For decades marketing tools have helped estate agents to generate leads, increase brand awareness and communicate a message. Today that marketing drive appears to be largely focused on digital broadcasts, and there are obvious reasons for this including the ability to track and measure readership and forward-shares, reach a wider audience across many platforms and cost-effectiveness.
But does this mean that print media is valueless? “Not at all,” says Helen McIntee, Director and President of the African Marketing Confederation. According to history.com, “Print marketing can be traced back to the 15th Century but technology has caused its accelerated evolvement. We are printing from our desktops for example, and on innumerable materials and surfaces.
According to scholarworks.rit.edu “Research conducted regarding print media in marketing reviewed some interesting findings. One study, undertaken in Canada, proved that brand recognition is 70% higher with a printed document versus the same content available digitally. Yet another consumer survey showed that 42% of its respondents felt print media was very trustworthy whereas only 18% felt the same way about internet websites, the latter low figure relates to challenges like malware, hacking and lost privacy.”
Another aspect commonly punted is that globally, consumers are being worn down by disingenuous adverts posted by influencer markets, those that are defined as having emerged in recent years to describe the collaboration between companies/brands with, most notably, social media influencers. In fact, yet another global survey says influencer marketing appears to be the least trusted form of marketing.
Without intending to bombard the readers with even more research stats, Hometrack adds more fuel claiming it takes an average person around 21% more cognitive effort to process a digital message than in print form. When asked to recall advertisements seen, says Hometrack, 75% of customers were better able to recall print versions whereas just 44% could recall the digital ads they were exposed to.
While there may be as many arguments or research stats similarly against print media, the debate is not if one is better than the other, but whether print media still has an effective role to play in the marketing campaigns of property practitioners. In proving it does, McIntee says that one of the greatest benefits is that a brochure, for example, taps into a captive audience because distractions are minimal. “A prospective buyer/seller picks up a brochure, reads the text, becomes informed and makes a decision. This is opposed to digital media where other apps may be running in the background demanding attention and interfering with the cognitive experience.
“Further, print media is tangible, has a long life-span and period of exposure, so brand impression is reinforced. You can easily re-reference for future use, and a print document can be distributed hand-to-hand. Digital media cannot offer the same. BUT, put the two together - digital and print - and you have one of the most powerful marketing tools in your arsenal.”
Private Property presents such a case. Prior to level 5 lockdown, it committed to ‘power-wrap’ 99 of SA’s local newspapers, with a distribution to 2.4-million homes. Spark Media, which was contracted to the project, measured the results proving that new traffic to Private Property’s website was directly attributable to the campaign, resulting in 7.9-million impressions and 5-million users.
It may be far more difficult to measure the readership of a printed brochure but traditionally it has always been one of the leading methods of marketing a property, an agent or agency. With a brochure, a potential buyer walks away from a property viewing with a memento in hand, one that can be perused anywhere at any time, and glanced at by others. It’s also an effective and easy way to compare one property with another, given they can be laid side-by-side.
“This is an exceptionally important point,” says McIntee. “In client interactions and property transactions, providing a brochure gives the agent added credibility and a professional perception. Another relative perception is that the property that has a brochure, has a higher value. This not just psychology but strategic marketing that can tip the sales scale.”
What makes one brochure more effective than another is also strategic. “Property practitioners shouldn’t bombard readers with unnecessary images and content. Simply provide relevant information that is easy-to-read and easy to find.
“Imagine property independently from a brand perspective. Find its most appealing characteristic and emphasise that visually. Draw readers’ eye’s by isolating that feature so that the viewer will retain that image subconsciously. If they see that image tangibly, because the brochure is in frequent view, they can easily picture themselves in that environment or living such a lifestyle.,” says McIntee.
“The best way to emotionally connect with the reader is by using faces/people in a design. Within marketing circles it’s well-known that in so doing, the conversion rate of the reader increases dramatically. There’s also another trick here, which is to use the face in the design to direct the reader’s eye elsewhere; in other words, the reader looks to see what the model in the visual is looking at. This therefore has a double-impact.”
“And when your brochure is backed up by a digital version, as per the Private Property case study, the exposure may also more than double,” McIntee concludes.
Print brochures have over centuries, proven undoubtedly instrumental in building strong brand connections, establishing trust and credibility, and provide valuable information allowing readers to make informed decisions. Digital hasn’t changed those facts, and likely won’t for some decades to come.