These Print Materials Have the Best ROI for Businesses & Here’s Why

Summary:

Postcards, business cards, brochures, and signage deliver the strongest returns in print marketing across most Canadian industries. For postcards and brochures, direct mail can lead to response rates of up to 4.7% or more if your business is highly localized. Business cards convert to leads at a rate of about 12%, which is much higher than the 2.35% average for websites. Signage delivers the best value for brick-and-mortar businesses with an average CPM of $2–$9.

Time to Read	6-8 minutes
What You’ll Learn	The four highest-ROI print materials in CanadaResponse rates for popular print productsHow often print products convert to leads or salesHow to strategically use print when you’re on a budget
Next Steps	Pick the print material(s) that fit your goals and budgetOrder a free proof from Little Rock Printing™Launch your first (or next) print campaign with confidence

These Print Materials Have the Best ROI for Businesses & Here’s Why

Marketing budgets are shrinking, which means businesses have to be more selective about where they spend their advertising dollars. While print marketing can still deliver excellent results, not every format is equally effective and experimenting blindly can quickly eat through what you have to spend.

The best way to reduce risks like these is to build strategic campaigns around the most proven and reliable formats out there. But if you want to get a great ROI, you also need to know what makes them so effective and how to design for print in a way that encourages people to take action.

In this guide, you’ll learn about the four materials that help Canadian businesses get the best results. We’ll show you real data that proves their worth and tell you how to make the most of them on any budget.

Print Essentials

Banners, Posters, and Signs

The Top Four Print Media Powerhouses

Print marketing is most effective when it reaches people directly where they are or when it supports face-to-face interactions in some way. 

The four print materials that consistently deliver the strongest results in these areas are:

• Brochures
• Postcards
• Business cards
• Signs

Direct mail is where most businesses will see the biggest impact from postcards and brochures. A strategically targeted mailout campaign can potentially deliver an ROI of up to 161%.

For in-person interactions, business cards and signs are the biggest winners instead. They convert to sales and in-person interactions at a much higher rate than most digital channels.

So, now that you know what works, let’s get into what the data says about each one so you can make them work, even on budgets as small as $500.

Postcards: Affordable, Easy, and Engaging

If you’re only going to invest in one print marketing material this year, it should be postcards. You have a few options for sizes, plus they’re affordable, very easy to distribute, and one of the most universally useful options for engaging local audiences through direct mail.

The data on postcard marketing backs this up across the board:

Source	Point	Insight
Canada Post	Better Response Rates	Postcards can generate response rates of up to 4.7% for local service businesses, like plumbers or landscapers.
Government of Canada	Higher Readership	About 95% of Canadians open their mail the same day it arrives. Open rates for email sit at around 20–30%.
ANA Response Rate Report	Improved Engagement	Oversized postcards outperformed other direct mail formats by up to 28%.
Gallup via Forbes	Better Reach	95% of adults aged 18–29 react positively to physical mail like cards. 4 in 10 look forward to opening it.

Postcards are also the most popular option of all direct-to-house mail formats out there, including letter-sized envelopes, catalogues, dimensionals, oversized envelopes, and magalogs. You don’t need to be a design pro to make them, either—just use our free Canva templates! 

How to Get the Most From Every Postcard

Whether you’re a restaurant pushing a lunch special or a contractor drumming up spring bookings, getting postcards right is all about finding ways to get your offer or brand directly into someone’s hands.

To maximize your ROI and keep costs down:

• Consider Using Neighbourhood Mail^™: Canada Post’s everyday direct mail service lets you target entire postal routes without needing a mailing list. You pick the neighbourhoods, they deliver to every door so you can target people right where they already are.
• Stack It With Email: Pair postcards with a follow-up email or digital touchpoint. Data shows that integrated campaigns performed up to 60% better than single-channel efforts almost every time.
• Make It Trackable: Include a QR code, short URL, or unique promo code on every card. This lets you measure exactly how many people respond so you can track your results.
• Mail to People Who Already Know You: Your highest-ROI postcard campaign will almost always be one that goes out to existing customers. Announcing seasonal deals, new products, or referral rewards can be very lucrative for both online and brick-and-mortar businesses.
• Keep Production Costs Down: Standard sizes (4″×6″ or 6″×9″) qualify for the best postal rates and the lowest printing costs. Order them in bulk with a 7-day lead time to enjoy our lowest per-unit pricing.
• Time It Right: Send postcards when your audience is most likely to act. For example, retail postcards sent out around the holidays will outperform generic “hi, we exist” mailouts every time.

