In the world of retail, digital is the future, right?

As the day-to-days of both consumers and businesses become more entwined with the digital landscape, it is understandable that online channels are now more widely discussed than their print-based counterparts. 

They can be showcased to a wider populous, and deliver more accurate data over how effectively campaigns are fulfilling their goals.

Email campaigns. Social media. Search engine advertising. Digital banners. Billions are spent by retailers year-round to establish and expand their foothold online. 

With the evolution of digital channels showing no signs of slowing down, attention has drifted away from printed assets. To many, these materials are nothing more than relics of a bygone era. Fossils that continue to linger as the digital age continues its inevitable takeover.

So, is print about to go extinct?

Absolutely not. If anything, the power and potential of print in today’s climate is more potent than it has ever been.

While it remains crucial for retailers to get on board with the demands of this digital age, there is a lot of evidence out there demonstrating that an eye-catching, perfectly on-brand printed asset can leave a lasting impression on certain audiences in a way digital simply doesn’t.

Posters, brochures, banners, coupons and more offer a tangible way to connect with audiences of all ages, building brand awareness and capturing customer interest. 

Here are a few examples of how relevant print marketing is, even in today’s primarily digital atmosphere:

Print adverts

While more and more organisations have cut down on their print advertising spend in favour of digital equivalents, the effectiveness of these more tangible ads shouldn’t be underestimated. In fact, as we will explore in the following section, print adverts can actually inspire stronger emotional responses than the stuff they see through their screens. Plus, clever incorporation of QR codes, social media integrations and more are allowing these printed materials to blend seamlessly into the digital landscape. In the example below, Ford used a phone-shaped outline with a QR code in the centre to display a series of short films to accompany their print ads.

Direct mail

Some will consider direct mail as old-fashioned. They would question why would you send something to someone’s door when you can connect with them instantly through email? However, the conversion rate of direct mail is up to ten times greater than that of an average email, illustrating that this physical, more personable style of reaching customers does pay dividends.

Over time, direct mail has also evolved to combine effectively with digital marketing techniques, such as the #20Helps campaign run by 97th Floor — an initiative that demonstrates the positive power of money by encouraging people to set aside $20 for good.

In a world where we rely on digital connections for practically every interaction, harnessing a physical $20 bill aims to bring back the tangible element of giving. Tangibility is something that a creative piece of direct mail has always done brilliantly.

Catalogues

Many brands and retailers, such as Nordstrom, Patagonia and Restoration Hardware have invested heavily in printed catalogues in recent years. This is because, as physical, long-lasting products, catalogues can stay with consumers long after any emails or social media posts are deleted. This increases their brand awareness whenever the consumer passes it in their home.

In addition, they present a more vivid, visual picture to customers on particular products and, through the incorporation of QR codes, promo codes and social media integrations, they can feed directly back into the digital landscape as well.

POS

There is a long-held assumption that the high street is on its last legs. While the explosion of e-commerce has impacted physical shops, they still remain popular destinations, and this means that POS materials still can have a dramatic impact on people’s buying habits.

These printed assets have their strongest appeal among impulse buyers at checkout locations, and as more and more retailers have focused on improving omnichannel experiences within their stores, these static, straightforward displays can provide an eye-catching alternative to more extravagant digital signage. Nike are a great example of a brand that knows the power of keeping things simple.

The science behind persevering with print

In recent years, a lot of research has been compiled on the effectiveness of printed media against their digital equivalents. It has provided some results that those who are devoted to the digital revolution might not expect:

Print gets more attention

Print materials are more likely to capture the attention of the reader for all the most important areas. Through these mediums, consumers focus more on product, price, offers, logos and CTAs.

Print is simpler to understand

It takes more cognitive power from a viewer of a digital advert to understand what they’re seeing, while print adverts are comparably far simpler. This means they have to keep the content and design of these a lot simpler to keep the viewer’s attention, while their printed counterparts can be more detailed.

Print elicits more emotional responses

As digital marketing demands more on the viewer mentally to interpret them, this typically leads to weaker emotional responses to these when compared to printed versions. This is particularly apparent among younger audiences, who might be overwhelmed by the number of digital communications they receive every day.

Print is more trusted

Because there are no risks of pop-ups or other distractions, and the general lack of trust that can surround online channels, print marketing is often considered more trustworthy and more official, especially by millennial audiences.

Print benefits brand awareness

As customers looking at print materials are more likely to recall the most standout elements of content in comparison to digital examples, this means consumers are subsequently more likely to remember the brand in the future.

