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  • 5 Stats That Show the Effectiveness of Print Advertising

Print advertising is one of the oldest marketing channels around. For just about as long as there have been newspapers and magazines, there have been ads within them. But with the proliferation of digital channels, is there still a space for print in a modern marketing budget?

The answer is, unequivocally, yes! Let me walk you through five stats that demonstrate the continuing effectiveness of print advertising today.

1. It’s the Most Trusted Medium

Today’s consumers are bombarded by ads everywhere they turn. They’re in their inbox, on their social media feeds, and hovering above and alongside the content they’re reading on their favorite websites. Beyond the bounds of their computers or mobile devices, they see commercials when they turn on the television, billboards when they drive down the street, and direct mailers when they open their mailbox.

And although those forms of advertising are effective, consumers consistently rate print advertising as one of the most trustworthy. In fact, 82% of consumers report that they trust print ads.

Perhaps this is because of print’s status as a stalwart advertising tactic. Its consistent presence in people’s lives makes them trust the medium all the more.

2. It Enhances Your Other Efforts

Just because print is the most trustworthy advertising medium doesn’t mean you should forsake your digital marketing channels. It’s actually been proven that print ads boost the effectiveness of other forms of advertising. Newspaper ads make television ads twice as effective, and they make digital marketing efforts four times as effective as they would be without print ads running concurrently.

Maybe you’ve been hesitant to include print advertising in your marketing budget. But in reality, investing in print helps you get even more out of the money you’re already spending on digital marketing.

3. Your Brain Reacts Well to Print

The key to print advertising’s effectiveness might actually be hard-wired in our brains. Researchers from Temple University undertook a study to assess how people reacted differently to print versus digital ads.

What they found was that print ads elicited all kinds of positive responses from readers. Readers spent more time looking at print ads, recalled more information about the ad, and had a stronger emotional reaction to the content.

Not only that, but print ads encouraged readers to develop a subconscious desire for the product featured in the ad. That’s some pretty powerful stuff!

4. Print Holds Readers’ Focus

This one shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s ever rapidly scrolled through a news app on their phone: Print holds readers’ focus for a relatively long time. The typical visitor to a digital news site sticks around for less than five minutes. By contrast, print readers usually spend 20 minutes or more with their publication in hand, and they read far more stories and engage with a greater volume of content.

A reader who sits down to soak up stories in a hard-copy newspaper or magazine is all the more likely to linger on any advertising they encounter in the publication ““ which is good news for you when they see your ad.

5. Print Ads Capture Millennials’ Attention

Millennials are ripe for targeting with print advertising. Most Millennials love engaging with print ads. In a survey conducted by Customer Focus and Quad/Graphics, 77% of Millennials reported that they pay attention to direct mail, 73% to retail inserts, 54% to catalogs, and 51% to magazines. With Millennials spending around $600 billion each year in the U.S. alone, there’s a lot to be said for grabbing the attention of this important demographic.

Some modern marketers are hesitant to give more traditional advertising media a try. At first glance, a channel like print may feel passé. But quite the opposite is true.

In today’s crowded digital field, print has emerged as a trustworthy medium that’s able to grab and hold the attention of readers. That doesn’t mean you should forego your digital marketing strategy, however. Instead, find the right balance between digital and print advertising to get the greatest ROI on your overall marketing spend.

If you’re looking for a trusted partner to help get your print advertising off the ground, check out our solutions.

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