Print Vs Digital Ads, is newer always better?
The emergence of digital media as a medium for advertising is bringing forth a revolution that seems to be displacing print media in the marketing business. The increasing popularity of digital media is making several businesses question the current relevance of print media advertising. Answering such questions would require in-depth research on the advantages and effects of both types of media.
Digital Advertisements
The digital revolution brings with it some advantages and features that were impossible to apply to print media.
- Target Audience Digital advertising allows businesses to modify an advertisement according to the type of audience they want to appeal to based on their activities and the things they ‘like’ or ‘follow’ on a particular forum. However, many businesses in tourist hotspots would be unable to attract new customers since their digital following would mostly include old, local customers.
- Tracking A useful feature of online advertising is that businesses can follow and trace each response towards an advertisement. Businesses can track the kinds of people that respond and also have the ability to change features of the advertisements while it is online. After a successful campaign, businesses can use statistics from it to help plan their next one.
Print Advertisements
The declining relevance of print media makes businesses reconsider using it for marketing purposes. However, an effective method to advertise through print media is all one needs to bear a positive outcome.
- Locally Effective When well circulated; print media advertisements can have a positive impact on a campaign that is targeting a local population. Consumers feel more comfortable and confident when they respond to advertisements in a local magazine. Even guests and travelers in new areas are likely to look for local outlets to let them know the best places to have a good time.
- Easy Accessibility Making the message of your brand easily accessible is an amazing advantage that print advertisements provide. This means that your message gets across to everyone much faster since it doesn’t require a means such as a computer or an internet connection to be accessed. Comparatively, targeting new customers through digital advertising can be difficult. Especially if you’re aiming for tourists since they are less likely to check their social media accounts on the go as many of them don’t have data connections through a local network.
- The Psychological Benefit Print media has an ingrained advantage that allows it to compete with digital media: it’s the effect it has on our minds. Studies like the one conducted in 2009 by Bangor University and Millward Brown proved results using MRI scans. The results were in favor of print media, explaining that the physical nature of print media outlets occurs to the brain as more real than digital ones. A study in Germany researched on the number of people that trust online sources compared to printed sources. The results that were in favor of print media proved their influence on the minds of readers.
