Is Print Marketing Dead?

Happy Spooky Season, Partner!

🧟‍♂️ You’ve probably heard this before...print marketing is dead.  

You can’t measure print results. It’s old school. People don’t look at print. Printed marketing is too expensive. Or you can’t measure results. Blah, blah, blah, blah.

But the truth is, according to the Association of National Advertisers, you can see an average 29% ROI and up to a 5–9% response rate. Not bad when you consider email marketing is around 93% according to the same study.

Why? Because print builds trust and personal connection.

In a digital world, 95% of people interact with your mailer when it’s delivered directly to their door. It breaks through the digital clutter because you can feel the weight of a postcard in your hands, hold it, and touch it.

That doesn’t mean digital marketing doesn’t have its place. But print marketing should work alongside your digital efforts. Curious? Here’s how to get started…

1. Is Print Dead?

2 MIN READ

Not even close. From postcards and brochures to direct mail campaigns, print marketing can help businesses stand out, build trust, and connect with customers. Discover three common print marketing myths about effectiveness, cost, and ROI. Learn why print and digital marketing work better together.

2. Build Your Direct Mail List the Right Way

You need to start with a strong foundation. And that means your list. Start with your current customers, marketers call this your “house” list. These are customers and prospects who have bought from you before or responded to your ads or other mailings. They’re like warm leads and typically respond at double the rate of an outside or cold list.

3. Design Direct Mail That Gets Noticed

5 MIN READ

Great direct mail uses eye-catching visuals, a focused message, and a clear call to action. Your design should make it easy for people to see what you offer and why they should respond. Find out how to create designs that get noticed and opened.

4. Five Ways to Measure Your Print Marketing ROI

Whether it’s direct mail or a brochure, you can measure the return on your marketing investment. Here are 5 ways:

1. Create a personalized URL ( aka a PURL) through a service like bit.ly
2. QR Codes: Add a QR code linked to a specific landing page.
3. Promo Codes: Use a unique discount code printed on the mailer for online, in-store, or when a customer calls to purchase.
4. 1-800 Phone Number: Use a call-tracking phone number for your printed marketing piece to track phone calls.
5. Landing Page: Set up a dedicated landing page for your direct mail audience. While it can be more expensive and time-consuming to implement, it does make tracking easy and creates a seamless journey for customers.

5. Get Your Free Stain Samples

Back in the day when I worked for Sashco, we’d send out the postcards above to log homeowners. They’d land on a dedicated landing page and we would track who landed on the page and then follow up with them to see how the stain sampling had gone. Today you can find a newer version here for inspo.