Why Franchise Owners Should Invest in Print Marketing

For those who say print is not an effective form of communication in today’s business landscape, consider that 68% of consumers trust print media, and more than 60% of consumers took an action after engaging with print advertising materials. 

Print sales and marketing collateral not only has the power to cut through clogged digital channels like email and social media marketing, but the tangible nature of print materials like brochures, direct mail postcards, and even catalogs can help increase the visibility of your brand — print materials can also help increase information recall and retention. 

This makes print marketing incredibly valuable for franchise owners, whose challenges include creating a deeper connection and sense of loyalty with customers. With this in mind, let’s look at a couple of specific reasons why franchise owners should invest in print, and how high-quality print materials can help them achieve their sales and marketing goals. 

Customers still prefer — and respond — to print

Nearly 50% of adults prefer reading in print compared to reading digitally via a smartphone or tablet. What’s more, millennials actively look forward to receiving and engaging with print marketing like direct mail, and they are also more likely to share direct mail pieces with their professional or personal networks. 

While digital marketing collateral can help you educate your customer quickly and in multiple places — email, social media, and digital advertising, to name a few — print has the edge to help you more effectively educate on your product or service, better communicate your brand, and more memorably demonstrate your overall value proposition.

Because customers still prefer and respond to print materials, this communication channel also has a greater potential to entice your customer to take a desired action. A study found that 79% of consumers are more apt to respond to a specific call-to-action in print compared with only 45% with emails or other kinds of digital channels. This makes print marketing a key tool for franchise owners in increasing the response rate of their marketing campaigns and generating more meaningful ROI.  

Print is personal

While it’s true that digital marketing channels have a lot to offer in terms of creating immersive customer experiences, creating custom, personalized print marketing pieces can be just as dynamic and engaging. 

Digital print platforms that leverage variable data printing (VDP) can help franchise owners leverage a wealth of customer relationship management (CRM) data to create personalized direct mailers, brochures, and catalogs for a highly-targeted audience. 

This type of personalization can go far beyond the traditional use of first name and last name — it can include geographic data, purchase history and even online actions like a landing page form submission to create a sense of connection and familiarity with customers.   

Not only does personalized print marketing help create a deeper connection with your audience, it can also increase your response rates to further demonstrate ROI on your print marketing spend. 

There are a handful of other strategies franchise owners can consider when creating print communications to create a more custom, personalized connection with customers. 

For example, franchise owners can incorporate a variety of visual or tactile design and print techniques in order to help their collateral standout and provide a more unique consumer experience. Choices like heavier paper stocks, innovative finishings, textures, and speciality inks can work to create a deeper connection with customers via an enhanced sensory experience. 

Plus, taking advantage of these kinds of innovations in print can help franchise owners save on postage via the USPS^® Promotions and Incentive Programs,

Print is ideal to pair with account-based marketing campaigns 

Imagine a world where you can begin the sales conversation by positioning exclusive or extremely valuable offers to a specifically targeted audience that you know is more likely to convert based on previous interaction with your brand. 

This approach, known as account-based marketing (ABM), can help franchise owners communicate with customers on a more personalized level faster and more efficiently, and pairing ABM campaigns with print materials like direct mailers can be the key to acquiring high-value accounts. 

What makes print and ABM campaigns an ideal match?

First, the contact information you have in your CRM software makes it easy to use VDP to create personalized content and messaging that best appeals to the decision makers and influencers at your target accounts.

Plus, print-on-demand (POD) technology can streamline the creation of direct mail for ABM campaigns by enabling you to print the exact quantity you need — even if it’s a small quantity you are sending to a highly targeted list.  

Because you’re sending to a small list and you want to make a big impact, ABM campaigns are great for going beyond postcards to create premium mailers that include a special gift, offer, or other high-quality, personalized content intended only for your top prospects.

Franchise owners who invest in print marketing stand to experience a meaningful ROI on their sales and marketing communications, and Varispark can help you print and mail the kind of high-quality print materials that are designed to increase response rates and help you grow your business. Tell us about your next project and we’ll work together to ensure success.