In this digital age we live in, a lot of our experiences when it comes to connecting with brands or products are void of physical contact i.e. touch. In keeping up with the digital Jones’ some brands are missing the opportunity of giving their customers and audience a tangible experience. There is so much evidence to support multichannel marketing and what the benefits of adding print to your plan can do to attract and retain customers. Sappi North America wrote a piece on this topic, they explore the power of print through zeroing in on Neuroscience of Touch and why we relate to this sense so strongly.

In an age flooded with digital content, marketers and brand managers are asking themselves, “does print matter?” The short answer is yes, of course. But why? Why should brands focus on print marketing when digital has taken the stage?

Touch. A sense seemingly so simple that its influence is often overlooked. But when it comes to brands and print marketing, touch has the power to make decisions, change emotions and summon memories.

Sappi North America explored this power in its award-winning guide, Haptic Brain, Haptic Brand: The Neuroscience of Touch. The guide details research and case studies focused on the power of touch in consumers’ daily lives, and then how it influences marketing.

The company first tapped into the experts with of Dr. David Eagleman, renowned neuroscientist, New York Times bestselling author and haptics specialist at Stanford University, to test the belief that the quality of paper contributes to the experience of its handler. When Dr. Eagleman and his team took a deeper look, however, they learned that there is much more to a successful print campaign than what meets the eye.

Haptics is more than just a technology buzzword

“Haptics” has been thrown around a lot in recent times, with companies like Apple integrating “haptic feedback” into its devices. But haptics is about much more than tech companies’ latest consumer goods. It’s about the science of touch and how it affects us – wherever we are, whatever we’re doing. Touch is more than just a physical sensor for the world around us – it is an interface through which we communicate. The reciprocal nature of touch is what drives connections; you can’t touch without being touched back. Touch can change the way that we perceive the world around us, for better and worse.

Studies1 have found that touch can also create a sense of ownership and value in our minds. This “endowment effect” triggers a possessive reaction in most humans, whether or not they actually own the item. Moreover, touch is essential to first impressions and relationships. If you’re holding something warm, you’re more likely to describe the person to whom you’re speaking with warm traits and adjectives2. Psychologist John Bargh found that temperature can have a subconscious influence on unrelated activities3. The same principles apply to texture and weight4. If you’re holding a heavy object when you’re speaking with someone, you may perceive them as more solid or grounded. It all comes down to the principle that what you touch shapes what you feel and know.

Humans are wired to prefer paper

Paper’s influence extends beyond its utility and that is primarily because of haptics. From better retention to readability, paper offers more cognitive benefits than other forms of communication. Paper has been the focus of hundreds of studies.

Ferris Jabr explored “why the brain prefers paper” for Scientific American and found that the physicality of paper was the driving force for human’s preference5. Dr. Eagleman and his students took these studies one step further by testing the quality of the paper and found that it was highly beneficial for recalling details and perception. Reading and writing leaves a greater “haptic footprint” in the brain – it’s that lasting impression that makes all the difference.

The Pew Research Center conducted a study in 2016 that proved that consumers, at least when it came to reading, preferred print6. While sales have exploded over the last decade, there has been little change in the number of people that read print only. In fact, the study found that “nearly four-in-ten Americans read print books exclusively; just 6% are digital-only book readers”. This turns the popular opinion that “print is out” on its head. For specific uses print will always win.

Meg Miller said it best for her article in Fast Company7, “the printed book still has major cultural and aesthetic significance. For many people, it’s a design object that won’t ever be replaced.” It’s a result of the emotional connections we form to printed objects that we keep them long after they have been used.

Why brands can’t ignore print

The bottom line is this: medium matters in marketing. The method by which brands deliver messages will influence the success of a campaign.

