Print is ‘not dead’ as long as content is relevant
A group of panelists at Mumbrella’s Publish conference have concluded print is not dead, so long as the content is relevant, engaging and tactile.
Natalie Taylor, the national sales director of BlueStar Group, told the audience: “Print is the tool that you stop and you engage with and it’s tactile, you are consumed within your own time.”
Deborah Bibby, Fiona Corsie, Cassie Laffey, Natalie Taylor, Rob Gallagher
There is barely a coherent sentence quoted in this article, let alone a definitive conclusion. Print has a wonderful sense of nostalgia to it, but it is dead because the exact same content can obtained more easily and for free on their phone.
Agreed poorly written article here…. I was at this event yesterday and was one of the better panel sessions and some very good examples discussed around ROI and engagement in print. I disagree, print is not dead.
The printed word is not dead – PwC confirmed book sales have been rising for some time now. The challenge for mags, papers is making good content in a printed format which is a positive value exchange for the reader. When it takes 15 pages to get to the first bit of content and even then, those are all sponsored or ‘native’, eyeballs are going to go elsewhere.
‘Print’ as an umbrella term is useless, and deader than monty python’s parrot. As are the glory days of print advertising, of charging thousands for pages, of publishers expecting advertisers to dutifully genuflect in deference at their product being featured on the cover.
But not all print is dead, it’s just resting.
In my opinion Print is not dead but we as an industry are killing it by talking it down. Physical magazines engage people for over 60 minutes at a time, in their own time – how can we even compare that amount of time spend with a brand via digital. At the end of the day people will consume content in their own way – but honestly feel that in a world of digital junk food for our brains – engaging in a print publication has no better feeling.
I work for a suburban newspaper chain in Perth. Print is certainly not dead, and readers enjoy free suburban newspapers as a valuable source of local news and information.
Unless we take steps and start to build some trust in our suite of products, we are in danger of falling into a trap of a self fulling prophecy.
To our readers, and a majority of established clients, it is steady as you go, those who have jumped ship to run to run other types of marketing have not seen the magical uptake in local business.
We must take more responsibility to demonstrate that print is alive and well- even in today’s economic conditions.
I have found that in many market categories print punches above it’s weight in cost efficiency and effectiveness and will always offer a complimentary or viable alternative to most forms of marketing.