Your start-up is gaining momentum, profits are increasing steadily and now it’s time to take your new company to the next level. If you want to advertise your brand and what it can offer, you need a solid marketing campaign.
However, you’re now met with two options: digital marketing or print marketing. While many marketers simply assume online is where commerce is headed, it’s far from a fool-proof option when it comes to marketing. For advice on getting your marketing strategy off the ground without over-spending, check out how print marketing compares to digital, and how it can help you create a rewardingcampaign for your start-up.
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The importance of good marketing tactics
If you’ve recently launched a company, you’ll know all about getting ahead of the competition and how hard it can be — which is why creating a solid marketing campaign is crucial to success. According to a report by StartUp Britain (a government-supported campaign), there are about 80 new businesses launching in the country every hour. So, you need a marketing campaign that’s unique, promotional and profitable in order to beat the competition.
Marketing within the print industry
To gauge its level of success, you might be wondering how important marketing jobs are to the printing industry. Research shows that 30% of all items produced in the printing sector is for products such as brochures, newspapers and magazines; while 34% is for advertising and marketing products, including event programmes and tickets. Since such a sizeable portion of the printing industry is devoted to marketing, it’s a fair assessment to say that many companies are reliant on it to create successful campaigns.
Comparing the success rates of digital and print marketing
Assuming that digital platforms are the way forward for marketing a start-up is a common pitfall.Did you know that 80% of users don’t bother to click on any online banner advert they see? Stats like this make you wonder if it’s worth paying the competitive price for the digital space or whether opting for a print product might be more effective. What’s more, print media 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, which adds further credibility to the worth of print marketing.
The secret benefits of direct mail
There is plenty of variation when it comes to print marketing. This choice is great for diversifying your brand, but it can make it hard to choose a platform in the first place. To help, how about direct mail?
Research shows that 80-90% of direct mail is physically opened by recipients as opposed to just 20-30% of emails. On top of this, more than 2.5 billion direct mail coupons were exchanged in 2015, and 10.7% of the UK’s advertising expenditure was on direct mail in 2009. Clearly, direct mail should feature highly on your list of potential marketing strategy platforms.
Creating a profitable brochure on a budget
Brochures are another form of print marketing that are popular for many UK companies looking to personalise their brand and infuse it with professionalism. To create an effective and attractive brochure, it must firstly detail your brand, message and services in short but informative sentences. Next, you want to ensure that you’ve thought about content, look and layout. Make sure you consider:
- USPs: help these stand out.
- Overall look: should be professional at all times.
- Content: make sure you’ve proofed it and that it’s concise.
- Call to action: ensure that it’s clear.
- Layout: make it easy to understand.
- Header: entice the reader to want to read more.
Mapping out the perfect brochure is only part of the process, and the next is deciding on the quantity of brochures you need. Remember; over-ordering means wasted money, however,buying more brochures in batchesmeans a lower overall cost. 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.
Why every start-up needs a print marketing campaign
Print marketing is an excellent route to take for start-ups, as you often have a greater scope for creativity which means you can diversify your brand from your competitors. Plus, printed products deliver a more personalised touch, which is crucial if you’re trying to reach out to new customers who might not have heard of your brand.
If you’re now considering print marketing to promote your start-up, you could consider anything from business cards, posters and roll-up banners, to stationery, brochures and selfie frames! Although online platforms have their merits — such as speed and a greater audience pool —they can sometimes lack the effort, personalisation and professionalism of expertly-created print products.
