We spend a lot of time at Insignia talking about websites, digital marketing, automation and increasingly AI.
But there is one area of marketing that continues to prove its value year after year.
Print.
Despite everything moving online, physical printed material still has an important place in a well-rounded marketing campaign. In fact, in a world where so much communication now arrives through screens, a well-designed brochure, leaflet, poster or banner can sometimes stand out more than ever.
A good example is the Christmas marketing work we produce each year for two of our long-standing clients, Chelsfield Lakes Golf Centre and Cranleigh Golf & Country Club.
Both venues run extensive Christmas programmes and while digital advertising forms an important part of promoting them, print remains a key part of the campaign too.
Something you can actually pick up
This year we have once again produced the Christmas brochure for Chelsfield Lakes Golf Centre.
It is a proper printed piece designed to sell the experience rather than simply list dates and prices. The brochure introduces the festive party nights, sets out what guests can expect and includes everything from the Christmas menu through to event dates, booking details and a physical booking form.
The brochure promotes a series of Christmas party nights running from late November through December with dinner, disco and festive entertainment all presented as part of one coherent piece of marketing.
There is something very different about being handed a brochure like this compared with seeing another advert disappear past you on a social media feed.
You can leave it on a desk.
Pass it around an office.
Take it home.
Put it in reception.
Come back to it a week later.
That physical presence still has value.
Print works best alongside digital
We are not suggesting print should replace digital marketing. Far from it.
For Chelsfield Lakes and Cranleigh we use a mixture of printed and digital material around their Christmas campaigns. That might include brochures, posters, leaflets and large-format PVC banners outside the venues alongside email marketing, social media, website updates and paid digital advertising.
The important point is that each element supports the others.
Someone might first see a large banner as they drive into the club.
Later they pick up a brochure from reception.
They then see a Facebook advert reminding them about the event.
Finally an email arrives prompting them to make the booking.
That is much more powerful than relying on a single marketing channel.
Print still has jobs that digital cannot do
Large PVC banners are a good example.
For venues such as golf clubs they can be positioned where hundreds or even thousands of members, visitors and passing motorists will see them over a number of weeks.
There is no algorithm deciding whether the banner gets shown.
No cost every time somebody sees it.
No inbox to get lost in.
It is simply there doing its job.
The same applies to posters around a clubhouse or leisure venue and leaflets or brochures that customers can physically take away with them.
Design across every channel
The other important part is consistency.
The printed brochure should feel like the website.
The poster should feel like the social campaign.
The email should use the same visual language as the banner someone saw at the entrance.
For us, this is where having creative, digital and marketing teams working together becomes particularly valuable. We are not designing a brochure in isolation then handing it over and forgetting about it. We can carry the campaign through print, web, email, social media, advertising and increasingly AI-assisted marketing workflows.
The medium changes but the brand and message remain consistent.
So, is print dead?
Not even close.
What has changed is the role it plays.
Print no longer needs to carry an entire marketing campaign on its own. Instead it can become part of a broader mix where physical and digital marketing reinforce each other.
And in an increasingly digital world, there is still something reassuringly effective about putting a beautifully designed piece of print into somebody’s hands.
Sometimes the old ways still work rather well.