Why are new companies choosing to print catalogs?

Working in lead generation you can only imagine how many catalogs I see each day.  I see thousands of catalogs. You might be surprised, in fact, of how many businesses actually do have a mail program. Tea, chocolate, apparel, fashion, pens, wheel chairs, cars, vacations, and the list goes on and many more new titles are popping up every day. What exactly is our fascination with catalogs? Why are all of these companies deciding to start printing now today with all this free digital technology at their disposal? Let’s take a look:

Catalogs are a great way to target your niche  

If you walk up to any marketer of a large company and ask them what the single most important strategy of the day is, what do you think they’d say? If you guessed targeting, then you are already on your way to a successful campaign.
One of the most effective ways to market is to target your desired audience. With all the marketing noise, it’s no wonder. When I get ten catalogs in my mailbox, I’m most likely to look at the one specifically targeted to me too.  Using targeting techniques is especially easy to do with catalogs. To learn more about this topic, visit our White Paper Target Your Audience and Boost Performance.

Catalogs have a higher conversion rate than many other forms of marketing

There is no denying that catalogs successfully drive online traffic. Studies indicate that a much higher percentage of consumers are more effectively communicated with through printed ads than any other form of media.

Yep! It’s true. If you send out a catalog, you are more likely to gain a sale. There are many reasons for this. From being able to better target your buyers, to the way a physical piece of marketing affects the brain, to the fact that catalogs work as great partners to almost all other forms of marketing. No matter how you look at it, studies reveal that catalogs most certainly have good conversion rates.

Catalogs work great with other marketing techniques

Another article from chooseprint.org states: “Studies show that print advertising drives consumers to online shopping. An iProspect study found that 67% of online searches are driven by offline messages, with 39% of shoppers ultimately making a purchase.” If you want consumers to visit your website with little prodding, or e-mail campaigns, or traffic sharing programs, your best bet is to send them a catalog.

The internet works hand in hand with other forms of media, such as television, radio, and print. The idea is to use one to increase your chances of being successful with the other. So, if you are a catalog based business, you should utilize the internet and if you are a web-based business, you should utilize print. As the studies have shown, they are most effective while working together. In fact, most studies have indicated that multi-marketing is the most efficient way to reach out to your consumers.

There are many more reasons not mentioned here why companies have decided to start printing catalogs.  The industry keeps getting bigger and bigger and that’s the way we like it. So…what are you waiting for? J