Make Your Print And Digital Marketing Work Together

There are a lot of people who think that investing in more online techniques means leaving the tried and true traditional methods behind. Using a combination of traditional and digital marketing techniques is the most effective method of marketing, far more useful than using either on its own.

What is the right mix of digital and print media?

“Finding the right mix of print and digital is less about your business and more about your customers,” says Joellyn “Joey” Sargent, a principal in consulting firm BrandSprout. “Think about who they are, how they buy, where they go.” Understanding those things will help you determine how to reach customers with a mix of print and digital that provides the greatest visibility in the right places.

Can I mix my marketing into one? Yes.

Below are a few techniques to help you not only make the most of both approaches, but encourage cross pollination across media, driving and tracking consumers from print to digital and vice versa:

Use QR codes and personalized URLs to track media crossover
QR codes and personalised URLs are brilliant ways of building bridges between your printed marketing and owned media in the online space. With consumers scanning the codes or entering the URLs on their smartphones at the same time they are consuming the printed material, not only can you drive traffic to your online campaigns but you can track cross pollination and harvest some interesting data on your users, such as when and where they are interacting with your printed material. QR codes in particular allow you to get really creative as well and can be printed onto practically anything.

Explore the possibilities of variable printing
Variable printing has actually been around for some time and is a technology that allows you to personalize graphics and images as you print them, without slowing down the print process. This is perfect for direct marketing drives where you have data on your intended recipients. An effective use of variable printing could be using it in conjunction with a social media campaign in which you encourage subscribers to sign up for free goodies and, on occasion, marketing materials. You can then target your printed marketing around certain interest groups by harvesting data from Facebook or Twitter. This goes far beyond targeting basic demographics like gender and age.

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 cultivated 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.

Constantly seek feedback
One of the problems with the crossover from print to digital is in getting useful analytics. Despite some of the methods discussed here, this will always be a problem (it can often be a problem with 100% digital campaigns). The simplest strategies can sometimes be the best strategies though and so actively asking consumers what prompted them to visit your website, social media page or even pick up the phone by constantly seeking feedback is always a good start. If you find people are not willing to give up thirty seconds of their time to tick a box then try incentivising them by offering deals, competitions or access to exclusive content.

Use CTAs to drive traffic from print to digital
A lot of printed marketing material is passive and designed primarily to spread a product or offer or raise awareness of a brand. By incorporating CTAs into your printed materials that encourage consumers to visit your social media page or website for more info or maybe the prospect of exclusive offers, you can use your printed materials to drive more traffic online. You could also include special promotional codes to incentivise more traffic, whilst harvesting reliable data on cross pollination.

Coordinate strategies and departments
One of the main challenges of creating joined up marketing campaigns across platforms and media is internal coordination. It’s important to allow the sharing of data across teams and departments so a complete picture can be seen and your strategy adjusted accordingly at a meta level.

Don't only include online methods to your prints - but also make your prints work online.