Paper Planners Thrive, Despite The Digital Age
Photo by Gian Cescon on Unsplash
The digital age has brought a lot of new devices that have replaced many things in our daily lives. One example of this is that fewer people wear wrist watches, what is the point when your cell phone has the time right? Tablets and readers have led to decreased sales for printed paper books, and more authors are switching to publishing their work digitally.
The Paper Planner
However, one paper product still remains popular, in fact, it is thriving - the good ole fashioned paper planner. There is nothing quite as satisfying as planning out a day or week with pen and paper, and knowing that you will be productive and not forget anything important. Sure you could do this with your cell phone or tablet, but it just isn’t the same for many of us.
Trending Towards Growth
In fact “the sales of appointment books and planners grew 10 percent from 2014-15 to 2015-16” (The New York Times). That 10% is over 30 million dollars! Planners are trending and they are becoming very popular with millennials, which suggests this growth will continue strong into the future. Depending on where you come from a planner may be an agenda, journal, or appointment calendar, but essentially these are all various styles of the same thing.
Blogging, Social Media, and Planners
A new type of planner creator has emerged as well, with amazing levels of success. This is the entrepreneurial individual with a strong social media or blog following that has figured out that selling planners is a great way to monetize your online audience. Emily Ley (Simplified Planner), Whitney English (The Day Designer), Erin Condren (The LifePlanner), are a few examples of these folks. They all have at least 100,000 followers on one social media platform or another and are selling serious amounts of planners every year.
Emerging Markets
You don’t have to be a social media juggernaut to make money selling planners. There are tons of bloggers and social media buffs out there with more modest followings that are also experiencing success in this market. This is apparent on the popular online market platform Etsy. The number of small shops and individuals selling planners on Etsy is staggering.
A Flavor For Everyone
A major factor in the increased popularity of paper planners is the personalization and style options that are now available to buyers. “The consumer can customize a planner to fit his or her style with accessories, colors and even color code events and activities. That’s not something you can do on the standard phone calendar.” (Leen Nsouli, an analyst of the office supplies industry at NPD). Additionally, with the sheer volume of notifications, dings, and alert messages that come cascading from our phones and mobile devices, it has become easy to overlook a key alert that may have been of the utmost importance. With a paper planner that is never an issue.
Good Targeting is Key
A key to success in the planner industry is creating products that are targeted at specific niche groups of people. For example, there are people selling planners that are designed to help you create good social media content and blogging habits. Other examples include fitness planners, gardening planners, and planners for entrepreneurs, artists, or small business owners.
Tricky Business
Fans of planners tend to have specific wants and needs for a “perfect” layout. Of course, there are various formats to choose from as well - with daily, weekly, and monthly planners being available.
Buyers tend to be loyal, purchasing the same planners every season. This is a challenge for less established folks selling planners. The key is to demonstrate that your planner will fit their needs, or even surpass other planners. Doing that can be tricky, if you post too many examples of your planner’s pages, savvy internet goers will simply print off those pages and use them without making a purchase.
Show Them Inside Before They Buy
A great way to solve this problem of showing potential buyers inside your planner without risking giving it away for free is a digital planner flip through. Introducing the 3D Planner View. This unique fully interactive platform lets the viewer flip through the pages of the planner in stunning detail. In addition, you can rotate and view the planner from any angle, it is just like holding the product in your hands.
A good car salesman will tell you that if you can get them inside the car, then you can make a sale. The same is true for most any product. The 3D Planner View can be embedded directly into a website or blog just like an image or video. Also, thanks to some new apps, you can also integrate this into a Facebook Business Page as well.
The 3D Planner View is a subscription product that will run you $15 per month. The value of this cutting edge marketing service is well worth the cost. However, since we love that you have read our blog, you can claim a permanent 20% monthly discount. Get your 3D Planner View for only $12 per month with discount code: SELLMOREPLANNERS
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 3D PLANNER VIEW HERE