Physical Advertising is Making a Comeback According to Analysts

Digital marketing budgets are slated for increases at three quarters of the firms surveyed, with online ads being replaced by marketing videos, infographics and influencer marketing. However, digital marketing is not killing traditional marketing. Despite all the hype that the future is digital, physical advertising is making a comeback. Let’s look at the types of physical marketing that are either going strong or coming back.

Why Digital Marketing Remains the Focus of So Much Attention

Digital marketing is popular in part because people are spending so much more time on the internet than in front of TVs. Marketers also like digital marketing because its results are easier to measure than traditional marketing methods, and in theory, the audience digital marketing can reach is essentially infinite. Traditional advertising reaches people at times when they aren’t on their device. This is why billboards along highways continue to be rented for advertising.

Radio

Radio advertising rates remain stable while TV advertising is in decline. This is in part because many workplaces play the radio in the background while people work in retail, assembly lines and on the road. Radio also reaches listeners while they are commuting, essentially a captive audience as long as you give them enough reasons not to change the station. Digital and satellite radio haven’t eliminated radio advertising because they have only single digit market penetration. Furthermore, many digital broadcasts now sound like old radio broadcasts where the speakers hawked products from their sponsors. In this case, the advertising has simply shifted from formal 30 second radio spots to a stream of in-broadcast mentions.

Billboards

Truck billboards are increasingly being used to capture the attention of those in traffic, though their placement in front of businesses makes truck billboards a low cost alternative to full sized billboards. Mobile billboards are a popular way of testing marketing messages and advertising locations before investing in a full sized billboard ad. Billboards placed in parking lots or in front of venues also let you promote your brand and your product to pedestrians.

Mailed Advertisements

Printed ads require less cognitive effort to process and have a greater impact according to True Impact, a Canadian neuro-marketing firm. They also found that direct mail was easier for readers to process and resulted in better brand recall. The physical act of handling the printed materials literally left a deeper impression than just another ad seen online.

This is why Warner Leisure Hotels still uses door drop marketing or mailed advertisements. For every dollar spent on door drops, they generate $3.49 in bookings. Door drop advertising is also very affordable, and it is guaranteed to make an impact in local brand recognition whereas online ads may be seen by a hundred thousand people, few of whom are your potential customers. Door drops are highly targeted to specific neighborhoods by design. This is why they remain popular for businesses entering new markets and promoting start-ups. Door drop advertising is easily integrated into an overall marketing plan, such as when you put your company’s website on the printed materials.

Conclusion

Traditional marketing methods like mailed advertisements and coupons remain just as popular as ever. In store advertising from end-cap displays to stickers on the floor are multiplying. Radio remains strong relative to television commercials because it reaches its audience when they are working or driving and cannot be distracted by devices and digital ads. Billboards likewise promote your product or business to pedestrians and drivers.