The benefits of using physical marketing when digital is getting more attention

While it seems that just about everything has gone digital – our books, our cameras, and even our shopping lists – it’s not the be-all and end-all, especially when it comes to how marketers communicate with their audiences.

While digital marketing has gotten more attention in recent decades, physical marketing, also known as traditional marketing, is still relevant and even necessary to running a good campaign.

Both content marketing and mobile marketing have seen major spikes in 2016 and early 2017, but does this mean businesses should put all their eggs in the digital basket?

When paired with digital strategies, physical marketing and promotions can help direct traffic to your website and increase your ROI.

Just how can physical marketing help your business grow in the modern era?

Let’s look at some of the most common types and the unique benefits of each.

Printed ads 

One of the many benefits of physical marketing is that it’s more likely to stick with the viewer. Compared to digital ads, print ads are easier for viewers to understand and provide better long-term brand recognition. An ad in a newspaper or a magazine is far more memorable than something you scroll past on the web because the medium is still so much more familiar.

Printed ads are also perceived as being more trustworthy. People are more likely to believe something in their local paper than a banner across the top of a web page. While more expensive than online ads, print ads add to your brand’s overall credibility.

Flyers and leaflets

In spite of e-mail marketing’s rise in popularity over the past two decades, direct mail remains an effective and more focused method of marketing.

Flyers and leaflets can be customised to appeal to very specific audiences – they can have a personal touch that robotic sounding e-mails just can’t.

How many of the dozens of the e-mail advertisements that you receive on a daily basis do you actually open and read? Probably not very many. On the other hand, most people do take the time to sort through their physical mail, making things like flyers and leaflets much more likely to be seen (even if they end up in the trash). So while e-mail might be initially appealing for the amount of people it can reach, it doesn’t mean anything if people aren’t actually engaging with the material at all.

Lanyards and plastic cards

Even more important than increasing profits is increasing your brand awareness. The more that people see your brand’s name and logo, the more likely they are to consider it when making a purchase or seeking a service.

Unlike any type of digital marketing, using and distributing lanyards and printed plastic cards gives potential customers something to keep, which means they’ll see it over and over again. Wearable items like lanyards are even better at reinforcing your brand image. You can have lanyards with your company’s logo or an image printed on them made to order from a company such as Digital ID. 

Sample packs 

While samples are one of the costlier methods of physical marketing, they are also extremely effective in creating customer demand for a product. They have the power to turn uncertainty into a sale in an instant.

Whether you want to test out customer reactions to a new product or win over new customers with an older product, free sample packs are incredibly persuasive.

So much of advertising is about trying to convey your product’s key benefit with words or images – with samples, the customer can experience the benefit for themselves.

Physical marketing continues to be a valuable marketing tool

At a time when it feels like tech is taking over, there’s still plenty of room for physical marketing in your IMC mix.

While digital ads will always win in quantity, traditional marketing will always win over in quality – when it’s done right, its well worth the investment.

Awareness is the first step towards a purchase decision, and traditional marketing methods have been proven to promote better brand recall than their digital counterparts.

While it’s necessary to have an online presence nowadays, you shouldn’t take that to mean print and tangible promotional materials are obsolete.