Print: The Ultimate Mobile Communication

The MD’s blog of last week got me thinking. Nigel pondered:

If you think about it, a newspaper or magazine is the ultimate in mobile communication – needing no Wi-Fi or 3G/4G signal to download, no special equipment to view and no fear of the battery running out!

What a plain-speaking stonker of a statement!  Cogent, self evident, and often forgotten in this digital age. The dominance of digital marketing has consequently positioned print media as the non-traditional format, and this now presents a great opportunity. Being uncommon, print communications now stand out as fresh in the overcrowded market of digital, fast moving content.

A FEW MORE REASONS WHY IT’S TIME TO RETHINK PRINT

1. Gravitas                                                                                                                                                                                           

Print format has greater perceived status than digital.   Anyone can publish to the Internet, but print is rarefied and perceived to have more journalistic rigor and design refinement.   Invite someone to be interviewed for an online article and there’s not much excitement. Ask them to do the same for a print publication and they care – diaries get rearranged to make it happen. This perception of ‘status and cachet’ exists in the mind of the reader too.

2. Satisfaction                                                                                                                                                                                       

The reader experience is very different in print. It has sensual qualities that digital can’t offer, creating an entirely different emotional connection. Think of the smell and tactile pleasures of different paper qualities, and the sound satisfaction of turning pages. The mind processes print very differently to digital, engaging many more brain regions when reading print, contributing to a more satisfying and kinesthetic experience.  Print offers a calm, multi-sensory experience that is quite an antidote to entire days spent on the computer scanning and flitting between digital posts. By comparison, print holds reader attention very well.

3. Clutter

In the age when anyone and everyone can be a digital media producer, print is a communication channel that can break through the clutter. The digital diet of 140-character tweets, posts, texts, blogs, downloads is like fast food culture. By contrast, print lends itself to slower digestion and appreciation of what’s before you, with a more singular focus. You want to give it your time. A high quality piece of print has authority and conveys importance and breaks through all the noise. Making it a great vehicle for in-depth reporting – whilst still being linked to fast consumption related online articles using latest technologies.

4. Design                                                                                                                                                                                            

Holding stunningly designed print in your hand is a welcome change from gripping a hot shiny device that offers too much browsing choice, tweets, texts and email interruptions. The combination of inviting page design with bold typography, strong imagery, creative graphics and tightly written informative copy remains as compelling and effective a communication channel as ever.

Print design also offers a greater level of control over how the product is experienced. With digital, the user could view in an unsupported browser, an old Nokia, or with poor broadband – affecting the experience. With print design, the experience is guaranteed.

If you’d like to find out more about how print can contribute to your overall content strategy do get in touch for an informal chat on 01527 582928 or email melanie@cwcontentworks.com