Awaken customer’s senses and deliver results

People don’t care about brands. 77% of people wouldn’t miss a brand if it disappeared[1]. If you think about it, how much do you really care about the brands you buy from? As marketers, we push the customer centric approach. But how many of us are really listening to how or when they want to be communicated with? And do we even take the time to show real gratitude when they choose us? We’re too quick to move on to the next social media content planning meeting, influencer campaign or banner ad design.

We’ve gravitated to the same methods of digital communication in recent years, because online advertising has been seen as inexpensive and instantly measurable. But now there’s a shift happening. Consumers are overwhelmed by the digital overload and the fatigue is starting to take its toll.

Ditch the digital blindness – put print back on the agenda

A digital only approach is no longer delivering the ROI it once did. News flash: it’s also actually not that cheap anymore. When Procter & Gamble cut $200 million in digital ad spend, it increased its reach by 10%[2]. Many other brands have done the same. JP Morgan Chase had ads on 400,000 sites, then on just 5,000. Even with this drastic reduction, the results were the same[3].

Our fast-paced world means we’re now used to getting things when we want them. If a mobile page takes more than 3 seconds to load, more than half of us will give up[4]. But, at the same time, we want the convenience of having information at our fingertips. Digital doesn’t equal bad, it just isn’t the answer to every consumer need. Remember the ‘customer centric’ approach I mentioned?

What if you could create the fast, relevant communications we all want these days but still build emotional, long-lasting connections with your customers? Programmatic print might hold the key. It helps you cut through the digital noise, grab attention and encourage purchase so both your time and money pays off. Using print alongside digital generates a far bigger ROI. For example, one of the largest fashion businesses in Germany, Bonprix, digitally prints personalised covers for its fashion catalogues. Bonprix confirms that more precisely targeted individual offers in printed mailings and catalogues have resulted in a significant increase in response rates.

So what is ‘programmatic print’?

Similar to programmatic marketing, programmatic print automates the process of using real-time data about your customers to trigger high-quality personalised print marketing. From creation to your customer’s doorstep within 24 hours.

One example is a printed direct mailer being prompted through a product sitting in an abandoned virtual shopping basket. Sending a printed asset at this point is hyper targeted and timely and gets the consumer’s attention when it matters. With your brand front of mind the customer is more likely to act on it straight-away and make the purchase. This sale conversion means a solid ROI for your marketing efforts.

Emotion sells

We need digital marketing automation but this exists in the world of print too. And with a printed, tangible asset you get something that an online channel can rarely replicate: emotion. “Whatever we feel with our hands is, for us, the truth. Unlike our other senses, we never question the quality we feel. The subconscious feelings strongly influence our perceptions. Therefore the tactile nature of print makes it ideal for building brand trust. What is often forgotten is that online marketing picks the fruits from the tree of brand trust. With print you feed the trunk,” says Olaf Hartmann, Managing Director of Multisense Institute for Sensory Marketing.

That’s why the potential impact of programmatic print can’t be underestimated.  You can’t ‘click away’ print, you can’t block it like digital. “We are sensory beings. The sense of touch stimulates our minds in ways a screen never can. It triggers us more strongly and we perceive it as more valuable,” says Olaf.

Programmatic print provides a huge opportunity for marketers to boost emotional engagement. Integrated campaigns combining all the advantages of print — its tactile, physical nature — with those of digitalization, give the ability to address consumers with tailored content at each stage of the customer journey.

Mix it up with printed communications

It can be tempting to build purely digital campaigns, but the shortcomings of an exclusively digital approach are clear. The virtual world is far too crowded to stand-out in, and it’s hard to build positive relationships.

That’s why now is the time to be introducing print back into the mix. Programmatic print can deliver targeted, high-quality marketing materials in 24-hours, combining the benefits of on and offline. Your omni-channel marketing approach will boost customer engagement and increase response. And this can only be good for business.

 

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[1] Havas group, Meaningful Brands 2019 report, https://www.marketingweek.com/brands-disappear/

[2] Ad Week, When Procter & Gamble Cut $200 Million in Digital Ad Spend, It Increased Its Reach 10% , 2018, https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/when-procter-gamble-cut-200-million-in-digital-ad-spend-its-marketing-became-10-more-effective

[3] New York Times, Chase Had Ads on 400,000 Sites. Then on Just 5,000. Same Results, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/business/chase-ads-youtube-fake-news-offensive-videos.html

[4] Think Google Find Out How You Stack Up to New Industry Benchmarks for Mobile Page Speed , 2017, https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks.pdf

Originally published by Canon Europe