Ten thousand flyers or one year of visibility
Both can work, and only one of them can be measured without effort. Print delivers once to a defined area, a placement delivers continuously to people already searching, and the only fair comparison is enquiries against the same break even. The distribution number is not the measurement.
Two different response patterns
Print pushes. It arrives whether or not the reader has a problem right now, and the response comes mostly from the small share who happen to need something that week. That is why print rewards repetition in the same area rather than a single large distribution.
A placement waits. It is found by people who are already searching, which is a much smaller audience with a much higher intent. Measured closing rates by source in one account ranged from 1.76 percent to 15.9 percent, and the pattern is the same: fewer arrivals, more of them ready.
Neither pattern is better. They fail differently: print fails by reaching people who do not need you yet, a placement fails by not being found at all.
What makes the comparison unfair is the units. 10,000 sheets sounds larger than 1 listing, and neither number says anything about enquiries.
How to compare them honestly
Give print its own response path: a separate telephone number, a code, or simply a question at the point of enquiry. Without that, print is unmeasurable and therefore always loses an argument it might have won.
Then use the same break even for both. At 250 euros a month and an enquiry worth 300 euros, a placement needs 0.83 enquiries a month. A print run costing 800 euros needs 2.7 enquiries in total to reach the same point, whenever they arrive.
Then note the tail. The print response ends within weeks of distribution. The placement keeps working while it is maintained, and it also keeps agreeing with your other sources, which is a second benefit print does not have at all.
| Property | Print run | Placement |
|---|---|---|
| Reaches | Everybody in an area, once | People searching, continuously |
| Response arrives | Within weeks | Spread over months |
| Measurable | Only with its own number or code | By channel in the sheet |
| Break even example | 2.7 enquiries for 800 euros | 0.83 a month for 250 euros |
| Second benefit | None | Agreement across sources |
When print is the right purchase
When the offer is time bound and local: an opening, a seasonal service, a specific street. Those are cases where reaching everybody in an area at once is exactly the point.
And when you can measure it. A print run with its own number and a note in the enquiry sheet is a channel like any other. A print run measured by feel is a purchase you will repeat or abandon for reasons that have nothing to do with what it produced.
Questions and answers
Is print dead?
How do I measure a print run?
Which is cheaper?
Can I do both?
Sources
- Seer Interactive, AI traffic conversion study The spread of closing rates by source
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 How people search before choosing a local business
