Sunday 17 June 2012

Five Printing Trends for 2012

What trends are happening in the world of print for 2012?

  http://www.krdprint.com.au/images/print-samples.jpg

  1. Increased cross-media With the importance of online as a media marketing tool, print has developed features to drive users to your site, including the use of 2D bar-coding/QR Codes which can be read by cell phones. This means that your Print advertising is not a separate advertising option but part of a rich cross over marketing mix. Print still has its own advantages over online and you can see how your advertising campaign can benefit by getting the right mix. Look for more innovations in cross-media as the entire marketing mix is viewed as an interconnecting symbiotic whole.
  2. Increased creative use of print’s uniqueness Conversely increased functionality, increased technical specifications – increased potential to utilize and emphasize print’s uniqueness are allprinting trends we will see in 2012. As touch screens have taken over, the tactile, the touch-ability, the fold-ability, the physical properties of print will be increasingly used in creative ways to highlight its uniqueness; its special qualities. This is where real creativity can surprise and delight your target demographic, not just in the content, but how the content and the media itself are used creatively.
  3. Cheaper, faster, better. Cheaper color prints in small quantities and quicker turn around with less maintenance due to advances and proliferation of digital printing technology are all trends we will see in 2012. No longer does creating less than 1000 color prints need to be prohibitively expensive. Maintenance is less involved. And as digital technology ever increases, print is going to continue to increase its potential to deliver high quality stunning images, of potentially ever increasing size, quality, scope and speed.
  4. Streamlining of marketing spend. With changes in printing trends,your printers should not just be seen as “ink men” but communications companies, understanding the needs of the client and the campaign. By reducing the need to outsource both a creative agency and separate printing company, but instead by streamlining with a one stop shop solution, precious money can be saved which can instead be invested in the campaign itself. And the campaign itself will be aided by people who understand print; people who live with it, breathe its qualities and uses every day.
  5. Increased interactivity. One of the printing trends we are going to be seeing is an increased data/analytic potential by print entering the electronic sphere. Think of it like bio-technology. Part organic part electronic. By seeing print as something that is both its own media in its own right, but also entering and becoming part of the electronic world through bar coding/QR coding/Microsoft tags, print media can now be tracked for interactivity from potential customers. How many people scanned your add? How many people who scanned this add in the place of this demographic? The advantages of online can now be extended to print by its interaction with the digital sphere, whilst print can still serve you well with its broad range of benefits.

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