I fully realize that the media landscape has changed radically and although I strongly do not believe "Print Is Dead" (ironically enough, some of these cries are from the print media themselves), I do realize that print media is one piece of a media plan that contains many more distribution channels than used to be contained in a typical plan.
Print is not dead. In fact in a recent audience study, we learned that 69% of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing's total audience regularly reads print b2b magazines. Although print is not dead, it is more difficult to get basic and quick metrics to gauge whether or not an ad is resonating. The Great Recession caused most companies to focus their spending on only activities where ROI (or professed ROI) could be measured. I get this and honestly don't disagree with it.
I have had numerous disagreements with clients and colleagues on what is being measured, how metrics are collected and the priority of importance assigned to the metrics.
Many claim that print advertising effectiveness cannot be measured. I agree that it is more difficult to measure interest (especially casual/initial interest) generated from a print ad than from a web ad. In fact, I have pondered this issue for a lot of years.
But, some tools and approaches for measuring print ads are coming into focus.
1) I am currently reading a book entitled "How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of 'Intangibles' in Business," by Douglas Hubbard. Stay tuned as this book is offering some interesting insights on how to approach measuring things that appear at first blush to be unmeasurable or at least very complex to measure.
2) QR Codes. While QR Codes are not the be all and end all, they are a tool that can offer opportunity for direct measurement. Be careful not to write off an ad...deeming it ineffective...if you don't get dozens and dozens of people taking additional engagement steps via your QR code in your print ad. But, there is an opportunity here and there are approaches that make sense and are effective and approaches that do not make sense.
"Five Tips for Implementing a Successful QR Code Campaign" is a really well written piece that offers some great advice and offers some comments that will help you to establish and frame expectations.
3) Vanity/Tracking URLs in print ads. This is also not a fool-proof approach by any means, but it is a tool. Most companies have been using vanity URLs in print ads for some time now, but many companies do not use the approach as strategically as they could. Promoting the content that can be accessed via the vanity URL within your print ad is definitely advised. What are prospective customers going to find if they visit the page? - a video, a calculator of some kind, a white paper, a handbook....??? Give them a reason to visit.
For the foreseeable future, print advertising has role and a place within B2B marketing communications plans. The reason is simple...69% of your customers and prospects (a much larger percentage that is doing any other one single activity) are reading B2B print publications. To say that print advertising does not have a place because it "can't be measured" is both untrue and results in marketing programs that are not nearly as effective as they should be.
Make a comment below to let me know what you think.
This post first appeared on Pharmaceutical Industry B2B Marketing, please read the originial post: here
