Grab Them With Print

Daniel Dejan of SAPPI recently made the point that as the Internet age blossomed, many marketers made a classic error of confusing cause and effect. They built Web storefronts and found that orders migrated to the storefront and away from mailed order forms and telephone calls. They concluded from this that the Web was the way of the future and they could stop spending money on print.

Those that did this, as noted in a recent PIASC weekly update, discovered that sales dropped, sometimes very dramatically. What they failed to realize is that print brought customers to their Websites as they found it an easier way to buy than mailing or calling in an order, but that they had to want to buy something before they went to the Website—that’s where print comes in.

This is clear when you think about Amazon, the Website for buying anything. You only go there when you have learned about something you may want. It has no ability to reach out and grab your interest; print does.