What can print do for your start-up brand?

tony 21/02/2018 Comments off

The debate between whether print or digital is better at marketing a new brand has been ongoing for many years. If you’re preparing to launch a new campaign to advertise your company, it’s worth checking out your options to make sure you make the right marketing decisions.

Here, you can find out how digital and print compare and how you can promote your start-up business…

UK businesses and the print industry

Competition is a huge part of business, if you don’t know who your competitors are or aren’t striving to outwit them, you may struggle. There are about 80 new businesses launching in the UK every hour, according to a report by StartUp Britain (a national, government-backed campaign), so you want a marketing strategy that’s going to be unique to your business, effectively promotes your services and is cost-effective to push yourself to the front of the race.

Much of what we do, both in our professional and personal lives, takes place online, so you’d be forgiven for assuming that that’s where the best marketing campaigns are based. However, you might be surprised to learn that advertising is big business for the print sector. Approximately 30% of all printing is for products such as brochures, newspapers and magazines; while 34% is for advertising and marketing products including event programmes and tickets.

How do consumers react when they see an ad online as opposed to in print? Interestingly, 80% of users don’t bother to click on any online banner advert they see. Bearing in mind that the 20% that do won’t even convert into a sale, is digital really that good? And is it worth paying the competitive price for the digital space? Print media also appears to beat digital when it comes to marketing in magazines: 63% of UK adults still read magazines (according to YouGov) and only 10% regularly read these online.

The effects of starting a brochure campaign

Print marketing is vast, including well-known and trusted forms of material such as: leaflets, posters, case bound book printing, and business cards. But, how about a brochure for spreading brand awareness and giving your company a professional look for potential customers? To create an effective and attractive brochure, it needs to legibly detail your brand, message and services in short but informative sentences. Just ensure you’ve thought about these essential features to help you whittle down the details and create an attractive, easy-to-read design. An intriguing header will grab your reader, while a clear call to action and a professional overall look will encourage them to act on what they see. Make sure you pack your brochure with all your brand’s unique selling points, and keep your copy short and layout easy to navigate.

Always proofread everything before even thinking about sending to print — reprints are costly. Also, take time to sit down and work out exactly how many you need. Remember, the more brochures you buy in bulk the less the overall cost in the long-run, but you’re supposed to be on a budget and you don’t want to lose money. Essentially, you must think about how many brochures your start-up needs to save yourself wasting cash unnecessarily while still maximising on your hard design work and outlay.

The effects of starting a direct mail campaign

If you haven’t already, consider the opportunities direct mail can offer your new business! In a recent survey; 54% of all consumers said that they’d be happy to get direct mail from brands that might interest them. Although regrettably associated with the term ‘junk mail’, direct mail is a highly rewarding form of print marketing that could help your start-up excel if used within a marketing strategy. 80-90% of direct mail is physically opened by recipients as opposed to just 20-30% of emails — a win for new companies looking to get their brand across to potential consumers.

Did you know: 10.7% of the UK’s advertising expenditure was on direct mail in 2009, with over 2.5 billion direct mail coupons exchanged in 2015.

Clearly, we’re becoming growingly dependent on digital, however, this isn’t at the expense of other platforms and industries. If you want an effective platform for promoting your brand and advertising its products and services in a personalised manner, print marketing is it.