In an age where practically anything and everything can be found online, it may seem unnecessary and redundant to still offer and hand brochures to customers. Ideally, all information on a brochure would also be on the business’s website, and the regular use of mobile devices makes this information readily accessible… or does it?

Here are 5 compelling reasons why you should not rule out brochures from your marketing material:

1. YOUR CUSTOMERS

Unless you are a business that is purely online, your customers would have different preferences when it comes to doing business with you. In fact, some purely online businesses, like eBay, use brochures too. While many consumers are practically attached to their laptops and mobile phones, the rest are simply more comfortable holding something printed in their hand. Slow internet connections and navigating different screens to obtain the necessary information can be annoying and time consuming, whereas brochures can help your customers avoid this hassle. Also, not everyone is online, so brochures cater to your offline customers. Lastly, brochures help your customers remember your business and your brand.

2. COMMUNICATION

When dealing with a prospect, having a brochure on hand helps you bridge the gap between simply giving information and getting the prospect to ask questions. Until you actually give them something to hold and look at, the interaction is mostly one-way. A brochure also helps you keep their interest, as opposed to directing them to your website, upon which their attention would be glued to their mobile device – immediately crippling the conversation.

3. FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Your first interaction with a prospect lets you introduce your business to them, and the absence of a brochure, even if you give a business card, leaves the interaction lacking. A brochure lets your prospect know that you’ve come prepared and helps solidify your professionalism.

4. RETENTION

People are accustomed to thinking on paper. Having something in print makes it easy to remember, and anyone who has ever written footnotes on a book or encircled an ad in a newspaper knows that it is so much easier to remember something once it’s been marked one way or another. Having brochures gives your customers the option to make notes about your business right on the paper – something they can’t do on your web pages.

5. SALES TOOL

Brochures not only provide information about your business, but is also an excellent sales tool during trade shows and seminars. Brochures are part of your sales cycle and is another point of contact with your prospect. Prospects are able to review your material and ask questions that will help them get to know your brand. Also, if your brochures have a killer design and content (as they should), they would be great tools to promote your brand.

No business should be without brochures. With a killer combination of Offer-Incentive-Action, that piece of folded paper turns into an informative marketing tool that is useful to online and offline customers alike.

While it is important to integrate and be consistent with your marketing efforts across all your platforms, it doesn’t mean that your designs should all look alike. There are many factors to consider when designing for print and for the web. Below are the major differences between the two:

1. COLOR

Color plays a huge part in attracting your audience’s attention. Thanks to CMYK full color printing, print material can be produced in rich and vibrant colors. In addition to color, some printing companies can even offer foil stamping and metallic ink. On the other hand, the RGB color model typically used for digital media like computer screens and mobile devices have a wider spectrum of color, but they can’t do metallic effects. Also, choosing color for print depends on the size of your print material; online ads need color that would stand out from their background.

2. USER EXPERIENCE

Another majoy difference between print and online design is that online design can be animated and /or accompanied with sounds. The use of Adobe flash and animated GIF images are common design tactics for the online designs to draw attention; using the same design in print would obviously nullify the animated features and the design would end up flat, literally and otherwise. On the other hand, print design can enhance the tactile experience with the use of texture and printing effects like embossing.

3. COPY

Web content is virtually limitless. Though most would start as links or pop-ups on computer screen, users who click on it are usually redirected to another page, where there is more space or even menus for content. Since print has limited space to work with, the choice of content and how it is presented to the audience is very crucial – it has to deliver a complete and succinct message in a single page, and design is responsible for making sense of the information.

4. CHANGES

Once a design is approved and goes to the printers, making any changes would be costly and wasteful. Web design, however, can be changed or even redesigned at any time. Web design is meant to be dynamic so it is constantly  changing, sometimes even on a daily basis. For print design, new campaigns are usually the ones that call for a design starting from scratch. Since there is typically a breathing period in between campaigns, it is expected that designs are not simply revision of previous campaigns.

5. FILE TYPE

Most printers are very specific about the file type for submitted designs, usually requiring PDF, TIF, or JPG formats. Printers would also advise your to save the design using the CMYK color model (online designs use RGB). Web design usually has more options, but saving in the right format ensures that your design will not be altered once printed or published online.

There are no shortcuts when it comes to designing for different marketing mediums. Always take your audience into consideration, because the design that catches your online market’s attention could just be ignored by your offline audience.

With the development of marketing strategies left and right, many businesses have gone digital and traditional marketing methods are being thrown under the bus. When it comes to newsletters, more and more businesses are opting for e-newsletters because of the low cost and ease of distribution. But if the purpose of your newsletter is to gain or retain customers, or to communicate effectively with your target audience, you may want to give print newsletters are second look.

Here are 10 compelling reasons why print newsletters are still better than e-newsletters when communicating with your audience:

1. THEY GET DELIVERED

Print newsletters actually get to their destination. Compared to e-newsletters, print newsletters are not blocked by spam filters, and you don’t have to worry about connection speeds, email authentication, and imperfect webmail services.

