Printed vs. Downloadable

[KristineS]

I've noticed this trend in how the company for which I work does marketing, and I wondered if anyone else has seen this as well. When I started the Marketing Department here, we created tons of printed stuff. Catalogs, brochures, product one sheets, more brochures, press kits, etc. That was in 2006. Now, 6 years, later, we rarely print much of anything. Most stuff is downloadable from the websites or is a page on the website, or can be printed on request if it needs to be sent to someone. We no longer take printed materials to trade shows, we give people sample cards and allow them to request the materials they want. Are we the only ones doing this? Have other companies out there seen this same trend?

[Pack-Secure]

We offer all of our products online on our website. By eliminating the cost of printing and mailing catalogs, it helps keep our prices down. When we did offer printed catalogs, I noticed that we were printing them quite often with prices and products changing frequently.

[KristineS]

That was one of the issues we ran into with printed catalogs as well. It seemed we were always printing them and then having them be outdated almost as soon as they were printed. Having a downloadable version makes it easier to keep things current.

[Harold Mansfield]

I rarely print anything. My use of paper overall has decreased tremedously. Anything I send to cleints is in PDF form. I don't get bills in the mail anymore.
I don't write checks. I download books and subscribe to magazines digitally.

I think that's the way it is and is going to be, for all of the reasons that you meantioned. It's just easier, and more efficient. And it has to save a ton of money for companies who have a lot of informational materials. But probably sucks for the printing industry.

[KristineS]

I'm sure it sucks for the printing industry Harold! If I look at just our company's printing budget from six years ago when I started working here to now, I see a huge decrease in what we're spending. With things changing as much as they do and people expecting up to date information at the click of a button, print doesn't work as well as it used to work in most cases.

[Jimmym]

I've noticed this trend in how the company for which I work does marketing, and I wondered if anyone else has seen this as well. When I started the Marketing Department here, we created tons of printed stuff. Catalogs, brochures, product one sheets, more brochures, press kits, etc. That was in 2006. Now, 6 years, later, we rarely print much of anything. Most stuff is downloadable from the websites or is a page on the website, or can be printed on request if it needs to be sent to someone. We no longer take printed materials to trade shows, we give people sample cards and allow them to request the materials they want. Are we the only ones doing this? Have other companies out there seen this same trend?


@KristineS

I was just thinking about giving material to customers at trade show and came up with a cool idea. What if you had a mobile version of a download page for people to get material and had a banner with a QR code on it that sent them to the mobile site. It would make it fast and easy for people to get material from you.

Just a idea I wanted to throw out there....

[Harold Mansfield]

@KristineS

I was just thinking about giving material to customers at trade show and came up with a cool idea. What if you had a mobile version of a download page for people to get material and had a banner with a QR code on it that sent them to the mobile site. It would make it fast and easy for people to get material from you.

Just a idea I wanted to throw out there....

Even easier is a QR that links directly to a PDF download of your company brochure, which has all of your contact info including website link.
That way you don't have to rely on everyone trying to access a web page with varying browsers and mobile internet speeds.
It's much quicker and they walk away with your docs on thier device without having to bookmark or save a web page.

[Jimmym]

Even easier is a QR that links directly to a PDF download of your company brochure, which has all of your contact info including website link.
That way you don't have to rely on everyone trying to access a web page with varying browsers and mobile internet speeds.
It's much quicker and they walk away with your docs on their device without having to bookmark or save a web page.

Good idea, one QR code for each piece of material. Either way I think this QR code idea would be effective to use!

[vangogh]

I've always been online only so there hasn't been any change for me. I think what you're seeing is natural. It's less expensive and it gives the people who want the information the ability to choose. Personally I hardly ever print anything. I can't remember the last time I needed to buy paper for my printer and I'm a long way from needing to buy it again.

Having said that I think stats still show people print more today than they ever have so I doubt the printer industry is in immediate trouble. In time it's likely to be an industry that either changes or gets replaced, but I think in the immediate future they can continue as usual.

[KristineS]

Good idea, one QR code for each piece of material. Either way I think this QR code idea would be effective to use!

We have used QR codes in the past with varying degrees of success. We've linked to a survey where you could request samples of our product. We've linked to a landing page on our website where you could get more information and a coupon code. The response rate wasn't bad. We'll probably experiment some more with the QR codes this year as well.

