By Erwin Busselot, Director, Business Innovation & Solutions, Ricoh Graphic Communications, Ricoh Europe
We have all been the recipients of some of the many ways marketers communicate with their clients.
Emails, paid adverts, social media, mobile, and content marketing can be quick to set up, affordable, and achieve good reach.
As such it is easy to see why digital marketing might be the first choice over print.
But digital marketing is not as effective as print as I discussed here. Research has shown that while 71% of digital ads are viewable (at least half the ad is viewable and on the screen for at least a second), only 9% are actually viewed, or fixated upon. Display ads such as sponsored banners too are well known for generating relatively few clicks – good for brand building maybe but not so great for creating leads.
Not only is physical mail viewed, but 31% prompts a commercial action.
This should be music to the ears of the 201 American print buyers surveyed by Keypoint Intelligence who attributed 26% of the share of their budget to printed marketing materials.
It should also be why Print Service Providers (PSPs) look to sell the value of print with these four areas of opportunity:
1 Increasing customisation/personalisation
Keypoint Intelligence reported that currently less than a quarter (24%) of total printed communications were being customised beyond the name and address while 60% of respondents expected the share of communications that contained more personalisation to increase over the next three years in America.
Market demand is there. Forbes reports that investing in personalisation efforts can drive revenue growth of 10% to 30% while an overwhelming 70% of American consumers say they will shop exclusively with brands that personally understand them.
2 Adding Digital Print Enhancement
The vast majority of Keypoint Intelligence respondents were interested in enhancing their printing capabilities with a fifth colour for effects like clear coatings and special colours. These also included spot coatings, fluorescent/neon colors, white/clear ink, dimensional effects, raised textures, and metallic foils.
It is an opportunity that could be lucrative too. A Ricoh commissioned survey conducted by NAPCO Research found brand owners in America expect to pay up to 33% more for coatings and textures, 33% more for special colours, such as white, metallic, or fluorescent and 31% more for secure print such as UV or infrared ink.
3 Using e-connectivity
Print buyers were interested in technology that enables the creation of QR codes, augmented reality, or NFC tags. Only 5% of Keypoint Intelligence respondents had no interest in purchasing these types of specialty products in the next two years.
With the pandemic giving QR codes a new lease of life it is now very common to scan them for additional information or to make payment. In fact a survey from European market research firm Appinio found eight in ten European respondents are now used to scanning them, aided by the fact that scanning cameras are now integrated into most mobile phones and 95% of users found them a useful way to get detailed product information.
4 Establishing an online presence
93% of the print buyers Keypoint Intelligence surveyed were buying at least some of their print online with business cards, general office print, and posters, banners, and signage the most common applications being ordered. 84% of respondents that purchase some print online said that at least half of their print buying funds are spent online while nearly 70% who purchase print both online and offline expect their online spending budgets to increase over the next three years.
In a digital first world print buyers are being forced to reinvent themselves. This creates an opportunity for print based on demand for more complex personalisation and specialty printing techniques that ensure memorable print. High speed inkjet and toner technologies are continually evolving to offer enhanced production and application flexibility to deliver creative print, quickly and responsively.
It also allows PSPs to create different routes to selling supported by software solutions that enable ecommerce and web to print capabilities.
It is fantastic to see that, in such a fast paced environment of change, print remains the most reliable way to ensure communications are read, remembered, and crucially, acted upon.
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