2. THEY ENCOUNTER LESS COMPETITION

Print newsletters do not have to compete with the number of emails in your inbox. Compared to the amount of physical mail versus email you get on a regular basis, it is easier to overlook the contents of your inbox than your mailbox.

3. THEY DON’T GET DELETED LIKE EMAIL

Opening your inbox usually means you get bombarded with various emails from multiple sources, and who has time to spare to sort through what’s important from what isn’t? Deleting emails is a natural urge, even for e-newsletters you’ve subscribed to.

4. CONSUMERS PREFER PRINT

A higher percentage of consumers prefer to get print material versus email when it comes to new products or announcements of businesses they are already dealing with. Even unsolicited mail gets this preference.

5. THEY GET NOTICED

Mail immediately commands attention, with a vast majority of consumers bringing in their mail and sorting through it the day it’s delivered. Cleverly designed newsletters are also easy to spot with the right use of color, logos, and familiar business information, whereas subject lines in your inbox all look the same.

6. USE UNLIMITED NUMBER OF IMAGES

Print newsletters are not constrained by bandwidth like e-newsletters. With print newsletters, you can use whatever graphics and visual styles to capture your customer’s interest and attention.

7. THEY’RE EASIER TO READ

Print newsletters do not strain the eyes the way reading on a computer screen can. Your customers don’t need to scroll up or down for lengthy articles.

8. THEY HAVE A HIGHER PERCEIVED VALUE

Hands down, print newsletters have higher perceived value than e-newsletters. Customers understand the time and resources invested into the newsletter that they receive in the mail.

9. EMAIL ADDRESSES CHANGE

Email addresses change at a higher rate than physical addresses. You can’t track when your customer’s email can change, but with print newsletters, you can make sure the addresses you’re mailing them to are valid and up-to-date through NCOA processing.

10. HIGHER PASS-ALONG RATE

Though e-newsletters can get forwarded to other people, the previous factors still come into play. Print newsletters are likely to get passed around, and not just once, especially if your content is engaging to your audience!

While print newsletters trump e-newsletters on multiple counts, email can still be used to supplement your periodic newsletters. Most companies would use both in tandem and reap the benefits of the virtues of each type. Better yet, find out what your customers prefer.

Onlineprinting.com.au can supply your newsletter printing needs so you can effectively get your message across to your current and potential customers. You’ve had your second look at print newsletters. You understand their potential;  Onlineprinting.com.au can help you achieve it.

Most commercial printing companies would offer two types of printing: Digital and Offset. Traditional offset printing involves a mechanical process of applying layers of ink onto paper or other medium using rollers. Digital printing, on the other hand, eliminates the mechanical process by applying ink in a single pass, quite similar to how inkjet printers work.

There are several things to consider in choosing which method would work well for your printing needs:

1. QUANTITY

Offset printing is generally recommended for large quantities, while digital printing would be ideal for low volume print jobs. The reason behind this is that offset printing requires additional steps like creating films and plates for the ink rollers which would be a front-end cost, something you would not encounter with digital printing. However, with higher quantity, you can get a lower price per unit compared to digital printing.

2. TURNAROUND

Digital printing usually offers faster turnaround because there is no set up involved like in offset printing. When you have tight deadlines, digital printing would be ideal, as some companies like OnlinePrinting offer next day rush printing.

3. PRINT QUALITY

Offset printing produces higher image quality because the plates used can be imaged to a higher resolution compared to digital printing, and certain limitations in digital printing may mean that image quality may not be 100 percent accurate. Furthermore, digital printer inks are not fully absorbed into paper – this means that the printed area may develop cracks when folded.

4. COLOR

Both digital and offset printing use four-color process printing or CMYK, but offset printing can use the addition of Pantones or spot colors for very specific color needs resulting in superior color accuracy. Digital printers using four-color matching process cannot accurately reproduce Pantone colors, so color accuracy is less.  Also, if printing in just one or two colors, offset printing may also be more cost effective than digital printing.

5. PRINTING MEDIUM

Offset printing still offers the most flexibility when it comes to the range of printing surfaces that can be used. While digital printing can be done on paper with unusual size, surface, or finish, offset printing can be done on other medium like cloth, plastic, wood, leather, and even metal.

6. CUSTOMIZATION

When it comes to customizing marketing materials, digital printing is the faster and more affordable way. Variable Data Printing is a form of digital printing that allows you to, for instance, print a different name or address on personalized letters.  This allows you to change the images, colors, and text during the print process without stopping or slowing it down.

7. PROOFING

Samples can be created for both digital and offset prints, but proofs from digital printing are more cost effective, produced faster, and shows you exactly what will be created. Proofs for offset printing tend to be more expensive. The process, and usually the material used,  in creating the proof is different from the actual process, so the proof is never exactly the same as the final output.

Digital and offset printing each have their own advantages. Carefully review these factors to help you decide on which commercial printing process to choose for your next project.