What are the advantages of printed media?

David Elvis

One of the most popular and growing industries is the print media and the reason being the fact that it is one of the easiest ways to reach targeted customers by advertisers and marketers. These advertisers and businessmen make the most of all forms of print media like magazines, newspaper, leaflets etc. If you want to know more about print media, then read this article as we bring to you the advantages and disadvantages of print media here. Read on to find out what are they.

Advantages of print media

Flashy magazines are always popular among consumers and are often read by them for a particular period of time in a month. The monthly magazines are the best way to bring attention to any advertisements.

Print media is an easy medium to spread awareness or advertise to any particular geographical area. Like, a local newspaper is the best way to spread the news about any local event of the place.

Some forms of the print media have huge and trusted followers. This is definitely a great boost to attract readership.

Print media allows you to choose your own space for advertisement, thus, you can manage your budget and expenses while planning for the advertisement.

Disadvantages of print media

If you are targeting the global audience, then this is not the medium you should go for. Instead, the internet has a much wider reach than print media in this.

Placing an advertisement in print media requires a lot of planning and time. In this case, you are faced with flexibility problem, particularly when you work in tight deadlines.

In fact, there are many limitations when it comes to targeting your audience as the particular newspaper may not be available to the audience all the time. On the other hand, a person can get access to the internet from anywhere and everywhere.

Besides, most of the time, your advertisement might get lost among all other ads and editorials. Plus, the lifespan of newspaper and magazines is very short as people have a tendency to throw them or keep them aside after one day of reading.

There are both advantages and disadvantages for print media. We have to keep all these in mind and make the right planning to make the optimum use of print media.

By M.T. Wroblewski Updated March 16, 2019

Even if you haven't heard it before, your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents have: “Print's time is up.” But as a small business owner, you have to be more than impressed by the staying power of print media; you have to be convinced that it will deliver a return on your investment. Before your marketing team embarks on a price-cost analysis of newspaper and magazine ads, brochures or direct mail, consider the primary advantages and drawbacks of this resilient force.

Back in the 1920s, the naysayers said that print media was finished with the very beginnings of radio, when Americans began to gather around the radio for entertainment. They repeated the death knell in the 1950s, when television topped the allure of radio, with its combined sound and moving pictures. And, at the turn from the 20th to the 21st century, many were sounding the call that the internet would be the death knell of TV, as the internet transformed the way people gather information. But here it is, nearly 100 years after the first obituary was written. Print media is not only alive and well, but many people would say, that it has been reinvigorated by competition from online sources and social media.

Viewed as credible: Research variously shows that print's credibility stems from a favorable impression formed by the very nature of the printed word, as well as by the “halo effect,” or the spillover prestige enjoyed by the publication in which an ad appears. This is not to say that consumers view all print ads as credible all of the time; the content of the ad has significant influence. But overall, consumers view print media as more believable and trustworthy than radio, TV and the internet.

Ability to craft a message with staying power: Write a one-quarter-, half- or full-page ad. Create a full-page or a half-page brochure. Or, send mailers the size of a postcard or a large envelope. Except for your own website, no other medium allows you the “luxury” to create a message that consumers can read, save and then return to later, if they so choose. Media research also has long suggested that print media benefits from “double dipping” or the “pass-along effect” – the propensity of readers to pass along a media piece to others. This phenomenon can make cost analyses difficult, but at least they will skew in your favor.

High recall value: Because they are able to easily recall an ad, consumers are likely to take action – i.e., respond to an ad – after they see it. In fact, a few other dynamics may be at play here, too. Whereas people surfing the web are notoriously impatient – prone to ditch a website if it doesn't fully load in a few seconds – print ads by their nature inspire a more leisurely approach.

Print media also benefits from not being a form of “interruption marketing,” or a brazen interruption that occurs while the consumer is trying to digest information. Rather, he can read a newspaper or magazine ad, thumb through a brochure or make notes on a direct mail piece on his terms and because he wants to spend time doing so. TV commercials are a form of interruption marketing; so are banner ads on the web. (The popularity of ad blockers ought to tell small business owners plenty about how consumers view such intrusions.)

Competition for attention is fierce: Research shows that Americans now engage with seven different types of information sources each day – from print, TV and radio to online videos – while spending one of every four minutes on a social media platform. Rather than fight this trend, savvy business owners work to ensure that their media mix covers all the opportunities available to them.

Print media requires longer lead times: The immediacy of social media has cast a brighter light on the meaning of the word “long.” Even if it's not particularly well done, an ad can be written and posted on a social media platform within minutes. Competition has helped shorten lead times, but print ads must be written, produced and distributed. Knowing this, small business owners should plan accordingly, designating print media for messages that are less time-conscious in nature and are less likely to change at a moment's notice.

Print media requires multiple exposures: Consumers need to see an ad several times before they will take action. Marketing professionals call these exposures “touches.” This is why print ad buys are usually made in bundles – for multiple exposures. Print media can quickly add up to be a costly proposition for the small business owner, which is why it's imperative to select the different media carefully, so that you increase the chance of a return.

Since your hard-earned money is at stake, proceed carefully with newspaper advertising. Industry reports from Pew Research Center reveal a mixed bag, with weekday circulation for U.S. dailies – including both print and digital versions – falling 8 percent in 2016. This marked the 28th straight year of declines. At the same time, some but not all major newspapers, reported that digital subscriptions are soaring – a bright spot for the industry.

But advertising revenue continues to fall, hitting $18 billion in 2016 – about one third of what it was only 10 years ago. This makes it clear that small business owners should insist on seeing current circulation figures for the paper (or papers) in which they seek to advertise. These figures could vary widely among papers, even within the same circulation area.