With information available instantaneously, the value of print is sometimes overshadowed by the latest technological breakthrough. And paper can work to digital’s advantage. Finding that harmony is what crafts the most memorable campaigns. Numerous b2b and b2c marketers have discovered through trial and error that successful campaigns start with magazine advertising and/or direct mail contact to engage and lure readers to their webpages where they can then offer sales incentives and corporate information, inviting the reader to volunteer their email address and join social communities.

For years, retailers have played with pulling different elements of their marketing mix, some even dared cut the holy grail of retail – catalogues. But when they removed catalogues from their marketing mix, they were shocked to find sales declined. Because of the “endowment effect”: The New York Times8 found that by “touching” the products in the catalogues first, consumers were more apt to buy them. In fact, through customer surveying, a major catalogue retailer, with both brick and mortar stores and a very active online store-front, discovered that 75% of online purchasing was primarily influenced by the print catalogue.

Brand perception relies on many factors, and print marketing and packaging are two major considerations. Touch is directly tied to print’s success. Without that haptic feedback that we receive from a relatively simple medium, we would not create these emotional connections to brands and experiences. There’s something to be said for a campaign that reaches all the senses – something print has already mastered and digital is just tapping into.

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So when two things that I love come together and prove what we already know (print is awesome) I would be foolish not to write about it.

After 14 years of being primarily an online luxury fashion destination, E-Commerce powerhouse Net-A-Porter recognised that their consumers were magazine lovers, reading about 4 to 5 per month! In 2014 Net-A-Porter moved out of its comfort zone and set about publishing its first print magazine named Porter. A merging of two strong communication mediums saw readers engage with editorial content in luxe print format whilst also giving them the power to instantly purchase products by scanning the item they were drooling over via an app. While this was a risk it was definitely a calculated one. There is a stack of case studies and stats that prove time and time again that not only does print perform on its own but also within a multichannel campaign. A recent study showed that the online component of a typical campaign pays back some 62% more when a printed element is integrated into the marketing mix.

The results showed that publishing the magazine proved worthy, showing continuous popularity with circulation reaching 170,038 in February 2016, with double-digit growth expected for 2016. Since the launch readers have scanned more than 90,000 products with an interaction rate of 80% clicking through to Net-A-Porter.com. Those customers that do subscribe to Porter have increased their spend by 125% and their rate of frequency on the site by 25%. Porter has been successful in both increasing website traffic and sales by introducing print into the mix.

Porter has highlighted that people still get excited about print, especially beautifully designed pieces with high quality content and stunning imagery. The print magazine was able to fill the lacking physical representation of the brand, bringing Net-A-Porter’s online store offline and into the living rooms of their consumers, offering direct tangible contact with customers that the permanent nature of print uniquely delivers. Net-A-Porter has shown that print is an extremely successful tool for businesses if they innovate with their products and continue to integrate print and digital.

This example can be laid across any business model and with any printed product. Paper and packaging is one of the most effective ways to leave your brand in the hands of your consumer. Allows you to reach a board range of people and strengthens the visibility of your brand.

“We’re building a physical temple to our brand – like Apple did with stores. Porter is meant to be a lasting, more intimate look into the minds of fashion’s most interesting people. It will be published six times a year and distributed in 60 countries.” – Natalie Massenet. Net-A-Porter’s founder.

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Over the past decade or more printers have got around the arduous task of quoting by creating a price list (a generic list of pricing for printed products). Some went that step further and installed web to print services that allows you to whack some information into a website; upload your file and WHALA! it arrives back at your door. Some of these developments have changed the print game for the better – imagine being the printer responsible for producing the business cards one of Australia’s largest businesses, thats a lot of names and a hell of a lot of job titles – this is where web to print is genius.

Whilst there is value in these ways of printing there are some downfalls and a bunch of reasons why we don’t use them. We do not use web to print systems, we do not have a standard price list even for the simplest of jobs, and we never will…. you can quote me on that. Pun intended.

Below are a few reasons why we steer away from these processes along with a our top tips to get the best printing quote.

