decision-makers are no different from other customers. Marketers have several jobs to get done. For example, they need to build the brand, generate leads, acquire new customers, and retain existing customers. When a marketer is faced with one of these jobs, he or she will typically "hire" a marketing service, campaign, or program to get the job done.
Today, marketers have access to more marketing channels and more marketing tools than ever before, and the number continues to grow. For any given marketing job, there are likely to be at least two or three viable channel/technique alternatives. Savvy marketers are now making channel choices based on performance. When, how much, and how often any marketing channel or technique gets used will depend on how well it performs relative to its cost, and relative to the benefits and costs of the available alternatives. In other words, for marketers, channel choices come down to what will work best at the best cost for each specific marketing job.
What does this mean for print and printers? First, it means that print-centric campaigns or programs will be the right choice for some marketing jobs and the wrong choice for others. Print advocates will need to be prepared to demonstrate why a print-centric solution is the best choice for the job at hand. This also points to the advantage of being a marketing services firm that can provide more that print-focused programs. If you can provide a broader range of services, you can win a client's business even when the right choice for a campaign or program is something other than print.
Discussion
By Ryan Lou on Jun 17, 2009
Many people including Seth Godin has been speculating on the future of print or in his case, the lack of future.
While I agree that marketers should evaluate the performance of print and direct mail vs other channels. No one can argue that a well-designed printed piece with a convincing offer can lead to a sale much quicker.
I think one of these futures of print is as an integral part of a multi-channel campaign.
Email to website first, track who responded, then those people get a personalized direct mail piece.
Perhaps, the marketing service providers that can best show how they can use each channel (including print) to the collective advantage of the client campaign will be the ones that win.
By Michael J on Jun 17, 2009
All good points. I keep thinking about how much printing was generated during dot.com days. I still think that the web is a pull media. Print is a push media. One datapoint to consider is that CPMs on the web keep going down and down.
I would be curious to know what you think about positioning print to "drive" people to websites.
Given that TV and videos is now moving to any where, any time I have to believe that new ways to get through the clutter to get people to watch the video should work.
Thoughts anyone?
By Mattf on Jun 18, 2009
@Michael
As you described, print has always been a push media. Whether its brochures, magazines, direct mail and so on. All these tools are used in the action to push people to pursue the product advertised within that printed piece. Print for the most part is not interactive and can only go so far. That is why web, as you stated, is being integrated within a larger marketing scheme to "pull" the customers to pursue opportunities in ways print cannot.
Print driving people to websites is not a new concept. A great example would be PURLs and CURLs. Many companies do not see the ROI yet, but it will be a large beast within the marketing segment.
It might soon come to pass that printed material might not only push to web, TV and videos, but also push to cell phone use and so on. Many marketing fields have been segmented and haven't found a way to integrate. I believe with the changes happening full integration of all marketing types will occur. One of the types to receive the first crack at the attention of consumers will be print.
By Phillip Crum on Jul 17, 2009
Print is dead, right? Isn't it interesting that the big print-killer, the web, relies on print as a catalyst for traffic. The web relies heavily on TV ads full of web addresses to drive traffic and there are TV ads that promote a website address and nothing else.
The interconnectedness of all of the electronic media is great but it relies on print and other technologies older than I am to fuel the flames.
Print's not going anywhere. Print applications will change as we are seeing. What's dead is the printer who cannot or refuses to adapt.
Discussion
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