For low budgets, it usually makes more sense to start with a small test run, but the total number you should order will depend on your goals and how many people you’re trying to reach. If you have a number penned down already, aim for around 15-20% more so you have a few left over for on-the-spot sharing.

Learn how to design effective postcards in Canva here.

Business Cards: Small Format, Big Returns

In the age of LinkedIn, it’s easy to write off business cards as a relic, but they aren’t exactly ready to be put out to pasture just yet. They can still help you build a cohesive brand and form lasting connections with the people you meet, either in the wild, in the office, or at special events.

Data sources like these confirm what makes them so effective:

Source	Point	Insight
Tapni	Higher Conversion Rates	Business cards convert at a rate of roughly 12%. The average website conversion rate sits at just 2.35%.
Adobe	Sales Impact	Companies see about a 2.5% increase in sales for every 2,000 business cards handed out.
DBC	Cost	Business cards typically cost $0.06–$0.24 per card. You’re paying less per impression than other formats.
Wave Connect	Trust	People are 90% more likely to trust you if you give them a card at the first meeting.
Wave Connect	Perception	72% of people say they judge a company by the quality of their cards.

The most common argument we see against physical business cards is that up to 88% are thrown out within the first week. This is often used to justify digital business cards, which are becoming increasingly common, but what’s usually missing is why the cards were discarded in the first place.

How to Get the Most From Every Business Card

A generic card handed to someone who has no use for the service or product you’re offering will almost always get tossed. Design quality, relevance, context, and targeting all play a major role in whether a card converts into a connection instead of just winding up in the bin.

To make the right impression, you need to:

• Invest in Quality Stock: Premium paper drives a nearly 25% higher retention rate. 15-22PT works well and is sturdy enough to hold up to a bit of handling or wallet time.
• Use a Clean, High-Impact Design: Readable fonts, strong contrast, and no more than 2–3 colours work best. Including at least one colour (other than black or white) can improve brand recognition.
• Include a QR Code: Link to your website, booking page, digital business card, or portfolio so your card doubles as a quick gateway to your online presence. It’ll also help you track contacts.
• Add Value: Turn your card into a loyalty card, referral card, appointment reminder, or a wallet-sized tool. Even including a simple feature like a ruler gives people more of a reason to keep it.

Also, keep in mind that the overall look and feel should match your brand and what you sell. Spending thousands on fancy features like video inserts or high-end finishes typically makes more sense for marketing premium products than handmade goods or humble, down-home local services.

Learn how to design effective business cards in Canva here.

Brochures: Your Silent Sales Rep

Like most other print materials, the best data we have on custom brochures comes from broader research into print and direct mail. Physical materials like these have a unique ability to improve trust, recall, and even action that isn’t as easy to tap into through digital marketing.

The data supports these points directly:

Source	Point	Insight
Canada Post	Better Readability	Print is 21% easier to read than digital info according to a neuroscience study. This matters because brochures typically have more info than postcards.
Canada Post via Adweek	Stronger Recall	Brand recall is higher for print materials (75%) than digital ads, email, and other online info (44%).
RRD	Purchase Influence	47% of people make a purchase after seeing print materials like brochures. 36% make an impulse purchase.
Finances Online	Effective Marketing	Marketing campaigns that combine print materials like brochures with digital ads are up to 400% more effective.
RRD 2025 Report	High Readership	About 72% of consumers regularly read or look at ads that arrive in the mail. Gen X leads the pack at 78%.

Canadian consumers also just generally continue to respond well to print. About 60% still prefer to receive coupons and promotional offers in the mail, and 50% open and read advertisements they receive at home.

How to Get the Most From Every Brochure

Brochures tend to perform best in environments where people are already browsing or seeking information. This won’t always be the same for every industry, because people tend to shop for different products in different places.

