You should be marketing where your customers are. And where are your customers? Of course, they are hanging out online, but they are also spending a lot of time offline as well. That’s why you need to complement your digital marketing with a print strategy. Data shows that customers respond well to a combination of digital and print marketing platforms. If you are leery that print marketing is on its way out, remember that 66% of direct mail is opened and 56% of consumers who responded to direct mail campaigns visited a company’s site or store. If you are struggling with how to combine print and digital campaigns that complement each other, we have 5 ways print and digital marketing can work together.

Five Great Tips For A Good Print Strategy

Digital Opt-Ins for Direct Mail

It’s not just print mail that can lead back to digital channels. You can use digital marketing to drive print results. The relationship between print and digital marketing should be a two-way street. When you learn how to maximize the interchange between the two you get better results from both. One easy way to have digital marketing complement print marketing is through a digital opt-in form on your website where customers can sign up for print materials. A great example is print catalogs. People love getting catalogs in the mail from brands with whom they frequently shop. Of course, the information in the catalog could be found online, but there is something satisfying about turning the pages in a bright and colorful catalog. Direct mail is one of the most measurable forms of media. Marketers know when mail is arriving, and they can use that knowledge to activate other touch points like email marketing. The direct mail anchors the campaign and drives the support tactics. Together they boost the overall effectiveness of a campaign.

QR Codes and Personalized URLs

QR codes haven’t lived up to the hype expected when they were first introduced, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t useful. QR codes might not make a successful marketing campaign on their own, but when you combine them with personalized URLs, they can complement specific campaign goals. Including QR codes and personalized URLs on print materials is a helpful way to link online and offline activities. QR codes and personalized URLs can lead to specific landing pages that allow marketers a clear way to understand who is engaging with your print campaigns. Varied URLs can also track differences in interaction between customer segments. Use these codes and URLs to encourage offline customers to visit your website, landing page, social media profiles, or other online destination.

Connect Social Media to In-Store Campaigns

No matter where they are in the physical world, your customers are almost always on social media. This is why it makes perfect sense to your customers to combine social media with in-store campaigns and print materials. Use your in-store campaigns to encourage customers to take action on social media. It could be as simple as prominently displaying your social media handles so customers can find you online and follow your business. You could offer an incentive for customers to follow you for the chance to win a grand prize. The action could be more involved. You might encourage customers to take a selfie with a new product and then share the selfie on social media with specific campaign hashtags that you can track. Customers who share a selfie online might then be eligible to receive a discount if they show the selfie when they check out. This type of interaction also increases the likelihood that the customer will build a stronger connection with your brand.

Share Online Content on Print Materials

Do you share customer testimonials in your print marketing? Include digital comments from your social media accounts. Just because someone commented on one social media account doesn’t mean it should be confined only to that space. Share positive digital comments through print marketing. Including social media reviews and comments on print materials lets other customers know you are active on your social media accounts. It’s a great way to showcase your online community to offline customers. This could encourage other customers to seek out your social media accounts and follow you there. The positive comments also let other customers know the positive things that are said about your company. Another form of online content you can share with your offline community is campaign hashtags. Printing specific hashtags on materials is a way to funnel all of your marketing channels to a single campaign. You can even combine campaign hashtags with a call to action to share on social media for a greater impact.

Place Calls-to-Action on Print Materials

Because print marketing has a high engagement rate, that makes it perfect for specific calls to action. Ask customers to follow you on social media, visit specific websites, or take other actions that impact your digital strategy. Having print and digital marketing campaigns that run at the same time doesn’t make them a complementary strategy. The two marketing platforms need to work together to achieve a bigger goal. Before you begin a combined strategy make sure you know where both your print and digital customers are on their path to purchase. Having a clear picture of the customer journey is essential to planning complementary campaigns. Branding, messaging, and imagery needs to be consistent across print and digital components. Have your print and digital teams work together. Print and digital each engage customers in different ways, but it is possible for the two to complement one another. They can each direct attention to the other to create more engaged customers overall. Safeguard Premier Branding Solutions offers a mixed-media approach when it comes to marketing. We understand that your digital marketing and print marketing need to work together. That’s why we offer a wide range of branding and marketing services. Contact us to talk to a professional who can help you find the right combination of tactics for your business.

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