Hard copy has been reincarnated as a high value business product. High quality hard copy is now considered best practice, high status business material. This new status has been achieved by a combination of adapting search engine optimization principles to hard copy and by top quality print design. The top quality hard copy product is best described as the very high quality corporate documents you’ll have seen at work and when looking for business information.
The reinvention of hard copy as a top of the range business product is a very interesting study in media presentation and information management. The glitz and flashy media of the web has helped develop a greatly improved approach to hard copy, and it’s paying off well for businesses around the world.
The elements of good hard copy, explained
There are several elements in the new hard copy:
· SEO style information- The new hard copy is based on a basic SEO principle- Making it easy for people to find the information they need. The new layouts are information-rich, and include fundamental areas of interest for targeted readers.
· A typical example is something like “Big Trucks” or “Big Rigs”. The subject is obvious, and whether you’re printing a magazine or a brochure, that’s what your target audience is looking for.
· Best quality visual presentation- Modern readers, understandably, won’t look twice at something which doesn’t have at least some level of visual appeal. This is another SEO principle, replacing picture tags with subject-relevant images, and presenting those images very well.
· Information value- One of the most fundamental principles of advertising, marketing and SEO is content value. With any type of media, readers make a split second decision whether they want to know about the content. The new hard copy format is based on additional information which promotes the product as having genuine value to the reader.
Business cards- The ultimate hard copy value in your pocket
Business card printing is a very clear example of the values of information in hard copy form. As you know, some business cards are much higher value than others, and it’s largely a result of the information they contain. The business cards you keep have actual value. When you keep a good magazine or business document, it’s on very much the same basis. This is true for all promotional items. Visual appeal and the information they contain determines their effectiveness and thus their ongoing value.
Now think about it for a minute- The hard copy products you actually want and keep are based on:
· Information you need
· Visual elements you like
· Subjects you both want to know about and like
This is your own personal search engine at work, hunting down what you want, using subjects as your preferred keywords.
It’s also the basic SEO principle behind the value of the new hard copy business products. A lot of web media products, like Adobe’s various design products, are based on achieving that level of product value. Modern printing services are in fact using very much the same methods as web-based media, which has led to the rebirth of a medium which was supposed to be “obsolete” because of the web.
What went around has come around- The new hard copy business materials are now top of the range marketing products. Check out what your printer can do for you, because you’ll be astonished.