To sum up, persisting with print can encourage:

• Better engagement between customers and your brand
• More trust from customers towards your brand
• Deeper, more positive emotional connections with customers
• Content that is read more intently and actively
• Lasting impressions on customers compared to fleeting digital adverts

Print and digital in perfect harmony?

Of course, this isn’t a call to disconnect all your computers, shut down your social media accounts and make print your main form of marketing. As noted earlier, the digital revolution shows no signs of slowing and is the primary means that people today consume information.

But, maybe the best results can be generated by finding a fitting balance between both the digital and printed channels. We highlighted earlier that printed materials typically capture the attention of consumers easier and elicit a more positive emotional response.

Well, beyond that, the use of print can then increase the effectiveness of future digital materials. Further research by PostNord into this relationship demonstrated that, if the first interaction a consumer has with a brand is through a printed asset, then the second interaction through a digital asset will evoke a more positive response than the other way around.

Consumers spend approximately 30 minutes on average reading physical mail, while 79% find it more convenient than reading emails (Source: USPS)

This illustrates the strength of a campaign that leads with print, to be further reinforced with digital advertising at a later date.

However, that doesn’t mean the reverse of this approach can’t be equally as effective in the right circumstances. Take Tesco Clubcard for example – they can use the information gathered from consumers using their online shopping list to motivate tailored offers through the post to these individuals or send special deals relating to upcoming weather conditions or events.

Alternatively, using product data gathered through online sources, this can spur other forms of personalised printed materials for individual customers or distinct groups. For instance, using up-to-the-minute data generated by your PIM/ERP systems, you can incorporate these into personalised letters, brochures and leaflets that will encourage users to make a purchase.

BAM by Papirfly™ can assist here as it allows for the seamless integration of your PIM/ERP solution. This means you can quickly create marketing materials with the latest, accurate data, ensuring everything produced is completely trustworthy and well-detailed, enriching the experience for your customers.

Above all else, finding an effective balance between print and digital materials, and ensuring these are delivered to customers at the right frequency and with the consistent presentation, puts you in a strong position to engage your audiences with the highest degree of success.

Power up your printed materials with BAM by Papirfly™

Declarations about the death of printed marketing materials have been greatly exaggerated. On the contrary – as we’ve noted throughout this article, in a landscape where people can often find themselves overwhelmed by the abundance of digital communications and need to escape from time to time, print can make a major impression and encourage a greater emotional response.

We hope that this motivates you to persist with print as part of your overall marketing strategy, as it can help differentiate your brand from those that have dived head-first into a digital-only approach.

To help you realise the full potential of print in your organisation, speak to us today about BAM by Papirfly™. Through our intuitive, intelligent brand activation platform, you will never have to worry about the quality and consistency of your marketing output, both printed and digital, and will be in a position to create more assets than ever before at a fraction of the cost.

Get in touch with our team and start the path to empowering your teams with BAM today.

Consumers today have never been more conscious of where their products come from, the impact of their purchases and the conditions of the employees working across their favourite brands.

As well as wages and working environments, customers are also paying close attention to where companies source materials, where goods are manufactured, as well as a brand’s values and commitments.

This ethical consumerism is such a great consideration for shoppers today that customers are voting with their wallets. They are buying from companies that align with their personal values or demonstrate certain ethics, instead of the retailers they may already be familiar with.

What is ethical consumerism?

Every product your shop manufactures, stocks or sells has an impact on the world. A growing number of consumers realise this and want to buy from organisations that have a more positive influence on certain social and environmental issues.

This phenomenon is called ethical consumerism and is a purchasing practice that has been gaining momentum and popularity in recent years all over the world. To illustrate just how prominent this market is, recent reports suggest that it’s now worth around £122 billion in the UK alone.

Beyond the environment and employee working conditions, ethical consumerism is a broad term that can encompass a range of things.

Ethical consumerism can encompass whether or not a company…

• Tests on animals
• Uses sustainable materials
• Supports what they say they do
• Uses animal products

Although many factors have contributed to the boom in ethical consumerism, one of the primary reasons for this seismic shift in customer behaviour is down to the rise of social media.

These platforms are home to billions of users, all following, researching and discussing their favourite brands every single day. And, as word spreads fast on these platforms, a single post shining a spotlight on a company’s unethical practices could quickly gain traction.

