Neuroscience and Print – a Curated List for Your Sales Quiver

Earlier this year, I shared a great post from D. Eadward Tree on what our sales teams need to effectively sell print in a multi-channel world.

We can’t expect our sales teams — especially if they come from a digital background — to understand the realities of modern print. That goes for the “old codgers,” too, as Tree called them. Print marketing today is a far different beast than it was when the old guard entered the business.

Tree offered a list of eight key concepts around which you might form a foundational library of sales resources:

  • Data-driven print
  • Printed samples
  • Versions
  • Controlled circulation
  • Public-place copies
  • Sponsored cover wraps
  • Advertorial or native ad

Beyond the technical – which is absolutely important – let’s start including some critical research on the people behind the sales – the customers, their human brains and how print works in that equation.

“One of print’s best friends is biology,” writes Heidi Tolliver-Walker in What They Think. “As has become increasingly clear from the growing body of research, our brains love print. There is something about the way our brains process information on the printed page that is different from that in digital form. It is better understood, more deeply embedded, and is recalled with more detail. It also creates more powerful emotional engagement that translates into purchase intent.”

This is the kind of real-world information potential ad partners must understand to realize the true potential of magazine ads. Tolliver-Walker curated a fantastic list of neuroscientific research, beginning with the groundbreaking report from Royal Mail/Millward Brown titled “Using Neuroscience to Understand the Role of Direct Mail.”

Quantitative research like this will do more for your sales process than the slickest webinar on relational selling or benefits analyses.

Topics include studies on the effects of the medium on reading comprehension; the bias for action that print creates in readers; the human response to direct mail; and how our brains process ads. The list, while not comprehensive, is a good place to start to answer “why print.” And if we can effectively answer that with proven data, our sales can’t help but improve.

Browse the list and read the reports, then share with your sales team and ad partners.