April 2008
Knowledge@Wharton, the Wharton School's online business journal, shows us print marketing holding its own against - and in some cases outperforming - digital.
According to Wharton marketing professor Eric Bradlow, print offers marketers a clear advantage over digital media, such as email. "Many people see email as impersonal and costless to write," he says. "People want to feel special. In marketing [terms], email is transactional; paper is relational."
Combine that distinction with the overstuffed inboxes and hyperactive spam filters, and print marketing starts to look more like the heavyweight favorite than the over-the-hill underdog. But before we all start reevaluating our digital media budgets, remember that the key to successful marketing is targeting your messages to your audiences - and that includes with your delivery vehicles. Patti Williams, another Wharton professor, says:
"...You should be communicating with your customers in every medium they attend to. You should strive to deliver the right message in just the right medium. Some messages are best received by letter, others by email or by phone."
Also, check out this piece on the new media amateurs of YouTube and Facebook vs. the old guard of journalists, film studios and other professional influencers.