This is exactly what happened in 2017 for the popular ride-sharing app, Uber. A former engineer at the company took to her personal blog to shine a light on the rotten internal company culture. The blog post went viral and hit headlines around the world, severely impacting the app’s reputation and popularity.

Why is ethical consumerism important for your brand?

As well as benefiting the world, incorporating policies and actions that appeal to the ethical consumer can have several direct benefits to your shop and brand.

Encourage brand loyalty

Many of the world’s most well-known brands grow and succeed because they encourage people to come back and purchase, time and again. Repeat custom rarely happens naturally, and more often than not hinges on a brand developing a trusting relationship with its customers.

Fostering meaningful buyer relationships isn’t something that takes just one action of goodwill. However, by aligning your corporate values with your shoppers’ expectations, and becoming more responsible as a retailer, you help lay a solid foundation from which to build a loyal customer base.

To highlight how valuable brand loyalty can be for your business, consider that 50% of loyal customers will make more purchases with their preferred companies.

Bolster your reputation

Although the ethical market is growing, this paradigm shift in consumer behaviour has also brought about a rise in ‘corporate boycotting’. This is when consumers avoid specific companies or products because they fail to meet certain common standards or expectations.

By catering to the ethical consumer in your shop, you can work to meet the rising expectations of prospects and help avoid the negative impact on sales and brand reputation a boycott could bring.

Although the severity of corporate boycotts can vary, sportswear titan Nike was at the centre of a labour controversy in 1990 that damaged the brand so much that it caused the company to completely rethink how it operated and presented itself on the world stage.

Future proof your brand

Year on year, ethical shopping continues to make up a larger and larger portion of the market, as individuals become more aware of their impact on the world around them.

Moreover, as Gen Z, one of the most ethically conscious cohorts enters the workforce, this consumer movement is unlikely to slow down. 

By taking steps to become a more responsible retailer, you help ensure your shop remains appealing to shoppers today and tomorrow.

How to embrace ethical consumerism

Because ethical consumerism is such a broad and varied topic, there are dozens of ways your business can cater to the ethical consumer – from changing the way you ship your goods, to the way you front your brand in the public eye.

Reduce your brand’s carbon emissions

One way to meet customer expectations is to reduce your carbon footprint as a store. While there are many ways you can approach this problem, we have selected a handful of simple potential solutions you may want to try:

✅  Install energy-saving bulbs in-store
✅  Ship orders to the same address together
✅  Turn off the air-con when it’s not needed
✅  Switch lights off overnight when the store is closed
✅  Encourage employees to cycle or walk to work
✅  Set up a customer recycling scheme to safely dispose of old goods

Even making microscopic changes to the way you operate, such as favouring digital receipts and printing documents double-sided, can all help reduce your emissions and create a more eco-friendly image for your brand.

Align corporate values with corporate actions

Another way you can embrace ethical consumerism is by ensuring your corporate values align with the actions your shop takes. 

For example, if your brand pledges to reduce its impact on the environment, but keeps all of its lights on overnight, people may feel as though you aren’t taking your corporate social responsibility seriously. This, in turn, can quickly harm your reputation.

Take some time to ensure your values correlate. If this means reducing the scale of your commitments to make sure your enterprise can actually achieve what it has set out to do, this will be better for your brand than overpromising and underdelivering.

As well as that, you should also ensure your values are easily found online or across your social platforms, as hiding this information away could seed distrust. Many responsible retailers have a section on their website dedicated to their ethical goals.

Educate your customers

A third way of catering to ethically-minded customers is by using your reputation and platforms, such as your social pages or blog, to educate prospects on issues pertinent to your brand.

Tell people why you support what you do, and the steps you will take to achieve your desired goals. By committing to causes publicly, you help build trust with new and existing customers, while also raising awareness for good causes and charities.

Naturally, content is crucial in spreading the word about your brand’s values online and in-store. However, as campaigns and charities come and go often, enlisting the expertise of a third-party agency to produce assets may not suit your budget or timescale.

Bringing content production in-house is often unworkable too, as the content creation process is traditionally time-consuming, and would likely clash with other employees’ responsibilities. As well as this, building branded visuals takes skills your team may not have access to.

Bringing the creation of quality visuals inside your store sounds impossible. But, with brand activation management software, such as Papirfly’s all-in-one brand management platform, teams can utilise the software’s smart templates to create on-brand visuals at pace and on budget, even without design experience.

3 retailers accommodating the conscious consumer

With customer sentiment continuing to evolve, countless retailers have already begun to make changes to the way they operate and market themselves. 