1. Print works best with collaboration
We do a whole bunch of printing for some incredibly talented designers. These people are creative geniuses, the ever flowing river of shit-hot branding concepts, the makers of all things beautiful. They will attest that an open collaborative relationship with their printer turns the design game up a notch. We can give imperative print input about how that design will translate in printed form and what things may need to be reconsidered in order to avoid a printing disaster.
Collaboration is also pivotal when it comes to budget, you may have a pool of great ideas but if you don’t have the money to execute you could be wasting your time. That doesn’t mean you should throw your hands in the air and accept to be stuck with sub-standard printing, it means it’s time to collaborate with folks like us! We can work with what you have in your start up budget or what your marketing budget has allocated to the project and make sure you get a high quality product that you are proud of.

2. Not all papers are the same
In order to do a generic price list you need to simplify your paper offering, that to us would be like someone saying we were only allowed to eat one type of food for the rest of our lives. Cue massive tantrum and exaggerated breathing. We have hundreds, if not thousands of different types of paper and we like to think we are the best at picking an appropriate stock. Paper has the power to turn a very simple design into a beautiful finished product. There is coated, uncoated, smooth and varying degrees of textured stock alone that need to be considered, with the design and the desired outcome in mind. Rather than a client looking at generic prices and having to choose a stock that they think may work for their job, we prefer to make stock suggestions that will work, thus taking the guessing game away from the client. Paper, whilst a clever little thing, can be a little cheeky at times and that beautiful colour you have in the design can be greatly affected by the texture colour and shade of the stock it gets printed on. The last thing you want is for that beautiful red you have chosen to come out patchy because you opted for a heavy textured stock.

3. We aren’t that type of printer.
We are not going to be the guys that bid for the business card contract for Commonwealth Bank, we’re not that type of printer. Although we do large volume printing for our clients, we love dealing with small businesses, and people just starting out. We feel so fortunate to have clients that have been with us for 20+ years and we relish producing their work week in week out, but variety is also the spice of life and as a team it is important that we are digging the work we are producing. We are traditional trade qualified printers that operate not only letterpress and offset presses, we also work with the latest technology in digital printing. We are set up to service a broad range of clients that gives us the variety that drives us. Web to print would smother that vibe like an over eager first date.

4. We are not robots
We are living breathing human beings! We thrive on contact and communication. We like talking to our clients, we love knowing that your kid is doing great in soccer, that you just won a new client or that you finally finished the reno on your house without losing it at the builder. The history of Morgan Printing is based on quality print, excellent customer service and strong relationships. There is enough automation in life, heck McDonalds have people ordering their ‘food’ off a touch screen and the last time I spoke to a person at a bank was when i closed my Dollarmite account. It doesn’t mean we are going to bail you up for a five minute conversation every time you need a quote, it just means you have options that don’t involve talking to a pre-recorded message or a hotline that knows nothing about printing.

5. One size does not fit all
We do a lot of special finish work, think letterpress, embossing, foiling. There is no one size fits all approach to special finishing, it needs careful consideration which can only be done with a personalised quote.

How to get the best quote

1. Pick a knowledgable, personal, qualified printer.
2. Talk about how you want the job to feel – you don’t need to know all the lingo, just lay all your descriptive words on us.
3. Be upfront about what sucked with your last job – colour, stock or quality.
4. Understand that quality and service comes at a price, and frequently that price is cheaper than the crap you have been getting from your online printer.

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Our beloved paper and print industry has been on the receiving end of some very large misconceptions and incorrect information for some time. Most of these misconceptions are born from individuals and organisations simply trying to do their best in the face of a more sensitive and caring society, which in essence is a great thing. The only thing that doesn’t make it such a peachy situation is that a lot of the information shared in an attempt to show social responsibility is (for a large part) incorrect.