[huggytree]

maybe printed things are down, but when i go to get some cards/magnets/stickers made i always wait 4 weeks to get them....and it takes 2-3 weeks just to get a design back for approval...

ive used 2 different printers and get the same result

for my advertising all i use is printed items....i want my customer to have a printed sheet with my company info on it sitting on his desk or in his file cabinet

[vangogh]

What makes you assume that printed sheet will end up on a desk or in a file cabinet? It could just as easily find it's way to the trash. Physical things, even as thin as paper, take up room and aren't always stored. Digital things also take up room and aren't always stored either. I don't know that one is automatically stored more often than the other.

[AccountantSalary]

I know many companies, including my own, that produce catalogs and documentation exclusively for download. Not only is it cheaper for the company, but modifications are easy to make and instant.

[billbenson]

Something that hasn't been mentioned: In many cases the key to a paperless business is a great website. If you are selling a product or service, if everything you provide is on your website in detail you don't need paper copy. Some new products or services, you simply update your website. A lot cheaper than printing catalogs.

Some customers may not like that and want paper copy, but ...

[ozetel]

We rarely print materials nowadays. It is a lot easier to have the information at your finger tips on smart phones & tablets :)

[vangogh]

It is a lot easier to have the information at your finger tips on smart phones & tablets

If it's on paper at this point I'll probably never find it. I may not know where it is immediately on my phone, tablet, or laptop, but they at least all have search capabilities to find it for me.

[KristineS]

I still think it does depend somewhat on your audience though. If we went all digital with our Ensign customers we would lose out, because a lot of those customers are not tech savvy. Some are, and that portion of the audience is increasing, but a good percentage aren't.

I agree, for me personally, that printed stuff is mostly a waste of time these days. I even am starting to resent getting mail that I have to go to the mailbox to pick up. Just send me an e-mail, people, it's quicker and easier and I don't forget to go out and get it.

[vangogh]

I still think it does depend somewhat on your audience though

I completely agree. It does come down to who you're trying to reach. Lots of people still prefer printed materials. I would just urge people not to write off digital materials. The needle is certainly moving more toward the digital side. Many of us here and many of our clients didn't grow up with computers in every room and smartphones in every pocket. However there are generations behind us who did. The least tech savvy among them do know how to do things that our generation might consider tech savvy. There are even generations who now think email is antiquated.

Print is still with us and likely will be for most of our business lives, but I would shift toward digital rather than away from it.

[KristineS]

Print is still with us and likely will be for most of our business lives, but I would shift toward digital rather than away from it.

I would agree with you Vangogh, you have to shift with the times. The trend is clearly toward digital and smartphones and tablets and that sort of thing. It's also very much toward media and information that can be accessed 24/7 and can be easily accessed from more than one location and months later if necessary. I don't think print will ever go away but I can't imagine a marketing department in the world that won't have to incorporate more and more digital elements to their marketing programs.

[Business Attorney]

If it's on paper at this point I'll probably never find it. I may not know where it is immediately on my phone, tablet, or laptop, but they at least all have search capabilities to find it for me.

I agree. In fact, even if the only choice to "print" and not download, I almost always "print" to a pdf file. Even if I could always find the paper copy of a receipt in my file cabinet, I'd much rather have a pdf stored in my Dropbox where I can access it from my smart phone or any computer connected to the internet.

[vangogh]

I do the same and print to a PDF file. About the only thing I print at this point is the occasional boarding pass. Those probably won't be necessary all that long either. Some airlines will send the boarding pass to your phone.

David I was curious about you when it came to printing. I assume most legal information still gets printed. Maybe that's no longer true, but it strikes me as one profession that will trust physical materials more when it comes to a trial and so more things still get printed.

[Studio_Jubilee]

I can only offer our experience and opinion to answer your question, but, to put it bluntly: print isn't dead.

There are numerous reasons why online literature and promotional materials makes sense – convenience for your customer or client, ability to change content, and the in-expense. But,we really recommend to our clients that the cost of printing shouldn't be the overriding factor in your decision.

Research has proven that customers and clients spend more time when presented with printed materials. Not only do they spend more time, but they interact with it, they digest it, and they remember it. In an ever digital world, the tactility of objects is becoming more important than ever – holding a well printed, well designed brochure in your hand is so much more satisfying than having an email sent to you.

There's a whole number of factors in print that can trigger unconscious thoughts – the print quality, the print texture, the weight of the paper, the texture of the paper and so on. Print gives you the ability to control things like type size and colours – when you send an email, there can be a dramatic difference on what you customer actually sees depending on their device, screen size and software. It's impossible to control these things digitally, but with print, once you sent it out there's nothing to change.

