THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PRINT CATALOGE
Many existing companies cannot successfully build a brand and drive traffic without the catalog.The catalog will always drive decisions for a long time to come. Even after the migration of orders from call centers to the internet, the catalog is still showing consistent revenue. It is the catalog that is still driving the customer to the internet. Both channels provide a very symbiotic relationship. There would be a very real negative impact without any one channel. Take advantage of these changes and you can print a powerful catalog that brings in massive return on investment.
A lot of people are surprised that catalogs even exist anymore. It costs a lot of money to create and mail a first rate catalog and the Internet was supposed to handle the catalog job. What happened? The answer turns out to be pretty complicated.
For starters, a lot of people like printed catalogs, printed anything, really. Our agency puts out a quarterly magazine for a western Canadian client. A recent survey of readers asked how they’d feel if the magazine became an online e-zine. There was a near revolt: 95% loudly preferred the printed version.
Printed material is tactile. Except for the laborious task of turning pages, dealing with something printed is almost passive; you don’t have to sit in front of a computer, type anything to search. You can hold a catalog in your hands, mark it up, put it down and pick it up again a day later. It can, and often does, stay in the house for weeks.
Even with everyone on the Internet, catalogs are still mailing in the billions (with a b) and the reason from the marketers’ perspective is the foundation of direct marketing:catalogs work! They more than pay for the costs of getting them into the hands of customers and prospects.