Well to quote Mark Twain, “the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”.  This certainly applies to printing in today’s business environment.   Print is alive and well and consumers continue to view mail as a highly relevant and significant part of their lives.  Consider the following:

• 70% of Americans including 69% of 18-24 year olds state they prefer to read print and paper communications rather than reading off a screen.
• Consumers in the 18-34 demographic prefer to learn about marketing offers via postal mail and newspapers rather than online sources like social media sites.
• 74% of college students prefer a printed textbook when taking a class.   And research shows that people learn more effectively from print than a computer.  (Sources: PIA and Paper Because)

This is not to bash digital media and marketing.  Digital is a significant part of advertising that can’t and shouldn’t be avoided.  For the first time, web usage is overtaking TV viewing with online channels like You Tube.  There are over 1 million new blogs posts every day. Marketing as a science has changed.

So it’s all about the mix.  We used to think in terms of traditional vs. digital marketing, traditional being TV, radio and print and digital being search, social, mobile and video.  But if you think about marketing putting the customer at the center, digital becomes another tool to reach the customer. 

Companies and marketers talk a lot about integrated marketing.  This has been used to describe actions such as adding a website URL to an ad or sticking a QR code on a print piece.  Real integrated marketing is more than that.  It’s also been referred to probably more accurately as unified marketing.  This is a framework where all marketing tactics traditional and digital play a role and it’s based on the customer’s behavior.  It also means that digital is used to make traditional better.

And it also means seeing a lift in your marketing results.  Statistics by vertical market are available in a white paper on our website but the lift can be significant.