Why printed advertising delivers a good ROI

Of course, everyone assumes that digital advertising is a fast, reliable and cost effective choice. It also provides some easy measurement options which make it popular with marketers. That’s probably why spending on digital advertising in the UK increased by 15% in 2021 to £17.34billion. In fact, Google, Meta (formerly Facebook) and Amazon account for almost half of all advertising spending in the world. 

 

UK television advertising spending was around £5.5 billion while magazine advertising is predicted to grow by around 7% in 2022, reaching a relatively humble £495million. 

 

However, one of the things that makes digital advertising so attractive is the information advertisers can collect from cookies. Apple has introduced App Tracking Transparency and Google has announced it is removing support for third-party cookies in Chrome while Google Analytics 4 will replace Universal Analytics in July next year to change the way data is collected and used. 

 

Like every other investment you make for your business you will want to know you’re receiving value for money. You will want a good return on investment (ROI). 

 

Simple online advertising is certainly cheap but it’s difficult to measure the awareness you are building and only a relatively small number of people will click on the link you provide. There’s also the risk of fraud when you pay for an impression that hasn’t actually been created by a human being. Advertising on social media can be more effective because it is easier to target your audience. 

 

However, printed advertising can be even more effective because, while choosing the right publications to reach your audience is an art as well as a science, your chosen publications will generally have a committed readership. When you create advertisements that are consistent with these publications based on reliable information about readers’ buying behaviour and interests you are likely to be noticed. 

 

So, if you measure your actual ROI for your advertising in terms of the money you spend and the revenue you create, you might be surprised at what you find. 

 

The number of people you can reach using digital channels is impressive but is of little value if nobody responds. For the same expenditure, you might reach a smaller number of people via an advertisement in a printed publication but if a larger number take up your call to action then your return on investment will be much better. If you spend twice as much on your printed advertising but achieve five times more sales as a result your ROI will be better still. 

 

You also have the added advantage that magazines are often kept and re-read by several people, so you are likely to reach a larger audience than the readership figures suggest, increasing the likelihood that your advertisement will be seen and noticed.