Professional investors always look at the real numbers for how individual assets are performing. Marketers should be just as critical and objective about marketing channels, however too many companies dismiss print’s measurable value in favor of a trend digital approach.
For people whose livelihoods depend on charts and metrics, print marketing is an interesting example of calculated ROI that deserves a closer look.
What are print's performance metrics
Response rates function like yield percentages in fixed income investing. Direct response rates for existing customer lists averaged 9%. For email marketing, the average is only 1%. That nine-times difference in performance represents meaningful alpha. It has become possible with conversion tracking through unique URLs, QR codes and promo codes to trace your marketing spend almost as closely as tracking stock positions.
Print marketing is like the P/E ratio of print: how much a company has to spend to acquire a customer. While up front costs may seem to be higher than some digital channels print-obtained customers tend to outperform in terms of engagement and value throughout the lifetime. Prints are like undervalued stock with great fundamentals, providing marketers with an excellent risk-adjusted return they fail to see when they only consider the up-front cost and not the total return opportunity.
Analyzing portfolio diversification in marketing spend
The market knows that concentrated positions create portfolio volatility. And marketing budgets at greater risk of being over-allocated to digital channels, dominated by the specter shifts in algorithms, the increase in CPMs and ad fatigue. Print delivers non-correlated returns that puts a nice varnish on the overall campaign performance.
The neurological edge works into real business results sans ludicrous capex. Helloprint offers businesses the ability to utilize these benefits with variable-cost structures that keep cash flows flexible, in a similar manner in which investors deploy dollar-cost averaging to carefully enter into their positions over time.
Measuring ROI with financial precision
Contemporary printed campaigns create data fountains to rival real-time market feeds. Custom URLs at an individual mailer level provide transparent attribution trails. QR codes are like tracking trade stars, instant engagement statistics. Business phone numbers and promotional codes is conversion data as solid as trade confirmations.
Many financial services companies are using Helloprint for client acquisition mailers, treated returns as they would a portfolio analysis. Their print initiative performed better on a cost per lead basis than their digital channels significantly and created higher quality leads.
Strategies to integrate for amplifying returns
Savvy investors are also utilizing options and hedging to juice returns. Marketing integration works similarly. Adding digital follow-up to direct mail amplifies campaign efficacy dramatically. The recipients who were exposed to both channels exhibit a greater level of purchase intent than those only exposed to one channel, resulting in a combined impact which further enhances the overall campaign ROI.
The trick is to treat each channel as if it were a position in your portfolio. Performance is analyzed, rebalanced for performance and allocation over time. A single stock shouldn’t dominate your investment portfolio, and print shouldn’t represent your whole marketing budget. But ignoring it entirely would be to forgo an asset class with demonstrably positive returns.
What is the investment case for print
For companies measuring marketing performance using the same analytical framework used for financial decisions, print deserves an investment strategy. The channel offers measurable metrics, competitive acquisition economics and results that have been well proven across verticals. Partners such as Helloprint offer clear pricing, scalable ordering and tracking that makes the testing print ROI an easy decision.
As with any solid investment thesis, the proof will be in the returns if you analyze it correctly. And not whether or not print is a way to deliver ROI, but if your marketing portfolio is diverse enough to be involved in collecting that return. What smart investors do: They look at the data, not trends. The evidence on print marketing is still hard to ignore for anyone who is prepared to look at it with a genuine insight.
Media Contact
Company Name: helloprint
Contact Person: Mr.David
Email: Send Email
Country: United States
Website: helloprint.com
Press Release Distributed by ABNewswire.com
To view the original version on ABNewswire visit: Why print marketing still delivers strong ROI
