THE POWER OF PRINT

In a world of skip buttons and fast-forward icons, print media still has the power to strike curiosity in a reader and breathe life into a page. Moving through an evolution of formats and creative developments, print now acts as a bridge between the physical and digital advertising worlds. An essential piece of history, printed material continues to offer positive mental and bodily benefits in the present and will undoubtedly be a strong force of knowledge and storytelling preservation for future generations. 

Although they appear to be wired directly to their devices, the youth of today are actually believed to hold the key to the revival of print media. 92% of 18-23 year olds surprisingly find it easier to read print over digital content¹. Gen Z (those born between 1995 and 2012) still read magazines for about an hour every week². In addition, 61% of Gen Z believe their peers would benefit from unplugging more³. Engaging with a physical page is a rewarding experience that benefits many aspects of our lives. Introducing print to our daily routine can greatly reduce monitor fatigue, also known as asthenopia, helping relieve strain on the eyes and mind⁴. Since the brain is not wired to handle staring at screens 24 hours a day, this balance is essential to a healthy lifestyle. 

Along with the health benefits, print media also brings a feeling of security and reliability. Falling only second to television, print is highly trusted, more so than both websites and social media⁵. “When making purchasing decisions, consumers trust print advertisements 34% more than they trust search engine ads.”⁶ Avoiding spam and bots helps people feel confident that what they are reading is both factual and personal. The response rate for direct mail marketing is actually a shocking 37% higher than the email rate⁷. Local papers, coupons, and location-focused magazines are just a few examples of print marketing vehicles that are tailored to target people locally and fit in with their day-to-day lives. They provide a great opportunity to align brands with publications to reach a specific group of consumers. For this reason, direct mail can be particularly rewarding to advertisers. 79% of households say they read/scan direct mail, and 92% of young shoppers say they prefer direct mail for making purchasing decisions⁸.

Print media proves to be quite rewarding when it comes to how it is received in the brain, as well. The human memory is a remarkable system, and it has been proven to respond very positively to longer processing times. Since consumers don’t have the option to instinctively hit the “x” in the top right corner of a screen, printed materials achieve prolonged exposure at one price. People are actually more likely to remember an advertisement they saw in print a week longer than if they had seen it in digital form⁹. The ability of the consumer to recall the printed information at a later date creates longer lasting impressions and increases the likelihood that they will retain the story the ad is telling.

The best approach to advertising requires finding the right balance of both digital and print media. The future of advertising does not have to be a battle between the two, but a bridge. 44% of customers actually visit a brand’s website after receiving its direct mail¹⁰. This is an example of how the best success comes from playing off of each other’s strengths. The above points are just some of the reasons why print will continue to stay relevant in the future. We at Vision strive to not only build this bridge for our clients, but walk across it ourselves every day. Our penguins on the other hand…well, they prefer to fly.

¹https://www.relevance.com/print-still-matters-in-2019/

²https://www.relevance.com/print-still-matters-in-2019/

³https://www.relevance.com/print-still-matters-in-2019/

⁴https://www.healthline.com/health/asthenopia#overview

⁵https://huglondon.com/insights/the-power-of-print-in-a-digital-world

⁶https://www.relevance.com/print-still-matters-in-2019/

⁷https://www.relevance.com/print-still-matters-in-2019/

⁸https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/10-print-marketing-statistics-know/

⁹https://huglondon.com/insights/the-power-of-print-in-a-digital-world

¹⁰https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/10-print-marketing-statistics-know/

Quick Guide to Digital Acronyms

Digital marketing has changed the way businesses reach consumers. Along the way, the industry has developed its own vocabulary filled with catchphrases, technical jargon, and abbreviations. In order to help you stay up to speed, we’ve put together a cheat sheet of the most commonly used acronyms when discussing digital marketing, digital platforms and user interaction with the web.

Since the introduction of social media, the spread of smartphones, and speech recognition technology, digital marketing has evolved rapidly and so has the language to describe it. And, with the industry constantly expanding to include everything from search engine optimization and display ads to pay-per-click advertising and influencer marketing and more, it seems like new terms are added every day. 

If you’ve ever been left scratching your head after hearing some initials tossed around in a discussion about digital marketing, don’t worry. You’re not alone. It can be difficult for even the most experienced digital marketing professionals to keep up. However, with most companies spending anywhere from a quarter to half of their marketing budgets on digital marketing, it is important for everyone involved in helping to grow their brand or business to become familiar with the most widely-used lingo.

Nowadays, traditional and digital marketing are increasingly integrated and interdependent. So, whether you’re in sales, marketing or any other brand-building role, a basic grasp of digital terms will put you in a better position to discuss your company’s strategies, analyze results and explore ways to better connect with consumers.

Our guide to acronyms will get you started in the right direction. Keep the list ready to pull up on screen whenever you get stumped or print it out and hang it in your workspace. By adding new terms as you come across them, you will slowly build your fluency in the language of digital marketing. In no time, you’ll be nodding along knowingly as a colleague discusses optimizing CTR through A/B testing or argues that DAU is the most important KPI.

API = Application Programming Interface
Programming interface that allows developers to build website applications and interact with different systems, databases, and other applications

A/B Testing
Used in marketing to test two different variations of digital content that measures the different conversion rates between the two. A/B testing is typically used to find which variation produces the highest conversion rate. What’s a Conversion? A conversion is a term used for when a user who is using your website, landing page, application, etc. turns into a paying customer or generates a lead.

CPA = Cost Per Acquisition or Cost Per Action
The cost at which you pay for a customer to become a conversion. It is calculated by dividing the total cost of conversions by the total number of conversions.

CPC = Cost Per Click
the price paid for each click, typically used when there is a set daily budget.

CPM = Cost per Thousand
The cost that you pay to display an ad that will reach 1,000 members of an audience.

CSS = Cascading Style Sheets
The language used to add design, layout, customized style and other style aspects to web pages created with HTML.

CTR = Click Through Rate
The rate calculated using the number of people who click on your ad after seeing it. Typically used to measure the success of your keywords and overall success of your ads.

DAU = Daily Active Users
The total number of users who interacted with your website or app. Typically used to measure the frequency of engagement with your website or product.

HTML = Hypertext Markup Language
The coding language used to build website pages and responsive emails as well as other forms of digital media.

What are Impressions?
Also known as a view, refers to the point in which an ad or social media content is viewed once by a visitor, or displayed once on a web page.

KPI = Key Performance Indicator
A performance metric to help evaluate the success of targeted goals.

MMS = Multimedia Messaging Service
Messages that include images or videos that are sent from one mobile device to another using cell data.

PPC = Pay-per-click
Used in internet advertising where advertisers pay for each time a user clicks on their ad versus if their ad is only viewed (impression)

ROI = Return on Investment
Measuring the performance success of an investment relative to the cost of the investment.

SDK = Software Development Kit
Software development tools that are used to allow the developer to build and customize a program.

SEM = Search Engine Marketing
Paid advertising through the selection and use of keywords to improve your website’s ranking on search engine result listings. SEM is also used to create ads nestled within search engine result listings.

SEO = Search Engine Optimization
The strategy of using relevant keywords in your website copy and naming techniques of images and links in your website’s code to boost the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results on sites such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.

SMS = Short Message Service
Commonly known as a text message sent to mobile devices over a cellular network.

UGC = User Generated Content
Used to describe any form of content such as video, photos, blogs, and other forms of media that has been created by consumers or end-users and is publically available to others.

UI = User Interface
Anything that a user interacts within a digital space or service.

UX = User Experience
Refers to the experience that a user has while interacting with your website, application, landing page, etc. particularly when it comes to the ease of use and function.