What’s old is new again, as they say. Or said differently, it seems that any consumer preference you can think of is like a pendulum—no matter how far it swings in one direction, it’s always coming back. That’s why I suppose it’s no surprise that I’m beginning to hear people talking about print again as an element of an inbound marketing strategy. If you’re thinking, “No way!” read on.
Making the Case for Print Publications
Now, I don’t have any hard stats to share with you on this. But when I take into consideration the sources I read and the people I talk with, it seems that print publications, which had all but been declared dead, may still have a little spark of life left in them. To be clear, I’m not talking about print advertising. Its effectiveness has very likely gone the way of the dodo bird and the dinosaur. But as a type of content, physical paper magazines seem to be generating more interest.
Why? I suspect there are multiple reasons, including:
- A desire to spend less time staring at a computer screen or a smartphone
- The rediscovered tactile pleasure of flipping through a magazine
- The proliferation of fake news that can be “published” by anyone with a computer and a desire to gain some notoriety by misleading online readers
- The fact that “retro” in everything from entertainment to fashion is cool again
- The trust we still tend to have for print pieces that have presumably gone through multiple levels of review and editing prior to printing
What Does it Mean for Content Marketers?
It’s hard to say how this perception shift, if it is in fact occurring, should impact content marketers and their inbound marketing strategy. At this point, I’m really just bringing it to your attention as an example of something all of us in this business know: marketing strategy is an area that is constantly changing. If you want to stay ahead of your competition, you have to continually keep an eye on what’s trending—or have a content marketing agency that is doing that for you.
For my part, I love the idea of creating key pieces of content in physical print form. As much as I like the immediacy of getting information digitally, there’s still something enjoyable about thumbing slowly through a tastefully designed magazine with well-written content. I can certainly see how that experience could make a memorable impression on prospects.
Helping You Stay on Top of Content Marketing Trends
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