How advancements in print have made marketing more efficient

Is print marketing outdated? It’s tempting to think so – but, as various business heavyweights from the Forbes Communications Council have observed, print still has its place in marketing. For example, the likes of cards and brochures can leave lasting impressions on luxury consumers.

In our primarily digital-driven age, print can help companies to stand out from the crowd. Hence, it might be more accurate to say that particular means of print marketing are outdated rather than print marketing as a concept. Here are examples of how print has adapted itself to the times.

We are entering the “third age of print”

You might recall a time when the very idea of 3D printing seemed limited to the realm of science fiction. However, today, the output of this very modern printing process can include jewellery, clothing, food and even homes. No wonder 3D printing is now more popular than ever before.

You might only be starting to imagine the full breadth of marketing possibilities with 3D printing. Indeed, marketing gurus have often advocated combining print with digital marketing as a way of making the former resonate more with modern audiences.

Perhaps, with 3D printing, you could produce large quantities of free gifts to distribute to customers, whether current or potential. TechRadar cites 3D printing as a facet of the “third age of printing”.   

Great things come in good-looking packages

Well, that’s what an especially skilled marketer would obviously want its target audience to believe, anyway. You could too easily underestimate the scope your marketing efforts could reach, as they could indeed extend right through to the packaging.

According to a statistic shared by Multichannel Merchant, keeping branding consistent across all platforms results in a revenue boost of up to 23%. Thankfully, there are ways to keep your product packaging both protective and customer-friendly without imperilling your branding.

For example, while corrugated boxes are renowned for their durability and flexibility, they can also be emblazoned with branding images and coatings. Even more conventional cardboard boxes can double as other items – think rulers, storage containers… the list goes on.

Even the printing basics are easier than ever before

Despite the array of exciting printing developments detailed in this article so far, you probably expect the bread and butter of your print marketing strategy to remain, for the foreseeable future, the likes of business cards, brochures, flyers… you get the gist.

If you regularly outsource the printing of such supplies to a specialist print firm, they might be using recently-developed digital printing technology that enables them to print directly from digital files. However, you could unlock further benefits by investing in your own printing machine.

With that machine, perhaps picked from the range of printers stocked by Duplo International, you could find that web-to-print software allows you to store, send and print information remotely – all within minutes. Imagine how much time this could save you for dedicating to other aspects of running your business. That printer could soon become indispensable to your workflow.