To give you some inspiration and guidance on how you can become a more ethically minded retailer, here are three of our favourite examples.

1. Lush

It’s not just the scents of the shops that are sweet – it’s also the brand’s commitment to causes such as ethical buying and animal testing that help it stand out as one of the most conscious retailers on the high street today.

As well as publicly standing for and against causes that they believe in online, the retailer also takes real action to support funds, charities and other causes that align with its beliefs. Their ethos also extends to their eco-friendly products and their recyclable packaging.

Lush’s commitment to sustainability and fairtrade arguably defines the retailer just as much as its whimsical scents. As a result, the brand has a devout following of fans all around the world.

2. WHSmith

Popular bookstore WHSmith has pledged to reduce its carbon footprint and work to become more sustainable by using a number of methods.

Some of these include stocking more eco-friendly and recycled products in-store, reducing the use of single-use plastic throughout the chain of shops, removing the use of plastic glitter on their goods and getting rid of unnecessary packaging.

Although WHSmith may not be the first brand that comes to mind when you think ‘responsible retailer’, its actions have already begun to positively impact the company’s reputation, cementing itself as one of the top 5 ethical high street shops.

3. Reform

Lastly, Reform, a fashion company focused on minimising its impact on the environment, aims to bring sustainable fashion to everyone.

To do this, the brand uses low-impact materials, rescued deadstock fabrics and repurposed vintage clothing. Beyond sustainability, the retailer is also committed to providing a safe and comfortable working environment for its garment workers, building its own factory in Los Angeles to make this a reality.

Although they are a relatively new retailer, its ethics resonate with customers, generating the business over $150 million in revenue in 2019.

Readying your brand for an ethical future

With customers more aware of social and environmental issues than ever before, ethical consumerism has seen a boom in popularity in recent years. 

Although this consumer movement may present a prime opportunity to grow the trust and authenticity of your brand in the eyes of your target audience, it’s important to be clear and honest when making commitments.

While there are many facets of this more conscious form of shopping, content is crucial in demonstrating your pledges to becoming a more responsible retailer. 

Creating in-store signage, social media content and visuals for the web can be a costly and time-consuming practice, especially if you have to rely on third-party agencies for their output.

However, building captivating visuals that showcase your ethics doesn’t have to be a grand investment in time or money. With brand activation management software, like Papirfly’s brand management platform, you can build on-style visuals quickly and cost-effectively, without any design expertise.

4 brand management software features ideal for retailers:

• Create unlimited collateral using smart templates
• Plan, approve and assess multiple campaigns
• Store and share files in a single, easily accessible place
• Import product information effortlessly with speed and ease

Seasons come and go. And with them, they bring a new promotion for retail marketers to focus on. The challenges that come with holidays such as Halloween, Black Friday, Christmas and New Year are intense, and adequate preparation can’t be overstated.

Despite these periods being some of the most chaotic times of the year, they are also the ones filled with the most opportunity. If teams are able to harness the best of the physical and digital world in the following ways, and keep their cool during what seems like a never-ending cycle of production, success will be on the horizon.

Pre-peak season

By taking the time to consider your next steps, you can lay a strong foundation for success and give your teams the preparation they need to succeed.

Prepare your marketing and influencer strategies

Seeding contact with influencers early on is key to building relationships, but remember to have a backup plan. During the time between this initial contact and peak period, a lot could happen. For instance, if your chosen influencer(s) get themselves into hot water with the press, you’re going to want to find a replacement pronto.

Basing your marketing strategy around your creatives is a no-brainer, but ensuring this creative lands well with your audience will be where the challenge lies. Getting your agency to conduct focus groups on your messaging and how well it lands in the current climate could prove invaluable. As with influencer strategies, be conscious of any factors that could change between this initial creative sign-off and go-live and always be prepared for the unexpected.

Book in customer support training

As shopping activity spikes, so will your customer service contact. Automated messenger bots can help to delay human contact and gather information for when a shopper is put through, but it can also cause frustration. 

Whether it’s improving your AI messenger strategy or giving group training to your support team, they are going to face almost every type of problem over the peak period and they need to be prepared for every scenario.

Remember to set parameters with what customer service leads can authorise too, if a 10% discount is going to soothe an angry customer, you should assess which de-escalation strategies are worth the investment.

