As an advertiser, how do you navigate your media mix in a complex, ever-changing media world? At Wray Ward, we start by tapping into our industry’s most up-to-the-minute knowledge base and current data. This helps us identify the pros and cons of each media type for a specific client or campaign.

Do you evaluate print advertising as part of an overarching media strategy for your brand? This month, our team had the opportunity to meet with Linda Thomas Brooks, president and CEO of the Association of Magazine Media (MPA), to discuss trends in magazine publishing and implications for advertisers.

Here are three key takeaways.

1. If your advertising goals include brand affinity and purchase intent, print outscores digital and TV.

A print campaign can communicate the message and connect with audiences in a way that is relevant and motivating. According to a recent study by Kantar Millward Brown Digital, print simply works harder at achieving these specific brand KPIs.

With that said, a successful media strategy looks at the whole ecosystem. That means other brand KPIs are best achieved through other channels.

For example, digital marketing may be more targeted than print. It allows more frequency and, via specific tracking, can provide more measurable results. Digital builds brand affinity in an entirely different way.

We used to call TV a mass medium, but that label doesn’t fit as well these days. However, TV still delivers a powerful message in a way that can’t be replicated by other media types. TV and video’s combined elements of sight and sound move an audience in a special way. Remember, much of media planning depends on your call to action and messaging. You also need to understand your customer’s journey and consider how each tactic can play a role in that journey. In doing so, you may decide that compared to print, digital won’t build as much brand affinity during the awareness or introductory stage, but it will work when your customer is ready to buy.

2. Magazines are extremely important to influencers and influentials.

To be clear, this is not paid influencer marketing, but rather the influencers people (including our clients’ home category prospects) turn to for advice. This includes three critical categories for home marketers — home furnishings, interior decorating and home remodeling.

These are the people potential customers see as their expert friend network, and a 2018 study by MRI-Simmons shows they’re using magazines as their key source of information. Using magazines is another way to cultivate lucrative word-of-mouth or referral marketing. In turn, influentials who see our ad in print will become educated on our products and have knowledge of our communications and key messages.

The opportunity is clear, but it’s up to advertisers to ensure magazines work really hard for their brand. This goes back to the messaging, the visual and/or the creative nuances of the ad. and to making sure you’re positioning your brand in a way that’s appealing to the regular reader and the influential — keeping in mind the latter is a key part of your audience. That may mean leaning more aspirational or educational or, as we did with Palmetto Bluff, making part of their campaign a little more mysterious.