Look, AI is going to challenge the roles of many knowledge workers but I believe that it will put a lot of value on human touch. While face-to-face interactions are the most personal, print really does stand as a close second in terms of intimacy. Over the past decade, marketers have heavily relied on emails and social media. However, the return on investment (ROI) for these digital methods is debatable, and the digital landscape is saturated, leading to “digital fatigue.” The cold hard fact is that it’s super hard to differentiate online. And now there is renewed interest in print as a means to capture attention.
Despite rising postal costs, effective print marketing can be a standout strategy. It shows that you are invested in the relationship with the market and that you care. Marketers that want to grab attention and spark interest are turning to print. In fact, Christopher Penn, keynote at the MAICON event, was discussing the transformative power of AI and closed his presentation by highlighting the resurgence of direct mail.
“Print needs to be on the offensive because it is a distinctive medium.”
The bottom line is that I am not interested in defending print. Print needs to be on the offensive because it is a distinctive medium and I, for one, am doubling down on it. I want to show people that I am invested and that I care. Print does that in spades.
Listen, I hate articles with the caption that reads “Print is Not Dead.” It is a defensive posture and underscores how anyone involved in print must validate its existence. It’s as if we have to take the stance that print can still be viable as long as it conforms and plays nicely with the other channels. That is simply not a position that a powerful industry like ours should take.
I think that anyone involved with print should be screaming it to the mountaintops. We have amazing technology and our product is the next best thing to a live conversation. In fact, I believe print has a greater story to tell regarding ROI than its digital counterparts. It captures attention, it creates interest, and engages the senses. So, let go of “Print is Alive” and embrace “Print Makes Your Message Come Alive.”
