Why On Earth Would I Advertise in Print?

For those of who work in the print industry, we get the reasons why advertising in print makes a powerful difference in a company’s overall strategy. But to the rest of the world, there are those who are still asking, “Advertise in print? Are you kidding?”

To those folks, Daniel E. Kinnaman, writing in University Business, has some very good answers. He’s writing specifically to people in the education industry, but his answers are relevant across the board.

  1. Print drives traffic to your website. “Seventy-five percent of our readers report that the No. 1 action they take when responding to an ad in the magazine is to visit the vendor’s website,” he notes. That’s real, human traffic, not fake traffic from ad bots.
  2. A magazine puts your product in the right content. “Reaching your buyer at a time when they are receptive to your message is something magazines do exceptionally well,” he says.
  3. Print ads have a much longer shelf life than digital ads. They are kept, shared, and referred to in ways digital isn’t.
  4. Readers love print. “In a recent study, we found that 9 out of 10 readers prefer print as a format even if they also consume content digitally,” Kinnaman explains.
  5. Print advertising validates your brand presence. “When you invest in a print advertising campaign with a publication that supports their mission, you build credibility for your brand.”
  6. Print magazine ads help you be wherever your buyer is on their journey. “Your education marketing campaign will encompass several channels to reach your prospects at every point in their purchasing cycle,” Kinnaman explains. “Print plays an important role in your customer’s research, often as their first point of contact with your brand.”
  7. Print amplifies your digital efforts. One surprising fact is that brands who do print advertising receive more clicks on their digital content. “People buy from makers of products they already have, and they buy from vendors they’re familiar with because they’ve seen an advertisement,” he notes.

For publishers, these seven points can go a long way toward helping your potential ad partners understand the real value of what you offer. And it just might open some eyes to the true value of print ads in the marketing mix.