One Plus One Equals Three?

I know that title sounds like something from the new math, but it’s really a formula for marketing success.
It’s not uncommon to have two different things that, when married together, add up to something better than each would on their own. Take, for example, peanut butter and jelly. Both very good on their own, but when you combine them, wow, they add up to something pretty amazing. Something much better than when eaten individually.

Not surprisingly, advertising has a similar story. Let’s take two effective advertising mediums: Print and Digital. Individually, both are effective ways to engage consumers. However, when you marry these two media, the combined result is greater than just using each medium on its own.

Here’s a stat… 49% of millennials say they’re more likely to purchase a product when they see ads both in print and online — and 55% of parents agree.¹

Why are two better than one?

We touched on it in our last email when we discussed how consumers are buying differently now than even a few years ago. (Read the article on Multi-Channel Marketing here) The Digital Marketing Institute reports that “72% of consumers want to connect with companies in a variety of ways. Integrated campaigns blend online and offline advertising methods to effectively reach the most people and convert prospects into customers.”

But let’s take a deeper dive into how consumers are buying today.
Many of you are familiar with the traditional marketing funnel, where we hope to make many people aware of us at the top and have them filter through the process and have a sale come out at the bottom.

But over the years, the process has evolved from a funnel into more of a Path-To-Purchase. Something more like this:

Creating brand or product awareness is still essential and it still requires multiple impressions to get recognition. Once shoppers are considering a purchase, this is where we introduce a new loop that can be vital to making the sale.

The research and discovery stage can be influenced by many sources, from internet research to printed ads and offers, to word-of-mouth testimonials. A buyer can stay in this loop for extended periods and the more ways and the more frequently we engage with them while here the higher the likelihood you will get them to convert and make a sale.

Once they are closer to buying, using promotional advertising (think direct mail with offers and coupons) continues to be one of the highest-rated conversion tactics around. For example, the 2020 Valassis Consumer Intel Report revealed that 68% of all consumers use coupons they get in the mail while 82% of millennials do so.

Another recent study found that 65% of parents and 70% of millennial parents regularly read direct mail ads.²

Fortunately for today’s marketers, both print and digital formats effectively activate customers at all stages along the purchase path. However, it’s their combined usage that maximizes the dollars spent on advertising and generates a greater return than just using them on their own.

We have shared this statistic before, but it bears repeating; this comes from our own Consumer Pulse Survey taken just a few months ago. Almost 55% of respondents told us they preferred print or valued print and digital advertising equally. If you are only using digital ads, you should strongly consider adding a print campaign. Not only will you get results like those above, but you will also increase the return on your existing digital advertising.

37% search online for more info after receiving direct mail.³

If you have successfully used print to promote your business, but would like to investigate how adding digital to your mix can help, let us know, we can put you in touch with a source we trust.

With today’s path-to-purchase influencing buying, it’s all about surrounding consumers with compelling messages at the right time and in various ways to get them to buy.

So I mentioned peanut butter and jelly at the top of the article; let us know if you have a killer combination that you can’t live without.

Until next time,
Stay Well

^{1. Source: Valassis’ Awareness-to-Activation Study 2020. 2. Source: Valassis January 2020 Awareness-to-Activation Study. 3.Source: 2019 Valpak® Readership Study, December 2019.}