We’ve all heard the news: Print is dead, and digital is the only feasible way to move forward for our advertising and promotional needs. But maybe those people spreading the news didn’t read up on the issue properly.

While it’s difficult to deny that online advertising has its benefits, such as a lower cost, a higher potential to be seen by the target audience, and a larger audience in general, print has characteristics that the digital world cannot compete with. Though print ad revenues may be down, the industry is constantly recreating and improving itself as a force to be reckoned with in the world of advertising.

Sure, online marketing is appealing. It’s cheaper, it’s simpler and you can chop and change your content at the click of a button. But print offers a much needed opportunity to unplug from the tech-saturated world, even if for a moment. In a world where pretty much all advertising campaigns are run online through social media, by using print advertising, you ensure your campaign sticks out from the crowd.

There’s just something so appealing about seeing your name and your company appear in print, in whatever capacity that may be. Appearing in print, whether in a promotional or editorial nature, holds a certain tangibility about it that the web fails to grasp. In addition to that, using print will forge a more tangible bond between your company and the media, which will foster an important relationship in regards to your publicity further down the line of your company.

By marketing in print, you also cater for a more focused clientele. When online, adverts are often ignored when browsing the web or, if acknowledged, scrolled over for mere seconds before they are closed again. In print, the likelihood is that the reader will be far more focused on what they are reading. A recent study undertaken by Ball State University showed that when print materials, such as newspapers and/or magazines are used by consumers, they are focused on reading what is in front of them 85% of time. In other words, most of the time someone is reading something physical rather than off a screen, they are not multitasking.

Of course, a successful print campaign works best when placed alongside a successful online campaign, and print is moving forward to accommodate that. New technologies such as Augmented Reality technologies are catering for those who prefer interactive physical products, allowing the print industry to make a marked impact on advertising in a very profound way.

Keep an eye out for Part Two of this two-part special, coming later this week!