Print – brochures, signs and adverts, to name but a few

Printed marketing materials are a really efficient way of talking to potential customers. Correctly approached, they are a low-cost and powerful tool for doing two things:

  • telling people you exist
  • making them get in touch with a view to buying from you

Printed materials include fliers, brochures, price lists, signage, business cards, postcards and vehicle livery. And don’t forget ‘process materials’, such as invoices and estimates – you should have the right message any time you talk to your customers. These have to be sent anyway, so your message is free.

Right words, right result

But what is the ‘right message’? Printed materials have two things in common –

  • the space you have is limited
  • once they’re printed, they stay printed

So you have to be careful with your choice of words. What to say?

I start by defining your market positioning. This captures precisely who your customers are, why what you have to offer is a big deal to them and what they will compare you with. Your positioning leads directly to the words you need to use in all your marketing communications – including print.

Print is complementary to online

Printed materials have not been rendered obsolete by the internet. Not everyone uses the internet – just 75% of households have an internet connection (2011 ONS stats).

And print is used differently – it can be distributed anywhere, it can be stuffed in a pocket or bag, clipped to a noticeboard or left on a desk. It can reach potential customers walking or driving by. It’s easily distributed at shows and fairs where there is a better than average concentration of your potential customers. It can be read in a more relaxed moment than PC or laptop (although tablets and smartphones are changing this difference).

So my view is that print and online are just different ways of talking to your customers. For both routes, you have to know what you want to say, know how to say it and know how to use the medium.

Experienced in print

Being older has its advantages. I learned how to use print in the days of 4-colour presses and mechanical artworks. These technologies were limited, and you had to know how to get the most out of them. That meant designing with strength – going for simple, strong layouts with a smaller palette of colours.

Today’s digital technologies are more flexible and forgiving, but the human at the other end hasn’t changed – our eyes and minds still take in a message more easily if it is structured and arranged in the right way.

I work with an experienced graphic designer who can take my layouts to print-ready artwork. I manage print jobs from start to finish, including competitive print pricing – so you don’t have to.