Social media has done a great job of convincing businesses that it’s the cheapest and the best form of marketing. But is it really?
Sages have counselled us repeatedly to not put all our eggs in one basket and yet I still encounter people who throw their whole ad budget into online marketing, expecting success at low or no cost. Unfortunately, that just isn’t what happens.
Over the years I have seen advertisers, lured by promises of what digital media can do for them, discontinue their print campaigns. I can’t tell you the number of times these same advertisers return after 6 months to a year. During that time they discovered the grass is not greener on the digital side of the fence. In fact, it’s a lot of hard work, much costlier than they imagined, and the results were much less than they were expecting.
Last week a comment made by a successful marketing professional really summed up what I’ve come to know is true. He said, “Online marketing is cheap, only if your time is worth nothing.”
In other words, if you are prepared to invest a lot of time, and you’re not worried about getting paid for that time (or paying someone else), then perhaps online marketing will pay off.
My best advice to clients is to do some of both. Earmark part of your marketing budget for print, and part for digital. The Internet is here to stay and it’s damn handy for so many things, but research (and my personal observation) reveals some real advantages to print advertising.
Here’s some of the key reasons why every marketing budget should earmark a percentage for print.
- Statistics provided by Magazines Canada show magazine advertising still offers one of the best returns on your marketing dollar when compared to all other forms of marketing. They also say households with the BIGGEST financial assets PREFER magazines over the Internet, TV or radio.
- In the chaotic Internet world, with millions of websites fighting for top billing, not to mention the myriad of blogs, feeds, and tweets, you may get someone’s attention for a couple seconds but then you’re replaced by some other messaging. Magazine advertising limits your competitors (cost/space), and you stay in front of your customer until they choose to turn the page. When they want to find you again, they know exactly where to find your message and it hasn’t been overwritten meanwhile by another advertiser.
- Fake news has resonated with many as one of the weaknesses of online marketing. The Internet has a big trust problem. It’s too easy to post something one day and take it down the next. The trust readers have put in magazines is justified. Once the ink hits the page, it’s there to stay. In today’s shifting world, print offers stability that consumers trust. When making purchasing decisions, consumers trust print ads 34% more than they trust search engine ads, according to research by Vistaprint.
- Print has a higher comprehension rate than most other forms of media. It’s easier to read, digest and recall later. Vistaprint says viewers of print ads recall 70% more than they recall with digital ads and it takes 21% less cognitive effort to process print media than digital media.
Placing your ad in INSPIRED Senior Living magazine puts your message into the homes and hands of people who trust what we have to say and who want to know what you have to offer for services and products. Call or email us today. We’d love to discuss your marketing needs and help you put together a campaign to reach our growing audience.
Resources:
https://magazinescanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ConsumerFactBook2016.pdf
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