Go ahead, if you must. Join the crowd waving the “print’s passé, too expensive, old school, killer-of-trees” flag. Enjoy your all-digital-all-the-time lifestyle.

Just know that while you’re on this strictly e-diet for your business’s marketing and customer communications needs, there are renegades among you, ready to rock and roll with print.

They have discovered new ways to use print to help grow their businesses, reinforce their brand, celebrate their employees, connect with customers, and expand their reach.

Check out these 6 examples:

1. The Boston Globe hits our front porch by 6:30 a.m., 7 days a week. I’m used to seeing it there, mummy-like, sheathed in a poly bag, along with its daily companions The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. One day this week, I went to fetch the papers, and lo and behold, in place of a bag around the Globe, there was a coffee sleeve. It was promoting an event at a local bank. I loved this clever use of a coffee sleeve. There was an accompanying quarter-page ad about the event in the same newspaper.
   

   New packaging gets attention

2. Net-a-Porter launched its very first print magazine in 2014, and it’s ready to take on Vogue. For those of you who might not know, it’s a major online fashion retailer. The new magazine will come out 6 times a year. The first issue was a 400,000 run.
3. Online retailer Zappos may be as contemporary as an etailer gets – with one major nod to tradition: their Zappos Culture Book. This is a hardbound book printed annually and free for the asking. It’s written by Zappo employees and captures the essence of the company’s focus on corporate culture. Straight from their web site: “How can we sustain this culture? How can we remember it while simultaneously inspiring ourselves for the next year? Our answer was the culture book. It’s packed with each employee’s idea about our culture, as well as photos, our core values and more.” For an excellent post about their fanaticism with culture,
   

   Stunning new niche magazine

4. Talk about cool print publications, have you heard about Modern Farmer? It’s a year-old niche magazine, produced with love & exquisite taste.  (I dare you not to smile at the Spring issue’s cover headline, “the next pig thing,” accompanied by an outstanding porcine headshot.) I first read about it in a New York Times article, which mentioned the young editorial staff – many of whom moved to NY from San Francisco. Do check out the magazine as well as the site. Stunning.
5. While researching direct mail for a client, I came across an article on dmnews.com, about how direct mail response rates beats digital. This piece cites a DMA (Direct Marketing Association) study, which reports that direct mail is 10 to 30 times more effective than email.
6. On a personal note, I received a postcard reminder from a dog groomer that Charlie was due for a visit. “…tell your human that it’s time to be groomed again!” He’d been groomed by her right before his ACL surgery in February, and she knew he had to wait 8 – 10 weeks before the next appointment. Prior to the February visit, he’d gone to another groomer for 7+ years, who has never reminded me to book an appointment. Guess where he got groomed this time?
   

   Postcards can be effective reminders

Bottom line? Maybe, just maybe, print could be the ace up your sleeve. Ask yourself these questions:

• How can a printed component help improve this marketing campaign?
• What direct mail piece will be effective in keeping in touch with my customers?
• How can print work in tandem with e-channels for my marketing campaign?
• What can I produce in print that will be more memorable than something digital?

My suggestion to you is simple. Think about print as an opportunity to have your company or a specific campaign make a visual, lasting impact. Don’t automatically choose the cheapest route. Challenge your favorite, forward-thinking printer to recommend new ways to accomplish what you need done.

It may not always be the right solution, but good, old, reliable print should definitely be an option you at least consider.

© 2014 Margie Dana. All rights reserved.