Today’s consumers are inundated with emails and digital marketing every day. This makes it harder than ever for franchise brands to capture the attention of both prospective customers and those who have purchased from them in the past.
The good news? Print can be a powerful tool in helping franchise brands reach target audiences in a more effective way that creates a strong sense of brand loyalty. Print marketing materials like brochures, catalogs, and direct mail can also help franchise brands stand out in service of acquiring new customers and increasing revenue.
Here, we’ll take a look at how print marketing materials can help you increase brand awareness and visibility, build trust with customers, and create a more multi-channel experience that better engages your target audience.
Print marketing materials — everything from postcards and flyers to catalogs — are an effective way for companies to break through the digital noise and increase the visibility of your brand. Only 44% of people can recall a brand’s digital ad, while 75% of people report they can remember a brand from the direct mail pieces they receive.1
The most effective ways to increase brand visibility and awareness with print marketing is to feature content that clearly demonstrates to the customer not just your products and price, but who you are and what you do. Print’s ability to create a more tactile experience and connection with your target audience can be a powerful way to communicate your brand story and identity.
What’s more, studies show that people are better able to retain and recall information from printed materials compared to digital screens, due in large part to it being a tangible and spatial experience with fewer distractions, which allows recipients to focus more on the content and for that content to leave a lasting impression.2
82% of consumers report that they trust print advertisements the most when making purchase decisions.3 This is an opportunity to use print marketing and direct mail to help build trust with both current and prospective customers, especially given the amount of digital communication consumers engage with on a daily basis.
Using a medium your target audience already trusts and values increases the likelihood that this audience engages with your messaging or takes a desired action, whether that’s booking a meeting with your sales team, watching a video, or RSVPing for an event.
Nobody wants to feel like they’re just a sale to a company, and personalized print marketing materials are a way to create tailored messages and offers that are more likely to connect with your target audience.
But effective print marketing is more than just adding a customer’s first name to a template. By using key data that includes geographic location, average customer spend, length of relationship, previous interest, and even online activity like website form submissions, franchise brands can provide their customers with more personalized print solutions that address what they want and need.
This helps to both enhance the customer experience and create an emotional connection and increased loyalty to your brand.
Print marketing materials can include integrations that effectively bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds and drive traffic to your website. By including things like quick response (QR) codes, augmented reality (AR), and near-field communication (NFC) into your print marketing, you’re driving customers to your website, which makes it faster and easier for them to convert.
This also helps create a more multi-channel marketing experience that adds digital touchpoints to print marketing campaigns.
Using digital integrations as a way to increase website traffic also creates more data for you to evaluate the performance of your print materials. For example, website visits, video views, and QR code scans can help paint a better picture of how effective your marketing efforts are and how well your audience is responding to your messaging.
As a strategic print automation partner, Quantum can help you create data-driven print marketing materials for more engaging sales and marketing collateral, helping your brand reach — and exceed — your marketing goals. Our print automation solutions can help you create highly targeted, cost-effective print that connects with your audience.
Learn more about our print marketing automation and direct mail marketing services.
Cary Glitz has over 30 years of print-related experience and a proven track record in building long-term relationships with Quantum Group’s clients in a variety of vertical markets. He prizes honest communication, attention to detail, cost-effective solutions, brand control, and timely deliverables.
1. Powers, Tonya. Print Works and Here’s the Brain Science to Prove it. Adweek.
2. Delgado, Pablo; Vargas, Cristina; Ackerman, Rakefet; Salmerón, Ladisalo. Don't Throw Away Your Printed Books: A Meta-Analysis On the Effects of Media On Reading Comprehension. Educational Research Review. November 2018.
3. 26 Relevant Print Marketing Statistics: 2024 Ad Spending & Impact. FinancesOnline.