Incentivise loyal customers

While loyal customers might seem like the least likely group you need to encourage to spend, you need to ensure another brand doesn’t distract them with an offering shinier and more appealing than your own. Reward them for their loyalty, whether that’s through a discount code, increased loyalty card points or early access to sales. 

Develop cart abandonment strategies

The bane of any e-commerce marketer’s existence. While there are several creative ways to keep shoppers progressing their purchases, the best piece of advice is simply to reduce the number of clicks it takes to get them through the checkout. 

Define warm lead strategies

While abandoned carts are a sad sight for sales, they provide a second opportunity to engage with the customer on a truly individual and personalised level. Email marketing reminding them of their abandoned items can help give them a nudge, but it won’t always be enough to convert them.

Ensure you take extra care with your email marketing to entice these individuals back to your website.

Establish re-engagement strategies

Have avid shoppers fallen off the radar? Promote your flash sales in advance of the peak period and bring them back to your website to remind you of why they fell in love with your brand in the first place. Those who have a positive experience are more likely to keep you in mind when the next promotion season comes around. 

Likewise, make sure they’re familiar with any new updates, such as new collections, website features, payment types and delivery options.

Finalise offers and promotions

Peak season will be a time of agility, so completing as much testing as possible prior to the season hitting will help give you a solid foundation for your offers and promotions. It’s much harder to replicate past successful strategies now that the economic landscape has changed so significantly, so keep this in mind.

During peak season

With the groundwork laid, it’s now time to execute your strategy. Stay vigilant, monitor real-time trends and be ready to adapt to changing circumstances at the drop of a hat in order to increase your odds of success.

Keep one eye on competitors

If it’s not someone’s job to check your key competitors’ social and website feeds every day, it needs to be now. While we’re not suggesting you copy anything they’re attempting, you may be able to piggyback off a bad experience a customer has had, generate counter-promotions or discounts, or adapt your social media strategy.

Use design templates to stay reactive

Brand Activation Management tools such as BAM by Papirfly™ are trusted by retail marketers across the world to create, edit and share digital, social, video, email and print materials in a matter of minutes. Infinite on-brand creations, delivered by your in-house team, no design skills needed.

Use empathy mapping with customer service reps

Some of your best marketing insights will come directly from your customers. Introduce a logging system where representatives can provide interesting points directly to marketing and sales teams.

Stay on top of topical trends

Twitter and Tiktok are going to be a goldmine for content, so make sure one of your social execs is all over it. Ensure you have the breathing space to accommodate ad-hoc projects from them too, otherwise their energy and recommendations will be futile.

Use influencer discount codes to monitor the effectiveness

Trending sales or local factors could influence location-specific marketing. They may have on-the-ground insights that aren’t freely available at the head office level.

Maximise conversion rates

Your website will be the go-to ‘storefront’ for many customers, so it’s important those abandoned baskets are kept at a minimum by making the buying process as easy as possible.

Offer digital receipts to customers

A basic but powerful move. If you can get your in-store customers to take a digital receipt, you can ask them if they would be willing to receive marketing offers and promotions from you. It’s a helpful gesture for them and a beneficial first-party data collection strategy for you.

Post-peak season

As sales activity calms a little, it’s important to use the momentum of the promotional seasons as an opportunity to create long-term brand loyalty.

Offer additional points for purchases during the quieter period

Shoppers who signed up for loyalty and points schemes over peak periods may have less desire to spend once the season is over. Encourage purchases post-peak by offering double or triple points on sales during a specific timeframe.

Follow-up with customer experience surveys incentivised by a prize draw

This will be one of your key testing factors for how the peak period went from a customer perspective. When sending out the survey, be sure to communicate how many questions there are, how long it will take and the prize that’s up for grabs.

POS replacement and digital updates

Physical and digital points of sale in stores should be ready to go long before the season is over, however, this isn’t always realistic and sometimes logistics can get in the way.

Having BAM by Papirfly™ in place will help your teams get signage printed quickly without the need for head office to physically send anything out. Digital signage can be created and distributed to digital screens all from within the portal. 

It’s never too early to plan for next year’s peak period…

Get ahead of the chaos and take ownership of your retail marketing strategy. Discover a single tool that can do it all.

• Give your teams freedom to create infinite in-store signage, website, social, email, video assets and more, all on-brand and delivered in minutes
• Integrate BAM by Papirfly™ with your PIM system and easily update signage and brochures with accurate information
• Localise promotions with regional or country-specific data 
• Store and share assets with teams across the world

Discover BAM for retail marketers or book your demo today.