It’s easy for us to forget the benefits of print marketing as digital capabilities grow and develop. Leaflets, brochures, posters and other promotional materials offer credible, personalised marketing opportunities in an increasingly cookie-less world. Regardless of your target audience, print can be a terrific tool to support and extend your digital marketing campaign when integrated effectively.
While leaflets have their place, many creative print marketing materials can help your campaign shine. In this article, we'll explore the major print marketing materials outside of leaflets and their pros and cons for businesses so you can decide what might be right for your next campaign.
What we'll cover:
1. Brochures
While leaflets can be helpful for a quick pitch of your business, brochures are generally more comprehensive and in-depth, providing a deeper dive into your offerings. They are instrumental in supporting your field staff (e.g., sales or events) when speaking to customers or enabling customers to browse your products or services offline.
Pros:
- Information-rich: space to convey detailed product or service information
- High-quality visuals: can be designed with high-quality materials and images for a glossy, luxurious, professional finish
- Versatile: can be used for product catalogues, event programs, or informational handouts
Cons:
- Cost: high-quality visuals can make brochures expensive to print
- Bulky: as they include more information, brochures can be complex for staff to transport and distribute
2. Postcards
One of the most minor available print materials, postcards offer a place for bite-sized information, delivering a quick and focused message.
Pros:
- Cost-effective: generally cheaper to print and mail than other formats due to size
- Direct & targeted: your message can be mailed directly to your target audience
- Compact: small size makes them easy for your staff to carry, display, or share
Cons:
- Limited space: with limited size comes limited space for your content - crafting a concise and impactful message that fits in limited space can be challenging
3. Banners and posters
These are suited to grand-scale promotions, like events and tradeshows when your message needs to make a significant impact and stand out from any competitors also exhibiting. You can also go further than posters with a customised booth display at tradeshows, depending on your space.
Pros:
- Visual & attention-grabbing: enables eye-catching, on-brand designs
- Reusable: if made with durable materials, banners and posters can be reused for multiple events or promotions
Cons:
- Effort: high customisability means you may need to provide an in-depth brief and often go back and forth to perfect your poster with your provider
- Cost: costs can build based on size and design
4. Stickers
Often the smallest print material available, stickers and other adhesive labels can make exciting and different branded material.
Pros:
- Cost-efficient: as small items, stickers can be relatively inexpensive for a large volume
- Versatile: can be used for branding, product labelling, and giveaways
- Highly customisable: a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials allows for maximum creativity
Cons:
- Limited space: with space for at most a few words, stickers are not the place for most messaging
- Placement: out of all print materials, targeted distribution of stickers is most challenging
- Environmental impact: as more customers become more eco-conscious, it’s worth remembering that stickers are not environmentally friendly
5. Business Cards
Even with digital advancements, business cards can be beneficial to equip your sales or other field staff, especially when you want to convey professionalism as an established business to a more traditional audience. As a concise tool to facilitate conversations, business cards help start the conversations that get your campaign message out to customers.
Pros:
- Compact: small and easy to carry
- Cost-effective: affordable to design, print, and distribute
- Highly customisable: align logos, colours and fonts to your brand identity
- Professional: based on traditional practices, they help convey legitimacy and build trust with potential customers, clients or partners.
Cons:
- Limited space: balancing essential details with design elements can be a challenge
- Environmental impact: consider alternative materials like recycled or seeded paper to overcome any potential customer concerns
- Easily lost or damaged: responsibility for follow-up falls on the cardholder, which is lost if the card information becomes inaccessible
In conclusion, there are numerous print marketing ideas beyond leaflets that can help you create efficient, cost-effective, and distinctive campaigns. While each format has pros and cons, you should consider each based on your campaign goals, budget, and target audience. Materials can often work together for different phases of your campaign. For example, leaflets can boost brand awareness, driving potential customers to your website. There, they can fill out a contact form, empowering your sales team to initiate conversations using supporting materials like brochures and business cards.
Whatever material or materials you choose, the key is to align your print marketing with your campaign message and objectives to achieve the best results.
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