The more and more businesses decide to stop all print, the less familiar we become with it. When customers are then able to interact with a piece of printed literature, it becomes that much more special. I suppose you appreciate what you aren't used to. The more customers interact with your print, spend time with it, and remember it, the greater return you'll see on your initial printing outlay. The results are surprising.

I'm not saying that you should never distribute digital promotion and literature – there are some cases where it makes absolute sense. But I suppose I'm saying, don't just rule it out on cost.

If you'd like anymore advice, don't hesitate to get in touch :)

[billbenson]

David I was curious about you when it came to printing. I assume most legal information still gets printed. Maybe that's no longer true, but it strikes me as one profession that will trust physical materials more when it comes to a trial and so more things still get printed.

I was curious about the same thing. Do law offices still keep printed copy of everything.

Also doctors offices also seem to always keep a mountain of files on patients. Is this for legal reasons or are they just hanging onto traditional methods?

[KristineS]

I think a lot of doctor's offices are just slow in making the change over. I know my cardiologists office has been slowly taking everything to digital and my primary doctor's office has done as well. Now everything is on computer which, theoretically, makes it easier for the doc to stay abreast of what's happening with a patient. It also makes it easier for patients to access their info. The system my doc uses also has a patient portal where I can communicate with the doc, order prescriptions, see lab results and fill out intake forms and stuff like that.

[Business Attorney]

A lot of documents now come to me as PDF files in the first place. In that case, I rarely print out a paper copy to stick in a file that I will eventually have to send to offsite storage and pay for keeping for all eternity. Even in deals with a substantial number of documents, my "closing book" for the past several years often consisted of a CD containing the documents and now often even dispenses with that little plastic disk and is entirely electronic.

Along the same lines, deals that formerly required a physical data room full of copies of a company's historic documents and financial records is now more often than not handled through a virtual data room where all the documents are maintained.

Don't get me wrong, there is still a lot of paper. When I am reviewing a lengthy contract, I find that I often need to print it out because flipping around in a PDF file to look at one paragraph and then back to another just doesn't work as well as it does on paper. The difference is that once I send my comments to my client (usually by email rather than in a paper letter) I often toss the paper copy of the contract because it has no more value than the one still residing on my network.

[billbenson]

So for the purposes of archiving and saving documents including the ones that require multiple signatures you save those digitally and they stand up in court?

[Business Attorney]

So for the purposes of archiving and saving documents including the ones that require multiple signatures you save those digitally and they stand up in court?

In many, if not most, transactions we don't ever get an original signature. If all I have is an electronic signature anyway, a digital copy that is still attached to the original email in my Outlook archives from the other party or his attorney is probably going to be better proof than if I printed out a paper copy and later presented it.

There are exceptions. I still insist on an original signature on a promissory note, for example. But on the whole, I do not have a problem exchanging copies of signatures and retaining those only in a digital format.

[vangogh]

I can only offer our experience and opinion to answer your question, but, to put it bluntly: print isn't dead.

Oh, I agree. I don't think print is dead by any means, however it's no longer what it once was. The internet is replacing print media in lots of ways. Not all ways yet, but in many ways. Right now both print and digital can work. Where to put more of your budget probably depends most on your business and who your customers are.


A lot of documents now come to me as PDF files in the first place.

That makes sense. I can see PDFs replacing a lot of what would have been printed before.

When it comes to questions like this I usually ask myself where I think things will be in say 100 years. It's hard for me to picture people printing documents 100 years from now. Some sure, but by that time I would think just about everyone is connected digitally 100% of the time. The convenience of having things delivered to some digital device and the costs savings to whoever is sending it make too much sense. Granted I may be wrong, but assuming I'm right that 100 years from now we won't be printing much it suggests we're going to continue printing less between now and then.

It's not that I think print is dead or isn't something we should think about today. It's more than in the years ahead I think it makes more sense to think digitally. If print is working for you now then keep using print. However, don't ignore digital because in the years ahead digital is more likely to be here than print.

[jim.sklansky]

I've noticed this trend in how the company for which I work does marketing, and I wondered if anyone else has seen this as well. When I started the Marketing Department here, we created tons of printed stuff. Catalogs, brochures, product one sheets, more brochures, press kits, etc. That was in 2006. Now, 6 years, later, we rarely print much of anything. Most stuff is downloadable from the websites or is a page on the website, or can be printed on request if it needs to be sent to someone. We no longer take printed materials to trade shows, we give people sample cards and allow them to request the materials they want. Are we the only ones doing this? Have other companies out there seen this same trend?

