When it comes to marketing, the question shouldn’t be whether or not print marketing or internet marketing is better for your business, but what strategies can be used to market on both mediums. While internet marketing strategies are valuable due to the number of online users that visit social media websites on a regular basis, print marketing is just as valuable.
Ads online vs printed ads
Online users consume internet marketing strategies and campaigns daily, but the difference between print and digital marketing is that consumers expect print advertisements because they’re the traditional marketing medium. However, when consumers see advertisements online, they become irritable because they often keep them from the information they’re looking to receive from websites.
Any digital marketing that is obviously a marketing campaign becomes ignored, skipped, or blocked. Consumers look everywhere but the ads and often turn down the volume on audio advertisements they may find annoying.
Print marketing
Print marketing is often seen by roaming eyes. This is why billboards exist — so passengers will catch sight of them and read them while they’re on the road. It’s also why advertisements are often placed on buses or along bus stops. Therefore, print marketing needs to be particularly attention-grabbing.
In 2015, print made up 80% of book sales. Books, in particular, are one of the mediums that may very well continue to be more popular in physical form than online because of the human desire to touch. Print design on books include using various colors and textures that potential readers want to feel, such as running their fingers over raised text.
The attention a book receives relates to the book covers around it. A book with grand typography on the color will catch a reader’s eye in a sea of books with photographic covers. Likewise, a book cover with a photograph of a person’s eyes will catch someone’s attention in an ocean of books with illustrative covers. Because of this and the attention to sensory detail by book designers, sales of printed books will most likely continue to lead to the majority of book sales over online marketing where the covers become flat thumbnails that rely on legibility and color.
Digital marketing
Online users flock to the Internet for information and for entertaining content, but not in the same way they seek print entertainment. With print, consumers often take their time to read the content that’s in their hands, but online users require speed. This is why online users are more likely to click away from websites that have blocks of information rather than simplified clips of what they need to know.
Effective digital marketing additionally needs to cater specifically to the legibility and usability of web design and online content. Sans-serifs are preferred over serifs for their easy reading with a modern feel and plain, white backgrounds are preferred over busy ones for the ease of finding information without becoming distracted.
Because of the online user’s dislike for distraction, it’s important for businesses to rely on responsive web design as well as subtle marketing such as search engine optimization, or SEO, to get the attention of consumers. The more subtle a business is with their Internet marketing strategies, the more likely an online user will take notice.
Print marketing and digital marketing are both effective means of marketing a business. However, they both have their own strengths and faults. Internet marketing strategies are more likely to be seen by consumers, but they’re also more likely to be ignored if they’re not content-driven and easy to consume. Print marketing, on the other hand, is less likely to be seen, but once seen is less likely to be ignored. Therefore, both should be used strategically to make a business succeed.