As an individual I am all for being responsible for my actions (or as I like to say ‘owning your stuff’). I may very well be the person who took the last piece of cake and it could be true that I only take the recycling to the front door and not out to the bin. I am happy to own that stuff, but there is nothing worse than being in a position where you have to own things that just aint’ yours to own, like it wasn’t me who put a dirty knife in the clean dishwasher; the same way my business doesn’t have a higher carbon footprint because it is in the print and paper industry – they are icky claims and I just wont wear them.

Like most situations in life, beautiful things can be created when looking for the positive, so that is what we have been doing (along with other industry peers). We recognise that we have a responsibility to continually improve our environmental credentials and provide information to all consumers who are receiving misleading or inaccurate information so they can make informed decisions about the use of paper and print products. In the background we have been quietly making changes for years now that see us strengthen our position as advocates for environmentally friendly and sustainable printing, but we decided it is time to go a bit further and dig a bit deeper by sharing interesting facts about our industry. We will do this on the blog, over social media and don’t be surprised if we start doing it in person too.

So why wait! Here is your first round of Myths vs Facts.

Myth: Paper is bad for the environment.

Fact: Paper is one of the few truly renewable products.

1. Paper is made from wood, a natural and renewable material. I see you knodding….stick with me. As young trees grow they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, as a wood product paper also continues to store carbon throughout its lifetime, which makes paper and print products effective carbon sinks. Why is this important? In a nutshell extra carbon dioxide increases the greenhouse effect and global temperatures, and in extreme cases can have a serious effects on ones health – think respiratory and cardiovascular issues. So that beautiful book you are reading and those business cards sitting on your side table are helping suck all the bad guys out of the air leaving you with a much nicer air to draw into your lungs.

2. For every tonne of wood a managed forest produces, it removes 1.47 tonnes of CO2 from the air and replaces it with 1.07 tonnes of oxygen…you know oxygen, that stuff we need to breathe in order to live. Responsible wood, plup and paper production ensures healthy growing managed forests and their continued benefits.

3. The paper industry has some 30 respected certification schemes, leading the race is the Forest Stewardship Council along with the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification. These schemes promote the responsible management of the world’s forests, develop standards which responsible forests can be measured by and works throughout the entire forest supply chain to ensure that timber and non timber forest products are produced with respect to the highest ecological and ethical standards. It is safe to say that our industry cares about the environment and we are happy to be taken to task to prove that.

You will notice that we have mentioned managed forest vs forest throughout this blog, it is extremely important to know that the paper suppliers that we use in Australia only source paper from mills that comply with the highest of standards and schemes. We are in full support of anti logging laws, we care about our impact on the environment and strive to strengthen our practises as a environmentally friendly printer.

We look forward to sharing more Myths vs Facts with you real soon.

Morgan Printing is a proud member of Two Sides Australia.

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By creating your own content and packaging it in an attractive way you’re immediately taking advantage of what makes print a great medium. It is this tangibility that is the backbone of why print has always been successful and will continue to be so.

Now that everyone has a website, print has become a way for a businesses to stand out from its competitors. Lets face it, we live in a digital age, but putting all your eggs in one basket when it comes to getting your message across is a recipe for failure. Think of this in terms of a brand or company on social media, anyone can join social media to promote their brand but you need more than just this one medium to stand out and be taken seriously.

Print is still an extremely effective tool, especially when working in conjunction with digital. Well crafted, customised print pieces like booklets, brochures and boutique magazines used alongside an online marketing campaign can strengthen a message. A printed piece can also be a tool to point customers to your online presence. Including your web address, Twitter handle, Facebook page, and other social media information on your printed material has become standard procedure in recent times.

Print is still, and will continue to be, a viable and reliable method of reaching your customers and delivering your message. In the face of an ever expanding digital world it may have a different place but the death of print has been greatly exaggerated. Proof of this fact is right in front of you, Morgan Printing, still succeeding and moving forward after over 35 years in business. The fact that you’re reading this blog shows that we’re also embracing our digital counterpart for the part it plays in our business.

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