Magazines and Catalogs are Powerful Tools for Brand Expression

Yesterday, knowledge was power. Today, authenticity is everything. 

There are a million and one ways to reach your customers, to show leadership in the marketplace, to teach and instruct. But in today’s world of dubious sources and recycled data, brands should be focused on revealing who they are, not what they know.  

When shoppers most often purchase based on price, proximity, and name recognition, you need to entice those looking for loyalty and connection. This trend especially applies to instantly recognizable national brands like airlines and supermarket chains. When shoppers primarily purchase based on price, proximity, and name recognition, you need to entice those looking for loyalty and connection. Luxury brands in jewelry, fashion, and consumer technology can increase their profits by helping their customers see themselves using or wearing the product.  

But how?  

Be who you are

Authenticity is an inside job. There is an A-list customer base for every brand -- no matter how obscure or universal. But the only way to find your people is to be your people. Hire employees that speak your brand’s language with a mix of enthusiasm and authority. Think of every shareholder, board member, vendor, supplier, and customer as ambassadors of your brand. Inspire them to tell your story. 

Be in charge of your story

An authentic brand needs to be telling its story all the time, intimately and candidly. You can’t wait until there is some issue to get in front of. Today’s consumers can see through that, and they will be quick to de-platform your brand. Magazines and catalogs are vital tools to make a meaningful connection with your audience regularly. Millennials especially appreciate them because of their imagery and tactile nature. Magalogs — a hybrid of the two — is the best of both worlds. Brands have something to sell, so they should use beautifully printed pages to do that. But they also have something to say, and gifting customers those personal and timely messages at point-of-sale, through the mail and in the seat-pocket-in-front-of-you will pay dividends.  

Be vivid

Catalogs have been making a comeback since 2015. The Harvard Business Review (HBR) decided to reverse engineer the catalog’s special sauce to uncover its winning recipe. The secret ingredient? Vividness.  

To test the effectiveness of catalogs, HBR recently partnered with a U.S.-based specialty luxury watches and jewelry e-commerce global retailer. 

“Acting on our advice, the company launched a new bi-monthly catalog campaign featuring professional and artistically rendered product photography with high-quality printing. The company conducted the field experiment using a random 30% of its U.S.-based customers. Of those customers, 5% of them received neither email nor catalogs for six months, 55% of them received a weekly marketing email, and 40% of them received the new bi-monthly catalogs in addition to the weekly email marketing. To control for effects of content, over 90% of the products were the same between emails and catalogs. The same set of photos and descriptions were also used in both media. We then tracked purchases and product inquiries across all three groups. 

“Results showed that the “Email + catalog” group experienced a 15% lift in sales and a 27% lift in inquiries, compared to the “Email-only” group.” 

HBR found that the catalog’s real power is how “they increase the vividness of a product by enhancing consumer’s ability to visualize and imagine product usage experiences. Vividness is highly influential in consumer behavior as it can increase consumer involvement and joy in the purchasing process, ultimately influencing preferences and sales.” 

Magazines, catalogs and magalogs are a powerful addition to any messaging or sales campaign. They express authenticity, honesty, and connection better than other marketing tools and will lead your brand directly to its best customers. 

Journal Graphics specializes in super high-quality books and magazines with brilliant imagery and sharp printing. And we can design and execute a mailing campaign that complements and capitalizes on your brand’s e-commerce efforts. Call or click today to tap into the most effective marketing tools for your brand.