Paulsen's media team can give you five really good reasons why print should be in your media mix. And you might agree. But you might also be that's only because farmers are old school, right?

Consider this: I regularly listen to the Daily Tech News Show podcast and last week heard an episode titled, “Are Magazines the New Vinyl?” The hosts were incredulous to learn that Airbnb, Uber and Netflix had all developed print magazines, which they described as “weird” and “maybe a bit disturbing.”

The hosts went on to admit that there is something different about experiencing content in printed form. And that experience is precisely why we still recommend print in a media mix.

When you sit back with a magazine, you are more relaxed and open to new ideas. When you are searching online, you are leaning forward and looking for something specific. This is why banners have become less and less effective over time. They interrupt the search for information, unlike native or sponsored content which fulfills that drive to find something out, when done well.

Social media provides an exception to this hunt for information. Interacting with social media is a little bit more like the behavior we see with magazines, but context is an important consideration when crafting marketing messages.

Everybody’s Old School

My local grocery chain, HyVee, has also picked up on this “disturbing” trend with a publication titled Seasons. Of course, they have a website too, and both have great recipes and entertaining articles. However, I only know about the website because of the printed magazine that started showing up at my home several months ago. It is a great website, but it can’t compete in the crowded field of recipe websites during a Google search.

This type of branded publication is the ultimate in the world of content marketing. Every story reinforces the brand—truly a marketer’s dream. TD Ameritrade’s ThinkMoney, Swarovski’s Salt Magazine, United Airline’s Hemisphere and Red Bull’s The Red Bulletin are just a few of these branded pubs that are well-produced and have tremendous circulation. Of course, you can’t mention those without a nod to John Deere’s The Furrow, and the great-grandfather of all branded content, Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac.

Our media team is the first to say that we love digital for the data that allows us to target and be more accurate with our client’s media budget. But, they will also remind you that, at least in agriculture, print still has far greater reach and is necessary for building brand awareness. Our farmers aren’t so old school after all. “Weird,” huh?