Awards Spotlight Print’s Powerful Impact on Your Audience

It’s the age of big data. In all areas of business – and in particular in marketing and advertising – hard data is helping us gain insights and make a more effective decision.

“In an increasingly complex publishing world,” writes Jon Watkins in FIPP, “where audience engagement relies upon a mix of print, digital and experiential offerings, research and audience insight are more important than ever.”

This kind of research was celebrated recently at FIPP and UPM’s Insight Awards, an annual event that shines a light on some of the research-based work helping publishers strategically grow their business.

Watkins continues, writing “what was strikingly apparent from this year’s winning entries, was the prominent role still played by print publishing among the many successful multi-platform strategies delivering great audience engagement and success.”

The overall winner came from a joint program of Immediate Media, Bauer, Haymarket and Dennis and focused on the role of print magazines in the car buying funnel

What the researchers found was that print motoring magazines play a vital role in the purchasing process,” Watkins notes. “Magazine readers, it found, makeup one-third of all car buyers but are responsible for 60 percent of new car purchases. They spend on average GBP£33,000 (USD$43,000) on their new car, often own several cars, and are early adopters who influence other car buyers.”

This influence is critical in the new age of media when trust is paramount for brand engagement. This point was driven home by another award winner at the event, this one from Magnetic Media on brand trust.

“It found that magazine brands outperform social media in six out of eight categories when it comes to trust: fashion, beauty, motoring, news, home and entertainment,” Watkins notes.

“We were also able to prove a brand rub effect: trust in a magazine brand translates into perceptions of trustworthiness for brands who use this environment,” said Magnetic’s head of insight, Anna Sampson, referring to what we call “the trust bump” of print magazines.

For publishers, research-based content like these award winners can provide a leg up when selling print. Knowing your audience – what influences them to purchase and engage with your brand – is the key to successfully leveraging your printed platform.