We’ve all heard it before. Print is old-fashioned and outdated, like vinyl records. But has everything really gone digital? And aren’t records back in favor?

These trends support the fact that print is:

Your field of expertise may be complex, but your branding shouldn’t be. Deliver your message in simple, clear terms that should resonate with your audience.

Readers pick up a magazine and enjoy calmly reading it’s contents cover-to-cover. There are no pop-ups,no interruptions. Your audience becomes absorbed by what is on each page.

A nationally recognized marketing company stated that print customers spend on average 30 minutes with a magazine but no more than two minutes on any given website.

The same marketing company noted that over 50% of all consumers trust print advertisements more than digital. By appearing in a magazine month after month, the reader becomes familiar with you and is drawn to you as a trustworthy source of information. You’re not just another pop-up window to close.

And not at all because it is outdated, but the opposite: the feel of the product itself (turning the pages, feeling the glossy texture) has staying power and the ability to evoke a positive (and memorable) sensory experience.

In the days of constant notifications, print media appeals to the public’s innate need to unplug and unwind. Magazines remain on coffee table because they foster quality, lasting connections between the authors, advertisers and the readers.

This may seem counterintuitive, until you consider how we use our smartphones. Usually, when you contact a business, you are using information found on the website. But you’re only on the website because you Googled that business. And why did you do that? Because chances are you saw the business in a printed ad or elsewhere that made them top of mind.

Social media advertising, in the era of false news, has lost consumer trust. And trust is the currency of advertising. Research shows that TV and print ads are still the most trusted mediums.

Procter & Gamble’s decision to cut back on social media advertising back in 2017 was the result of renewed focus on transparency in digital advertising. This initiative revealed that the average view time for a mobile ad on a digital news feed was only 1.7 seconds. And many people were actually viewing too many P&G ads, which can turn consumers off. It’s very important to get your cadence right, making sure you are in front of your target audience regularly — but not too frequently.

Clearly P&G, one of the biggest spenders on advertising, was years ahead of itself. Just this month, hundreds of advertisers have publicly announced that they are ceasing advertising purchases from Facebook, citing its inability to rein in racist and violent content as well as misinformation. The trust in digital and social media platforms has finally evaporated.