Toops Scoops: "Print is Dead"? Not So Fast

Last weekend I dropped by Chicago's Printers' Row Lit Fest, an annual event that draws hundreds of booksellers, promoters and everyone else involved in the written word. Increasingly, those words are written not in a paper form, but in digital, although this is by no means a hard and fast rule — especially for readers of literature.

One of the exhibitors, a collaboration of hipster types publishing paper chapbooks, were also giving away free buttons proclaiming “Print is Dead” — quite an act of bravado (or most likely, irony) at an event where print is still king.

My companion just happened to be an ad rep for Summit Business Media, so our hackles were immediately raised. As we good-naturedly harangued the youngster on the importance of balancing print and electronic media, he admitted that in his job as a teacher, most of his Millennial students were reading print magazines.

That's good news for us, I guess — although we still have to struggle to balance print and electronic. Throw in social media and the juggling act becomes even more challenging.

As insurance agents, you've been bombarded with information (much of it from people like me) on the importance of being connected through social media and the Internet. But know that the death of traditional media may have been greatly exaggerated.

For example, a recent survey by the Direct Marketing Assn. recently found that old-school channels like the telephone and snail mail have better response rates than the more buzzed-about digital channels.

Although direct-mail response rates have have decreased from 4.37 percent in 2003 to an average response rate of 3.40 percent today, they remain well above those for digital channels–and 10 to 30 times more effective than email.

Traditional tactics like direct mail and telephone marketing show the highest response rates: Nearly 13 percent of customers on a house list respond to an offer over the phone, according to the report. However, online channels attract a greater percentage of marketing dollars because they generate a far better return on investment.

ROI for email was $28.50 in sales generated for every $1 dollar of email spending. In contrast, telephone was break-even with a median ROI of $1 in sales generated for $1 spent.

Given the numbers, it's no surprise that email leads the way in direct marketing: 83 percent of the DMA respondents use email in their promotional campaigns, with direct mail at 79 percent, trailed by paid search, Inernet display and telephone.

Of course, the success of any sort of campaign is a direct reflection of the quality of material and the ability to target mail more effectively.

Still, these findings prove that in spite of the explosion of smartphones and the constant hammering about how to reach the mobile customer, there should still be a place in your planning for reaching customers and prospects the old-fashioned way.