Over the years the trend for many companies has been to move more and more of their marketing activities away from print in favour of digital formats such as websites, emails, e-newsletters, QR codes, video or social media.
Although brochures, leaflets and other print marketing still holds a valid place in your marketing armoury, you do begin to wonder how long that will remain so.
After all, consumer behaviour would suggest they will soon become a dim and distant memory, just like the pound note and vinyl.
Consumer dictation
If we look at the music industry as a case in point, we all started off buying tapes and vinyl singles. Then the new kid on the block arrived, the CD. Now, they too have been overtaken by iPods, MP3 players and downloadable music.
The same is happening to books.
As a lover of a real book, I vowed never to go over to the digital side. But, about six months ago I did the unthinkable and invested in a Kindle.
Why?
It’s more convenient, fits in my hand bag, takes less room in a suitcase and I can read a book within seconds of downloading it.
That illustrates how consumers are embracing new technology and paving the way for change simply by accepting it.
More and more people are engaging in online shopping rather than hitting the High Street, online banking, video calling, and social media – so perhaps the era of print marketing is drawing to a close.
The only way is online
With the search boom continuing offering businesses a global marketplace for their products, perhaps their budgets would be more wisely spent on search engine optimisation, professional copywriters, mobile websites, video and social media.
It would certainly appear that the effectiveness of print adverts is dwindling. So is this the beginning of the end?
What do you think?
Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your views.