Print Blog: Communicate, Motivate, Educate, Enhance, Celebrate, Animate, and Promote with Print and Promotional Products

Marketers have known for years both print and promotional advertising are effective mediums that drive results but it's always been assumed that neither print nor promotional products have the persuasive effect of television advertising. A recent study disproves that notion and confirms that promotional advertising by itself outranks television and that when promotional products are combined with either print or television the results are even better..

One of the most effective forms of advertising is promotional product advertising. On average, you visit your refrigerator more than ten times daily. For this reason, a refrigerator magnet is a great advertising tool. Imagine having your marketing message receive that much exposure for such a minimal cost. In fact, the numbers show that a family of four may be exposed to your marketing message and logo in excess of 14,000 times each year. Refrigerator magnets are cost effective and produce results.

There are no printed promotional items more practical and used more frequently than deskpad calendars, and for very good reason. Along with other types of printed calendars, they beat every other advertising and promotional medium with an impressively low cost per impression, providing a great return on investment.

Have you ever seen an ad for Facebook? Everyone knows who they are but I've never seen them advertise anywhere.  I've never seen a TV ad, heard a radio ad, seen a print ad, seen a billboard or even a custom poster advertising Facebook and it's one of the biggest companies in the world. The only thing I've seen is a full color Tri Fold Brochure delivered by of all things snail mail!

Everyone's heard of Geico if you haven't you must be living under a rock. They advertise on TV and radio all the time, the reference to living under a rock comes directly from one of their latest television ads. Geico clearly understands the value of repetition and keeping their name and brand in front of the customer. Printing and direct mail is an effective way to get their message in front of additional eyeballs but only if they can guarantee the envelope is opened each and every time.

Recently I purchased tickets from Ticketmaster to the band Furthur, the latest incarnation of The Grateful Dead, I'm a bit of a deadhead from way back but that's a story for another day. The tickets came via first-class mail I opened them as soon as they arrived to be sure they were correct. Inside the envelope along with the tickets was a printed flyer advertising Geico insurance highlighting both their 800 number and website. I couldn't avoid it if I wanted to, if I wanted to see my tickets Ihad to look at the Geico brand and their message.

It's ingenious Geico includes their printed message inside an envelope they know I'm anxious to open. They overcame the biggest obstacle in direct mail getting the envelope opened so the message is seen.  Everyone gets direct mail it's as big today as it's always been most people recognize it from a mile away and discarded it without even opening the envelope. That's one reason why the direct mail response rate is relatively low. Partnering with Ticketmaster allows Geico to guarantee that their printed insert will be seen by the end-user.

People have been talking about the death of printing for years but printing ain't dead, in some ways it's more powerful than ever.

Not long ago we published an article about "Marketing With Trash Bags" that discussed how Home Depot is able to get free advertising on every street in town by printing their bright orange logo on yard waste bags that line the street every day in the fall.

Marketing on shopping bags is practiced by almost every retail store in the world. It's just another way they can keep their brand in front of as many people as possible. The problem with this is that it's short-lived. Those shopping bags make great walking billboards as you walk through the mall, but once you get home the shopping bag and the billboard promoting the store brand end up in the trash.

Can a piece of paper create sales? It can for Google.

The Home Depot is a very well known brand, one reason for that is they never miss an opportunity to put their name and logo in front of as many people as possible, they even use trash bags as a marketing vehicle.