Yes, in this time, printing is being a rare option. Generally people prefer working through online or in their computer. So they don't need the hard copy (printed copy). Working with soft copy (downloadable copy) is a quick process of seeing, editing or even sharing. Online catalogs are much visible than the printed versions and it reduces the most people involvement.

[Business magnate]

I've noticed this trend in how the company for which I work does marketing, and I wondered if anyone else has seen this as well. When I started the Marketing Department here, we created tons of printed stuff. Catalogs, brochures, product one sheets, more brochures, press kits, etc. That was in 2006. Now, 6 years, later, we rarely print much of anything. Most stuff is downloadable from the websites or is a page on the website, or can be printed on request if it needs to be sent to someone. We no longer take printed materials to trade shows, we give people sample cards and allow them to request the materials they want. Are we the only ones doing this? Have other companies out there seen this same trend?

I believe that there are many people out there who didn't discover the internet until the past few years... Maybe in the future companies will make only print materials just to be different from the crowd. Full circle :)

[KristineS]

Print does still work better for a few things. Take a thread color card for instance. It has actual samples of each thread color on it. You can do a digital, downloadable thread card, but monitors tend to mess with the colors. Actual is the only way to get an exact color match. So, for some things, printing will always be the way to go. I suppose someone could figure out a way to do a virtual color card that was an exact match to the actual dyed color, but I'm not sure how they would do that.

I think informational things, like brochures and catalogs will move more toward digital. Materials that include actual samples will most likely stay as printed materials.

[vangogh]

That makes sense. Print and digital use 2 different color models. In print we're seeing the wavelengths of light as they're reflected off a surface. Digitally we're seeing wavelengths of light that are being produced by the object we're looking at.

[kimoonyx]

Ehhh.... I'm out numbered here....lol... I still print stuff. When I receive a lead from a customer I email and call, and if I haven't received the address in the lead I ask if they would like to receive a packet in the mail. If so I send a brochure that highlights the first steps to get started with us and a business card. I like the thought that when my potential client is unplugged.... My business is still represented... Yes there is a cost... (A small one, I am a hell of a negotiator) I think it's worth it, and I know for a fact the extra step sets me apart from my competition.

[vangogh]

Again I don't think there's anything wrong with printing stuff. That's how must of us grew up. My point is that things are changing and each year I would think less people are printing and more are relying on digital storage. I don't think print is dead by any means, but I would say it's moving in that direction. I look at it as where do I think we'll be in 50 or 100 years and I think at some point everyone is going to have a digital device of some kind with them all the time and storing the things we print today on them. Or maybe it won't be a digital device, but it'll be whatever replaces them.

[WilliamChapman]

I think online will be far better than printing. As printed advertisements or articles reaches only selected number of people whereas online is spread all over the world.

[Inkable Label Co.]

Downloadable is very efficient and cost-effective because otherwise you would be printing one copy for each set of eyeballs that would look at your collaterals when you can do an info blast using a e-newsletter, or a downloadable brochure. But being passionate about printing, for me old-fashioned prints still lend a certain charm and sincerity (kind of like a handwritten postcard versus an email) and can be effective for promotions when used creatively. For our trade events, marketing sets are still invaluable in marketing and networking. It also depends on your advertising campaign and budget--downloadables can be built upon, revised, and shared online. There are some items though that will always be great for print--I still prefer to read an actual book versus an e-book. Different people, different preferences, different needs, I guess.

[David Hunter]

I say do both!!!

Everything thinks print is dying, but it's not. It's still the best form of media to reach your customers. Everyone has a real live mailbox that a postal worker puts real pieces of paper into.

Sure, you could say a ton of people have email, but the problem with email is you can't control if it ever gets to your prospects inbox. It could end up in their spam folder. Maybe they stopped checking their emails and created a new one. Or, they just saw it was from you and decided to quickly delete it.

So, I say to both. I wrote a post on here about Pens.com having the best marketing I've seen. Check it out by CLICKING HERE (http://www.small-business-forum.net/traditional-marketing/13795-killer-marketing-campaign.html) or use the direct link: http://www.small-business-forum.net/traditional-marketing/13795-killer-marketing-campaign.html.

They use online and offline marketing (I just got another sample pen from them in the mail).