You would be forgiven for thinking that print is dead and digital is the only path worth treading. In many respects that's true, with overheads reduced significantly and messages delivered direct to your potential customer's inbox. But if you thought physical junk mail was easy to bin then that's nothing compared to an unsolicited email; at least there's a chance someone will glance at a leaflet through the letterbox on the journey through the house to the nearest bin. Emails are junked or unsubscribed in a blink of an eye.

 

Part of the problem is that the bad practices of others mean your communications get tarred with the same brush, so there's a chance you're on a hiding to nothing whatever route you choose to take. So what's the answer?

 

Thirty years ago one of our clients created a newspaper promoting financial products. It was a mixture of advice and information with a touch of humour. Printed and distributed within existing local papers it built a regular audience that saw a steady stream of enquiries that more than justified the costs incurred to put it together.

 

But that was thirty years ago. Newspaper readership is in steep decline and reaches very few people under 50 years of age. But our client believed there was still a market for a friendly, informative publication offering financial advice, and he asked Ceratopia to help him deliver it. 

 

We designed an 8 page, A5, full-colour magazine, balancing easy-to-read and to-the-point articles with clean, colourful layouts. There is enough information in each issue to be taken in easily over a cup of coffee, and simple calls to action should the story in question spark an interest. Delivery is targetted to specific postcodes via the Royal Mail, so there's a reasonable expectation that the magazine is reaching those most likely to want to take advantage of the information within. 

 

Now on issue four, Independent Adviser is comfortably covering its costs through the enquiries received, work on issue five has begun and issue six is in the early planning stages.

 

So print is by no means dead. What we've learned from the experience is that providing your potential customers with something worth reading, that's well designed and interesting, means it's more likely to head for the coffee table rather than the bin, be that a physical or digital one.

 

If Ceratopia could help you with a similar printed magazine or newsletter then please do get in touch.