What banner blindness means for print marketing

When you are scrolling on your phone today through Facebook or perhaps LinkedIn, can you recall any of the adverts you saw?

The most likely answer is no.

This is due to the decreasing effectiveness of digital advertising caused by a phenomenon called ‘banner blindness’.

Over the last 18 months, with the majority of us stuck inside, we found ourselves in front of the computer screen or attached to our phones more than ever before. In that time, we also saw a big increase in businesses redirecting their budgets to online methods of marketing to keep brand awareness high.

Unfortunately, as well as getting zoom fatigue, many of us would have got ‘banner blindness’.

‘Banner blindness’ is where people browsing the internet will consciously (or unconsciously) ignore advertisements shown to them. Usually, this is to avoid interacting with ads that may disrupt the user experience.

There are a few reasons why banner blindness is happening.

One is down to a large number of banner ads on digital platforms already; users do not know where to look. As a company, you could be spending a lot of your marketing budget on an advert that is also surrounded by other adverts that users are frankly ignoring.

The impact of the pandemic is likely to be another cause.

With people spending a large amount of time on their phones and devices, we are finding it easier to ignore online adverts. We generally know now where adverts are placed and how they look, therefore we can actively ignore them.

What does this mean for print marketing?

If you are not utilising print, then you are missing out.

Print marketing is far from being an outdated form of communication, especially when banner blindness has become more prominent over the past few years.

While businesses do need an online presence, digitalising all your marketing could have a detrimental impact on sales.

That is because print marketing still has a large amount of influence and even the most digital-savvy of generations such as Generation Z or Millennials trust print over digital – 16% of us trust social media as a source of information, 73% of us trust print (Yellow Social Media Report, 2018) and printed materials gain more respect and attention from would-be consumers.

The truth is, print will always leave a tangible and long-lasting impression. It stands out, it keeps a brand top of mind and it makes people take action. Print is not old fashioned – it is a vital part of your market mix and in a world that is becoming increasingly saturated with messages, investing in print is crucial if you want to stand out.

To learn more about adding print to your marketing efforts and increasing its impact, speak to the Visual Print and Design team today.