The rise of digital advertising has been a great addition to any marketing strategies. With this new domain comes a whole new set of operating techniques. In the digital space, advertising techniques and the forms of market analysis are much different than traditional print media advertising. Not only are they two different techniques – they are not usually incorporated together into a complete marketing package. So, given the rise of digital market, where does print media stand? What are the tactics that keep print media advertising alive and well in 2017?
Here are some major trends in print media that will have massive implications for the industry in 2017:
Focus on Visuals: Direct mail or newspaper/magazine advertisement can have such a direct impact on sales. The best kinds of advertising are those that use visuals to tell a story and are light on text. It’s essentially making art with an ad – and what could be more alluring? Take, for example, a law firm that specializes in immigration. What kind of visual ads would work for an immigration-based law firm?
A great print ad could include the image of a hardworking South American or Eastern European man and women, facing upwards towards the sky against a backdrop of some nondescript American urban center. Then a small text could be placed on the bottom right to convey that these fine, hardworking individuals deserve to come into America, and that the law firm will help to ensure they do. An image with great emotion in the face and a clear call to action will always do a wonder, and print advertising will continue to go in the direction of image over text.
Always Tell A Story: The best way to bring attention to a service is for a creative team to illustrate the value of said service in the form of visuals and text. Telling stories with print media is easier than digital because there is more space and time to convey a single message. One of the issues with digital marketing is that simplicity and potency are lost in the morass of pop-up images, flashy text, and annoying call to action banners. Telling a story in print means taking out a full page ad once a month in a local newspaper and putting out a series of ads that gets to the heart of what the company provides.
Get Really Specific: One of the best attributes of digital marketing is that there are many exceptional tools to check user experience and user data. Print advertising is becoming more specific in this way too: companies know that they need to only reach the people that are already interested in their service, or have a very good reason to be interested. That means going local and carving out a niche.
