For both promotional and print marketing, experts had predicted a complete digital takeover. People rely heavily on email, Internet, and app-based information. Any company who doesn’t market through these channels is sure to lose business. However, does that mean companies should abandon tangible marketing materials altogether?
The simple answer is no, especially in the hunting and fishing industry.
The reason comes down to this: you are still marketing to human beings. While digital marketing appeals to our need for instant gratification, it can never replace promotional products or print. When it comes to long-term memory, digital content doesn’t have the staying power.
This is especially true when compared with promotional products. Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) conducted a study on the impact of this kind of marketing. It found that 94% of participants remembered where they received a promotional product two years ago. Over half of these people had a favorable impression of the company that distributed the product. PPAI also found that giving a promotional gift increases sales leads, referrals, and reorders.
The only digital strategy that could come close to these kinds of conversions is video marketing, but even it doesn’t hold a candle to physical promotional materials.
Tangible products, like license holders, live with the consumer every day. As long as the product is useful, its impact on the subconscious is incomparable. The brain receives impressions of the brand every time the product is in view. That goes for everyone who sees it, not just the person who uses the item. These regular messages make a real impact on the consumer’s decisions.
The brain also learns more permanently when engaged in action, especially in hunters and fishers. Hunting and fishing requires hands-on learning. Eye-hand coordination is important in both sports. So when a promotional product is handled, all the information involved in doing so is recorded in the brain. Eventually, the brain will just remember your brand when it thinks about the fishing license, the bobber, drinking water, or whatever your product is used for. Handling a promotional product will always create more neuron connections to your brand than digital mediums.
This is also why print will never die. The physical act of handling a paper or turning pages helps the brain learn information. Digital content is created to be swiftly accessible, thereby minimizing the physical actions needed to reach it. There are also more visual markers present when handling paper or packaging than there are scrolling through a website. There is also a greater variety of texture available when handling paper, which influences both memory and the decision to buy. Humans like variety.
Of course, combining digital marketing with both of these mediums is ideal. You have to have a digital strategy; if you can create crossover with your materials, it will surely benefit your sales. Printing QR codes on your materials is a seamless way to bring digital and tangible worlds together. For high quality license holders, loose-leaf vinyl envelopes, and adhesive vinyl pouches, contact Vinyl Art. We can accommodate any custom or standard request. Vinyl Art is the trusted manufacturer for sporting retail stores across the country. We also have tag and display holders for your shelves. Contact 800-569-1304 or sales@vinylart.wpengine.com today. We would be proud to help you.
