6 Ways to Boost Returns With Effective Print Advertising

As it becomes increasingly difficult to gain traction online, many businesses are, once again, turning to traditional marketing with printed advertisements. Good print advertisement remains one of the most impactful—and cost-effective—ways to move your business closer toward its goals. Great print advertising, however, does even more. It can boost sales, increase returns, improve brand recognition, and build a strong, long-lasting customer base.

There are many strategies you can implement to make your print campaigns even more effective. For example, A/B testing new creative regularly, choosing the right print media for your message, using data, and more.

What is a printed advertisement?

Printed advertisements are a form of traditional marketing that involves physically printed pieces, such as postcards, flyers, brochures, magazines, and other types of direct mail materials.

1. Keep testing new creative on print advertisements

There’s always room to improve. Even if you love the current design or creative style of your printed advertisements, there are still aspects that could be tweaked, overhauled, or replaced. These minor-to-major adjustments may be the key to boosting returns. Don’t get so attached to your current creative that you stop innovating or testing.

Ad fatigue is a real challenge, even in traditional advertising. Once audiences have seen a particular ad or design a few times, it loses its impact. They stop paying attention, and your results suffer.

It’s important to test new visuals, formats, and messages regularly. This keeps things fresh for recipients and, as a result, maximizes opportunities for conversion and engagement. Maintaining or re-capturing viewer attention can really be as straightforward as A/B testing new designs.

Just keep in mind that you still need to maintain some brand consistency during creative overhauls and A/B tests. This is crucial for building brand recognition among audiences. Your logo, tagline, and even some colours must remain consistent throughout all your marketing channels.

2. Choose the right print media for your message

Different messages suit different mediums. Postcards are fantastic for brief, to-the-point messages, whereas catalogues are better for deep dives into full product lines. In order to optimize the success of your next campaign, you need to pick the best print advertisements for your message, goal, budget, and audience.

Printing Advertising Examples

• Postcards are great for short messages and specials. These are the most direct forms of direct mail since no envelope is required, making postcards particularly effective at high-impact marketing with engaging designs and concise messaging. They’re also highly cost-effective.
  
  

• Flyers are incredibly versatile and can be used to convey a wide variety of messages. They offer more visual real estate than postcards. Use them to advertise services, sales, and events.
  
  

• Brochures come in a wide array of sizes and folds. They can be used to provide detailed information on products, sales, events, and your brand story. Additionally, brochures can be distributed in person or through direct mail campaigns.
  
  

• Catalogues have the most room out of all the different forms of print media, allowing you to provide detailed information on entire product lines and service offerings.

3. Elevate print quality with effective design and commercial printing

We cannot understate the importance of print quality and effective design in generating returns on print advertising campaigns. A great print advertising design can be ruined by poor quality, while superb print quality cannot salvage a bad design. You need both to succeed.

Working with a professional direct mail fulfillment and commercial printing company, like Troi Mailing Services, sets your business (and campaign) up for success. At Troi Mailing Services, our experts assist with every part of the process. Our in-house designers can elevate the design of your direct mail pieces (or start over from scratch), ensuring that they make a positive first impression on recipients.

Furthermore, our commercial printing services are second to none. We work closely with Timeline Printing, an established commercial printer with over 35 years of industry experience. Your project will be handled professionally from start to finish!

4. Launch a multi-channel marketing campaign

In 2025, two or more channels are better than one. Even though print advertising is highly effective on its own, you can generate even better results through cross-channel promotion and multi-channel marketing.

Multi-channel marketing campaigns increase your opportunities to engage with audiences and strengthen your brand recognition. When an ad appears in a recipient’s mailbox, on their social media feed, and as an email in their inbox, it’s much harder to ignore. 

Instead, you are gently nudging them towards a desired outcome, like attending your event, taking advantage of a sale, or purchasing a product. Multiple interactions with your brand also make it more recognizable, familiar, and trustworthy.

5. Use data for precise targeting

Sending the wrong type of mailer with the wrong message to the wrong person is a recipe for unsatisfactory results. You need to tailor your message to its intended audience. Moreover, you need to understand who your audience is and what type of messaging resonates most with them.

Your mailing lists should be full of data, such as demographic information, behavioural data, purchasing history, and more. You can then use these details to identify groups, define your target audience, and implement precise targeting in your next campaign. 

When recipients receive a special offer or message that feels relevant to them, they’re more likely to engage in the way you want. Otherwise, your mail piece is asking to be ignored.

Ultimately, precise targeting reduces waste and increases response rates, improving your overall ROI.

6. Track your return on investment

The only way to identify ROI improvement is to track your ROI. If you’re not tracking your return on investment, you’ll never be able to tell if your efforts are working or not. This also means that you won’t be able to implement smart, effective improvements. Tracking your ROI helps you identify strategic weak spots.

Fortunately, there are many ways to track and measure the campaign performance of print advertising. For example, you can use QR codes, coupon codes, personalized URLs, and custom landing pages. 

These tools allow you to quantify engagement and sales from each printed advertisement. Every time a recipient uses one of these tools, you receive that data. It’s easy and highly trackable.

You can then use that feedback to determine what’s working, what isn’t, and what improvements you need to make immediately. Marketing is supposed to be a continuous process of tweaking and refining, but you need accurate data to hone your efforts.

If you’re unsure how to track your ROI, simply use Troi Mailing Services’ free, online ROI calculator to measure the success of your campaign.

Improve Your Print Advertising With Troi Mailing Services

Troi Mailing Services was established in 1991 and has since helped countless businesses maximize their print advertising efforts. Our in-house team of experts understand the ins and outs of successful direct mail campaigns, and they’re ready to help.

We can improve the design, assist with more precise targeting, analyze results, print, and distribute. No matter the size of your project or your budget, our team is committed to giving every one of our customers the best experience possible.

To learn more about print advertising in Toronto, call Troi Mailing Services at 1-866-486-0423 or contact us online.