[Revamped for 2025]
Two plus two equals ten when you’re combining digital and print marketing. It may sound like crazy math, but the combined effect of crossing the two in a “phygital” (physical plus digital) strategy truly maximizes the power of both.
Let’s Get Phygital
Ready to integrate? Start by focusing on a strategy that capitalizes on the unique advantages of each medium, while creating that all-powerful synergy across all channels.
Let’s look at how you can harness this proven strategy. First, we’ll learn the best ways to combine digital and traditional marketing into phygital, and then we’ll dive into practical tips for creating a seamless, integrated marketing campaign.
Related: What Is a Multi-Touch Campaign and Why Do You Need One?
Combining Materials: Where to Begin
Before diving into specific campaigns, it helps to take a step back and understand the foundational elements that make an integrated strategy work. By aligning your digital and print materials from the ground up, you set yourself up for true omnichannel success. Start with these core best practices:
1. Ensure Brand Consistency Across Channels
Consistency is always key. Ensure your brand’s visual identity and message are consistent across digital and print marketing materials. This will help reinforce your brand’s image and make it more memorable (and less confusing) for consumers.
2. Use a Targeted, Personalized Approach
Combining digital and print marketing enables savvy marketers to create that much-desired personalized experience for your audience. People love personalization! So use data from your digital and in-store purchasing channels to tailor print materials to individual preferences, and vice versa. With the power of predictive analytics, you can also find lookalike audiences or effectively target your current ones (more on that later).
The Benefits: Increase Reach and Engagement
The benefits of a phygital strategy go beyond each individual channel’s contributions. By leveraging both digital and print channels, you’ll reach a wider audience and cater to different preferences. In fact, businesses that combined email and print saw a 49% increase in sales and 125% more inquiries, showing just how powerful this approach can be. Some consumers respond better to digital content, while others prefer print materials, so an omnichannel approach can maximize engagement.
Related: 8 Ways to Measure Print Advertising ROI
Creating Seamless Integrated Marketing
With your marketing pieces in place, you can integrate them and match them up to your buyer’s journey. Here’s a fool-proof way to build an omnichannel strategy:
- Plan and Align Your Goals: Identify your overall campaign objectives and determine how both digital marketing and print solutions contribute to achieving those goals. Keep the messaging, look, and feel consistent throughout.
- Allocate Your Marketing Budget and Resources Effectively: Consider the unique advantages and costs associated with each channel. For example, digital marketing may be more cost-effective for reaching a large audience while print marketing can be more impactful for a local or targeted campaign. Furthermore, you’ll reach different specific audiences through print and digital advertising, so you can target ad spend in this way as well. Rank each channel by reach and ROI versus cost to best allocate resources.
- Track the Success of Your Campaign: Monitor the results across both digital and print channels using analytic tools. This will help you make data-driven decisions for future campaigns by identifying what’s working and what’s not.
- Test and Refine: Continue to monitor and adjust your omnichannel marketing campaign based on performance data and user feedback. Even with the perfect plans, it’s critical to take the pulse of the campaign as it actually unfolds in the real world, so you can make the changes needed to increase conversions. Tools like HubSpot can help automate and optimize online campaigns. By tracking to see what’s working, you’ll maximize your strategy and ensure you’re making the most of your marketing.
Related: Go Omnichannel With the Right Channels
Strategies for Mixing Digital and Print Marketing
Ready to go phygital? Here are some of the best ways to create integrated marketing campaigns that truly deliver the best of both worlds:
1. QR Codes and Augmented Reality (AR)
Incorporate QR codes or AR elements into your print materials to bridge the gap between digital and print and pull people online from your direct mail campaign or poster. This encourages users to engage with your digital content, provide demographic information, or even make a purchase right then and there. It also streamlines and enhances the overall experience.
2. Social Media and Print Collateral
Use your social media presence to promote print materials, such as special offers or event invitations. Alternatively, include social media icons and handles on your print collateral to drive traffic back to your social media platforms and website. It works both ways, and the multi-touch effect surrounds the customer with a total brand experience to help encourage brand loyalty and trust.
3. Email Marketing and Direct Mail
Integrate email marketing with traditional direct mail campaigns. For example, use email to share digital versions of print materials, or create email drip campaigns to send follow-ups to customers who received a direct mail piece. In this way, you’re reaching prospects at different points throughout their day with complementary messaging.
4. Content Marketing and Print Publications
Repurpose content from your blog or website for print publications, such as industry magazines or local newspapers. Not only does this save time and money, but it can help establish your brand as an authority in your field and drive traffic to your digital channels.
Related: Why Your Digital Marketing Still Needs Print
Maximize Your Marketing’s Impact
By combining digital and print marketing strategies, businesses can create powerful omnichannel marketing campaigns that increase both audience reach and engagement. You will not only be leveraging the strengths of each medium, but amplifying them to create a memorable, impactful marketing experience for your target audience.
There are so many powerful phygital tools in your marketing toolkit.
When you’re ready to maximize your impact with integrated marketing, talk with our Ironmark team.
