The ways and means in which you can use digital marketing to promote our products and services is rapidly evolving each day. With a new platform, method or software being introduced to business owners and marketers on a frequent basis, there is always a new way to market to your customers.

With the rise of digital, there was always a concern about the fall of print. However, no matter how many new digital avenues are available to us, there still is, and always will be a need for print. Online marketing is cheap, available to almost any business owner, and capable of reaching a global audience, so it seemed like the natural order of things for print marketing to die out. But this isn’t the case at all.

Given the amount of digital clutter online, and the number of flyers which end up at the bottom of a bag or in the bin, both approaches can have their limitations. Therefore, the most successful and forward-thinking companies will find a way to leverage the two methods at once, in order to create marketing strategies that use the personal nature of print in combination with the technological innovations of digital marketing.

Today, we will look at some of the ways in which we can combine both print and digital marketing. Firstly, let’s start by establishing what falls under print marketing and what falls under digital marketing. 

Print Marketing

Print marketing is tried and tested. We know what to expect; it’s authentic and trustworthy. Whether it’s flyers, banners, posters or business cards, we have printed, used and loved them for many years and will continue to do so. 

Digital Marketing 

By contrast, digital is fast, accurate and cost-effective. But it’s also impersonal, less memorable and intangible. From email marketing to SEO, and from content marketing to social media marketing. With so many avenues to choose from, there really is an opportunity for each business owner to avail of digital marketing in some sense. 

Here are some ways in which you can combine both print and digital marketing;

QR Codes 

Do you have an eye catching poster design and a user friendly, customer oriented website, but you aren’t sure how to connect the dots between the two of them?

A QR code could be the bridge between the two you’ve been looking for. If you include a  QR code in your print marketing that can be scanned by customers in order to push traffic to your online spaces. This could mean your customers are taken to your website, an online form, an email, a social media page or even a video or image, simply by scanning a code on your poster, flyer or print marketing.

Not only will this journey convert physical engagement with your print materials into online interaction, but QR codes can also be a great way to collect customer data about how people are using your marketing materials. Additionally, QR codes encourage connectivity between your online and offline channels without compromising visual design or creativity which, as we know, is the strong point of conventional print marketing. That’s because QR codes can be printed onto almost any design, color or background – so you can benefit from a traditionally eye-catching poster design, and modern digital marketing techniques too.

Landing pages

By digitising your print marketing, you can generate user data through print materials just as successfully as online channels. The key here is sub-domains or dedicated landing pages. When including a website link on your brochure or business card, instead of using a  generic URL, generate a specific online location that allows you to track which audiences are reaching your online property through your print campaign. It’s cheap, it’s simple and can be used in combination with analytics solutions to generate user data. Once again, print marketing doesn’t have to be a conventional, traditional approach. By using it in combination with 21st-century technological approaches, it can be an incredibly effective modern solution.

Leverage social media

Social media remains the single most effective digital tool for reaching a lot of people in a short period of time. If you’ve refined your followings then social media can act as the perfect jump board for launching your printed marketing campaigns. As mentioned, this can be perfect for traffic flowing from print to digital but it can also be used to push traffic the other way.

To speak to our team about your print or digital marketing, please do not hesitate in contacting us to chat about what we can do. Either call us on 028 9002 2474, email us on [email protected] or contact us through our contact form by clicking here.