This is the question I regularly get asked working in PR. Indeed, the window and door industry is probably one of the last remaining bastions of print. But is it really viable when all things marketing have gone digital?
Over the last 20 years, the UK print industry has seen an 80% decline in advertising revenue, with more than 300 local newspapers closing. Today, three out of four adults get their daily news from online sources.
So why is printed media still so prevalent in our own industry?
The importance of print has shifted, but is still an essential cog in the communication wheel. While social media, such as Linkedin, has taken over the immediacy of making company and product announcements, and gives you greater control over your own messaging, third party editorial helps to elevate and give greater authority to your overall brand and public perception.
Long form articles are in themselves considered to give greater overall value, and when scheduled strategically, will underpin your social media, offering greater depth and insight into sometimes complex issues. Features based editorials will place you side by side with other movers and shakers within the industry, elevating your own message and ensuring that you take centre stage with key decision makers.
Imagine the window industry without the trade press. Fenestration is a special community in its own right, and the trade press forms the structure in which all elements of the supply chain operate. It’s like a big pond in which the whole industry swims in the same waters, aware of the movements of others further up or down the chain. This is important. Without the trade press, that pond just becomes part of a bigger sea, in which industry knowledge is diluted and harder to verify.
It is because of this ‘community’ aspect that magazines such as Vision have remained strong for so long – decades even. Yes, digital online versions of the publications exist, but the tangibility of having a hard copy sitting in a showroom, trade counter or reception area can capture the imagination that endless scrolling has eliminated.
Which leads me to a further important aspect of the print media – and that is screen overload. As every single aspect of our lives is now digitalised, the reliance on our phones is constant. From the moment our alarm goes off in the morning, to listening to the radio, shopping, banking, responding to messages, connecting with friends, travelling on public transport – literally our whole lives are lived through the phone.
A tangible magazine is a pattern interrupt. It holds your attention that little bit longer. It’s an opportunity, or an excuse, to escape the digital world for a while.
An analysis of 54 studies (Delgado et all., 2018) highlighted how the printed word consistently outperformed screen for reading comprehension. While screen reading is rapid and skimmed, paper reading encouraged a slower, more reflective approach, giving the brain a chance to mentally map the information and approach it with more critical thinking.
Print is not, and never will be, dead. Quite the opposite – it has simply shifted in the sands of marketing to position itself as a strategic element to your overall marketing campaign. It offers credibility and authority, inviting you to slow down and be more circumspect as an alternative to a crowded and distracting online environment.
