Making print advertising measurable

In today's world, where almost everything can be captured and measured digitally, data is becoming increasingly important and more and more decisions are based on data-driven analyses and insights. Measuring the success of advertising measures plays a particularly important role in marketing, enabling companies to analyse the reach and effectiveness of their advertising in a targeted manner. Digital forms of advertising, which are distributed via social media, websites or online adverts, can be evaluated based on clicks, impressions or open rates. However, these key performance indicators are much more difficult to determine in the print sector. This poses a major challenge for many companies, which raises the question of whether the use of print advertising is still worthwhile at all.

What is print advertising?

The term print advertising covers all advertising messages in printed form - also known as visual advertising media. These include flyers, brochures, newspapers and posters, which can be produced in various sizes and formats. Printed adverts in newspapers or magazines also belong to this type of advertising and can contain meaningful text and images as well as coupons or information material to attract the interest of potential customers. Personalised invitations to trade fairs or events, as well as direct mail or mailshots, are also particularly effective. Personalised addressing of these materials ensures that recipients are addressed in a targeted manner and thus motivated to make further contact.

Making print advertising measurable with tools

As the success of print advertising is often difficult to measure, marketers often rely on tools or links between print and digital advertising. This helps to generate key figures and use the data not only to measure success, but also to make decisions for future marketing. This means that a cross-media marketing mix can be used without flying blind with print measures such as flyers or brochures.

1. Use of QR codes

QR codes are one of the most popular tools for linking print advertising with the digital world. Scanning them with a smartphone enables users to link directly to a website or a customised landing page.
QR codes can therefore help companies to measure the exact number of visits to these pages and encourage interested parties to get in touch with the company directly by linking to contact forms or newsletter registrations. 

2. Promotion codes and coupons

Another effective way of measuring the success of a print measure or campaign and generating key figures is the use of promotional codes and coupons. Customers and their orders can be precisely tracked and allocated by using an offer or voucher code, which is entered when placing an order, for example. Printed coupons are ideal not only for online orders, but also for bricks-and-mortar shops such as supermarkets, grocery shops or drugstores. Their redemption can be recorded directly and thus analysed later. It is possible to determine exactly how often the coupons and promotional codes have been used, providing valuable insights into the effectiveness of the campaign.

3. Response cards

In some print media, such as customer magazines, magazines or advertising newspapers, you will also find reply cards. These are used to give recipients the opportunity to express their opinion in a newspaper survey, to take out a subscription or to order an article using a reply card. As the card can simply be torn out of the magazine and returned by post, it is particularly suitable for target groups that are less online-savvy. The reply cards therefore offer an uncomplicated way of receiving direct feedback. At the same time, they make it easy to track the success of the campaign by documenting both the response rate and the feedback from the target group.

4. Exclusive landing page

Last but not least, a landing page created specifically for print campaigns also offers an ideal opportunity to collect data and measure advertising success. A memorable and unique URL, which is advertised exclusively in the print adverts, allows the traffic to this subpage to be tracked precisely. As there are no links from other sources, all traffic comes exclusively from the printed advertising material. This enables precise data collection to determine the effectiveness and success of the campaign. Contact forms can also be integrated here to facilitate dialogue between interested parties and the company and to attract potential new customers.

Advantages of print advertising

Despite increasing digitalisation, print measures still offer numerous advantages for companies and can be used particularly effectively in combination with online advertising. Printed advertising in quality media such as newspapers and magazines is often perceived by the target group as particularly credible and of high quality. As a result, it attracts more attention and leaves a more lasting impression. Another advantage of printed forms of advertising is the increased reading comfort and durability of the materials. Printed media (such as brochures) are tactile and still very popular with many people. In addition, brochures and flyers sometimes also serve as practical reminders. Thanks to their long-term presence in consumers' everyday lives, they can access the content again and again and contact the company at the right moment.

If you would like to use more print measures and find out more about a cross-media marketing mix for your sales partner marketing, please feel free to contact us at any time. We look forward supporting you.