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Will print make comeback as marketers struggle with Internet clutter?

March 4, 2011

Will the cluttered Internet bring print back?

Many luxury brands turned to online for more targeted marketing in the last few years. But with the volume of advertisers on the Internet growing exponentially, some are turning their attention back to print.

With the Internet, the focus is on quality versus quantity, meaning brands would rather get a targeted message out to the right people than use a spray and pray approach. However, nothing beats the mass reach of the print channel, according to Jonathan Margulies, vice president of Winterberry Group, New York, a marketing intelligence consulting firm.

“When looking at the current state of print, times have been better,” Mr. Margulies said. “I think we are seeing a secular shift over the last 15-20 years away from what we call above-the-line, mass-oriented branding to more targeted messaging.

“When we think of targeted media, first thing that comes to mind is Internet,” he said. “But also there has been spending on more addressable traditional offline media as well.

“We’ve seen a lot in out-of-home display and direct mail as well as other media perceived as being more measurable and more easily personalized.”

Current state of print advertising
2010 United States print advertising spend within magazines and newspapers reached $38 billion, down more than 10 percent from the year before, according to research by Winterberry.

Comparatively speaking, digital advertising spend equaled $27.7 billion in 2010, up 8.5 percent since 2009.

The increase in digital has fueled the decrease in print. But with so many marketers rushing online it seems that the clutter may cause somewhat of an obstacle when it comes to getting the attention of consumers.

“When you look at some of the spending projections, the print column has had a lot of red running through it,” Mr. Margulies said. “When marketers look at their budget they are held to the fire by senior managers that want every marketing dollar to count and be measured.

“That is why they continue to invest in what is not necessarily better performing, but better measured, alternatives,” he said.

“Also there is the growing consumer interest in the Internet so media and other companies are moving there and taking dollars away from the print channel.”

Unique attributes of print
The benefit of print like broadcast – even though circulation numbers are down, and even though it may not be the in-vogue channel – is print outlets reach a wider audience than any channel in the online word.

In online you can customize an advertising message to an audience. But, at the end of the day you are still going after micro audiences.

So for example, when putting an ad in the local paper a brand is reaching an entire metro area.

That number is decreasing every day because less people are picking up the local paper. But in sheer audience numbers, the readership is still larger than a local news Web site.

“Time Magazine is still going to bring me a much higher total audience than an online magazine,” Mr. Margulies said.

The print advertising format is front and center and gives the advertiser the undivided attention of the viewer.

Online ad platforms have been experimenting with different advertising units such as banner ads and such.

But they compete with the rest of the content on a Web page for the attention of the consumer. And so advertisers came up with interstitials and pop-ups at one point in time to get in front of a reader for at least one second.

“You may not dwell on a print ad for a long time,” Mr. Margulies said. “But when you turn the page of that magazine, that advertiser has your attention.

“Even if it’s for just a second, you are giving your attention,” he said. “That is really important for a lot of advertisers.”

Best practices in terms of print advertising
At the end of the day print is about grabbing the attention of a wide audience and the benefit it has is that it is something that is tactile and is right in front of the reader.

The first thing to remember is that creative matters. Test it day and night because the viewer’s attention is really important.

When a reader comes to a break that uses a different card stock and different paper, his or her attention is captured.

The marketer has the reader’s attention and now the advertisement has to put forth the right message. It is imperative to understand the readers of that publication. Ads must display the most relevant offers in front of prospects at the right time.

Now with the proliferation of new technology such as bar codes, marketers are trying to make what has traditionally been one-dimensional, very dynamic.

QR codes are a way to enrich the relationship with the customer and leverage print for what it is: an awareness mechanism.

“By putting a QR code on an advertisement, marketers are letting consumers know they have more information for them,” Mr. Margulies said. “We will come to a day when multichannel touch points will be imbedded in every print advertisement.

“After all, consumers have come to expect if you are a credible brand, I should be able to get information from you on mobile, in-store, online and on every platform,” he said. “Putting all that out there is a matter of good business practice.”

Giselle Tsirulnik is senior editor at Mobile Commerce Daily and Mobile Marketer. Reach her at giselle@mobilemarketer.com.