Printed catalogs absolutely still have a place in the marketing world. Despite the digitization of the consumer experience, printed catalogs are still firm fixtures in marketing. They’re tangible and tactile representations of your brand and offering, something websites wish they could achieve.
What’s more is that consumers are surprisingly enthusiastic about receiving them. Email and social media marketing promised to replace this traditional yet highly effective method, so what happened?
When we take a closer look at retail trends and consumer psychology, we see how catalogs stand apart from the increasingly cluttered digital inboxes and social media feeds. Consumers are enticed by experiences, not blatant sales tactics and ads that aren’t personalized.
Catalogs can linger in houses long after emails are deleted. This is perfect for increasing awareness of your brand and continuing to put you at the forefront of their mind.
Just like the ever-changing retail landscape, catalogs have also evolved – they should no longer be a sprawling collection of product pages. Instead, businesses need to focus on a creative presentation of their products that evokes emotion.
According to DMA (Data & Marketing Association), the response rates for printed catalogs have risen significantly over the past few years. But why? It’s because the current generation of millennial consumers haven’t received a huge volume of promotional mail as the previous generations have. It’s all new to them.
Even in an era when brands are born online, modern printed catalogs still offer an opportunity to grab the attention of potential consumers much in the same way as they did in their heyday. They’re still relevant in today’s marketing mix.
The days of mailing out mass quantities of catalogs to anyone and everyone on your mailing list is old news. Using customer data from digital ad campaigns and other sources, you can now use printed catalogs to focus on reaching more of those consumers who actually want to spend.
Wondering how to figure out the conversion rate of your printed catalogs? It’s not as complicated as you might think. All you need to do is link those who received your catalog with the sales data. If the catalog initiated customer interaction and resulted in a sale, you know it was a success.
You can also code your catalogs to create data sets that then match to sales and develop a sophisticated understanding of who your customers are, where they live and what they want. Plus, based on how comprehensive your CRM tool is, you can mail out catalogs based purely on past purchases. You can target just the customers you want to save both time and money.
Printed catalogs, just like other pieces of physical marketing content, play an important role in every marketing strategy. Offline marketing can filter into your online marketing if done effectively, forming a union of brand awareness and engagement.
It’s best to leverage a printed catalog to drive traffic to physical stores, websites, landing pages and even apps. You’ll find many opportunities to help your catalog readers cross over the digital bridge using QR codes or other innovative techniques.
Make learning about your product interactive and interesting – that’s how you stay memorable. There’s no denying the online space is oversaturated, so design your brochure to be strong enough to stand alone and shout about why you should be the business they support.
Did you know most people spend an average of 15.5 minutes going through a catalog? Paired with how long the majority of consumers hold on to printed collateral, this makes catalogs a formidable customer acquisition and retention tool.
The real power is how catalogs can increase the consumer’s imagination. They can undoubtedly enhance your ability to visualize the product. Blending in these product images with evocative literature paints that picture of your brand, product and service.
This works notably well with home interiors and fixtures such as windows, doors, garages, architecture and furniture. Consumers can sit there and imagine their life with these additions and most importantly, what their life would be like without them too.
Well-designed catalog campaigns allow businesses of all sectors and sizes to make their product presentation more vivid, tactile and memorable. This is highly influential in consumer behavior as it can increase consumer involvement and joy in the purchasing process.
Ultimately, a key takeaway to keep in mind is remembering who your target market is and finding the best methods to interact with them. It might be time to give your consumers the much-required break they need from the constant digital content consumption. They’ll thank you for it. This isn’t a new concept as plenty of businesses are leveraging this versatility – here are a few for inspiration.
Here at Conlin’s Print, we work with businesses to create something synonymous with their brand. We take what makes them special and turn it into something tangible for consumers to take away. Let us help you start your next print catalog project!
Original Content from
B&B Press
Edited by
Heather Feraco
Digital Marketing Coordinator
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