Generally speaking, it’s best to place them where they’re most likely to be picked up:

• Events and Trade Shows: A well-designed brochure at a booth table can do the talking when you’re busy with another conversation and turn brief exchanges into long-term contacts.
• High-Traffic Locations: Brochures stocked at retail counters, waiting rooms, hotel lobbies, and front desks (where people have idle time) are much more likely to be picked up or kept.
• New Client Onboarding: Including brochures in a welcome kit or with product packaging can help improve upsell and cross-sell rates as well as referrals. It reinforces your brand, educates people on your full range of services, and gives them something tangible to share with others.
• Door-to-Door in Target Areas: Distributing brochures in targeted neighbourhoods makes good  sense for local service businesses. Brochures might end up in a junk drawer, but that also means homeowners have them on hand the moment they need your services.

Keep in mind that customers will associate the quality of your printed materials with the quality of your business, so it makes sense to invest in a solid design and good stock if you can.

Learn how to design effective brochures in Canva here.

Signage: Maximum Visibility, Minimum Cost

Signage is one of the oldest forms of advertising, and it’s still one of the most effective for businesses with physical locations. Coroplast lawn signs, A-frame sidewalk boards, banners, poster boards, and X-stands all put you front and center of foot traffic without the same ongoing costs as digital ads.

To drill down to the right data, we looked at these widely-cited sources:

Source	Point	Insight
NAPCO/Canon Research 2023	Brand Building	89% of buyers rate printed signs as effective for building brand equity and recognition, with 39% calling them “very effective” and another 50% rating them “moderately effective.”
NAPCO/Canon Research 2023	Top Formats	Banners (74%), signs (57%), and posters (57%) were the most purchased sign and display formats.
FedEx Office Survey	Direct Purchases	68% of people said they made a purchase specifically because a sign caught their attention.
FedEx Office	Word of Mouth	75% of people have told someone about a store because of a sign, which is great word-of-mouth.
FedEx Office	Quality Perception	68% of consumers judge a business’s quality by its signage. 52% are less willing to enter if the sign is poorly made.
StackAdapt Toronto	Conversion Rates	About 74% of mobile users will take action on their phones after seeing an out-of-home ad.

Signage is also hard to beat from a cost standpoint. Out-of-home advertising delivers impressions at CPM of around $2 to $9, which is the lowest of any major ad format, including online, TV, and radio.

How to Get the Most From Every Sign

Getting a great return on signs is all about finding the most suitable option for your needs, and size isn’t always what counts. The material, how well it fits your brand, and reusability also matters.

To get the best ROI on a budget:

• Design for Reuse: Large-format prints with broad, branded messaging are more versatile and universally effective throughout the year. This is often where it’s worth spending the most money.
• Prioritize Clear Messaging: Remember that signs are often glanced at from a distance, so the design needs to be simple. They should be readable in five seconds or less. A good rule of thumb is to make any letters at least 1 inch high for every 10 feet of distance.
• Choose the Right Material: Poster boards, posters, and counter cards are lightweight, easy to transport, and perfect for temporary promotions. Materials like Coroplast, scrim, and fence mesh are much more suitable for outdoor use year-round.
• Proof Them Every Time: Mistakes are expensive, especially in bulk orders. Order a proof before every run so you can see how they look and feel where they’ll live before you hit the gas.
• Put Them in High-Traffic Zones: A lawn sign or banner along a busy route will generate more impressions than a billboard in a low-traffic area, especially if the same people see them often.
• Don’t Overdo It: Too many signs can confuse the eye and make people feel overwhelmed. One way to get around this is to vary the size: counter cards for specials,  banners for the entrance.

Lastly, remember that while signs are important, they aren’t the only effective way to market your business with print media. If you’re pressed for cash, it may make more sense to start with smaller, simpler formats.Learn how to design custom Coroplast signs in Canva here.

Turn Print Marketing Into Real ROI With Little Rock™

Print materials are an effective marketing tool that can deliver serious returns when they’re leveraged thoughtfully and aligned with the right goals. Working with a printer that offers fair pricing and helpful resources so you can design them yourself makes them even more cost-effective.

At Little Rock Printing™, we’re committed to fulfilling both of those goals, which is why we offer no minimum orders, fast turnaround times, and free proofs. Use our free Canva templates to develop your next best sign in minutes, then upload your file and we’ll start working on it right away!