Only about 1 in 14 print shops actually advertise. That's the opportunity. Here's the complete advertising playbook for commercial print — which channels work, which to skip, and how to allocate budget across paid search, LinkedIn, Facebook, display, video, and offline placements.
Industry research has found that only about 7.82% of print companies actually advertise their services. That's roughly 1 in 14 shops. The other 13 rely entirely on referrals, repeat business, and walk-ins.
Think about what that means competitively. In any given metro area, you might have 30-50 commercial print shops. Of those, maybe 3-5 are actively advertising. Of those, maybe 1-2 are doing it well. If you advertise correctly, you have to outperform 1-2 competitors to dominate the market. That's a remarkably soft competitive landscape compared to almost any other B2B industry.
The reason most shops don't advertise: they don't know where to start, what channels to use, or what to budget. So this page walks through it.
No advertising channel works without strategy. And the strategy for print advertising is simpler than people make it. You need to know three things:
With those three things defined, every ad you write becomes obvious. Without them, every ad sounds like every other print shop's ad.
Each of these channels has different strengths. The right mix depends on your audience and budget — but every print shop should at minimum be evaluating these six.
The most direct intent-capture channel. Ads appear when someone searches for the products you sell. Best for: immediate lead generation, predictable cost-per-inquiry, geographic targeting precision. Watch out for: needs proper campaign structure or it burns money fast (see the full PPC guide).
Our favorite channel for B2B-focused print shops. The targeting is unmatched — you can reach exact job titles, company sizes, industries, and seniority levels. CPC is higher than Google (typically $7-$15), but the audience quality is unmatched.
LinkedIn targeting criteria that actually matter for print:
Minimum spend is $10/day per campaign. Expect to test for 60-90 days before drawing conclusions on what works.
Trickier for B2B print than LinkedIn. The targeting is interest-based (which works for consumer products) and weaker for B2B. The Facebook play for print is mostly remarketing — running ads to people who have already visited your website. Cheap, effective at staying top-of-mind, and easy to set up.
Don't write off Facebook entirely — it's a cost-effective awareness channel — but don't expect it to generate cold leads at the rate LinkedIn does.
Funny enough, the digital marketing industry borrowed "banner" from print. Display ads work similarly to physical banners — they generate visibility and awareness, but not direct conversion.
The most common mistake: using audience targeting like "people looking for print services." That audience doesn't really exist. The numbers Google presents you with represent half the US population — which means the targeting is functionally random.
The Display Ads play for print is remarketing — showing display ads to people who have visited your site recently. Low cost, persistent visibility, follows your prospects around online until they reconvert.
Best for awareness and top-of-mind. Worst for direct conversion. Print is visually compelling — your work looks great on video — but most shops don't have the time or production resources to make ads regularly.
One advantage worth noting: video ads can target specific YouTube channels or videos. If your target audience watches certain industry channels, you can run ads directly on those videos. Combined with low CPM (cost per thousand views) for video, this can be a surprisingly efficient awareness play.
Mostly relevant for shops with ecommerce capabilities. If your site doesn't sell directly online (most commercial print shops don't), skip this. If you do have an ecommerce flow for stock products — yard signs, basic banners, business cards — Shopping Ads can be a meaningful channel.
Requires Google Merchant Center setup, a product feed that meets Google's specs, and Google Ads. Not a "fast launch" channel.
Not every advertising dollar belongs online. For print shops specifically, certain offline plays remain effective.
The most expensive mistake in print advertising isn't picking the wrong channel — it's spending money to drive traffic to a page that doesn't convert. Every ad you run has to land somewhere. That landing page does as much work as the ad itself.
A good landing page has:
Most print shops drive ad traffic to their homepage. That's a 50-70% conversion loss vs. a properly-built landing page. The math gets dramatic at any meaningful ad spend level.
Pryntbase covers the digital advertising and inbound side — LeadsMagic for capturing visitors, SocialMagic for organic social presence, BlogMagic and EmailMagic for content marketing, SEOMagic for organic search rankings. Plus 100+ pre-built PPC campaigns. Six apps, three plans, one platform built specifically for commercial print.