Like most businesses, you’re always on the lookout to stay connected with your audience in relevant ways. So you find yourself in a perpetual loop: Make another post. Check your feed. Reply to the comments. Keep posting. Stay connected.

Social media can be exhausting, whether you’re a creative, a business owner, or just a person in the world. Screen fatigue is real—and it’s starting to show up meaningfully in consumer surveys. According to Deloitte, nearly half of adults aged 18-40 report feeling concerned about their screen time or even overwhelmed by their devices.

As a result, print is making a comeback. Storied brands like Sports Illustrated continue to put out a print magazine while the fashion magazine Nylon recently re-embraced its print origins. Meanwhile, the Bay Area financial services company Robinhood is building on the success of its massively popular online newsletter to launch a print magazine. Many kinds of companies, large and small, are recognizing the power of the printed page.

You don’t have to be running a large corporation to take advantage of print. Nor is it only for artists. Small business owners and solo entrepreneurs can also reap major benefits. Blurb makes it easy to create print publications that look great at affordable prices, while giving you the tools to scale up as needed. Even as you maintain an active social presence, you can stand out in refreshing and lasting ways with personalized books and magazines that will showcase your business’ products and emphasize your commitment to quality. We’ll walk you through a few examples to get you started.

Quality matters: telling your brand story

Imagine you run a boutique clothing store. Every day, you post perfect pictures on social media showcasing your beautiful pieces. A new customer walks into your store, never having seen a single one of your posts. On the table in your showroom, you put a hardcover lookbook you printed using photographs you already shot over the past year. While showing your potential customer the best new items, you can also flip through the lookbook to give them different ideas on how to style them. While their phone stays in their pocket, you have a chance to make a personal connection.

(Ok, maybe they take out their phone in the dressing room to snap a few pics of their new fit.) 

Using Blurb, making a high-end lookbook is easy. With our free bookmaking software Blurb BookWright, you can take existing photographs and quickly make a luxurious hardcover photo book that showcases your products looking their best. Our built-in templates make the design process simple and accessible, regardless of your bookmaking background. There are plenty of options to choose from. For example, while a hardcover lookbook stays in the store, you could make a more affordable trade book or your very own fashion magazine to offer as a memorable giveaway. Including a print memento when someone makes a larger purchase allows you to offer your most loyal customers something beautiful and durable. Rather than one more follower on Instagram, the book becomes an enduring reminder of why they bought your clothes in the first place.

Making a print publication allows you to accentuate your commitment to craftsmanship and attention to detail, both of which are much harder to showcase on a disposable social media post. For example, wedding planner Carrie Hayward has published her own guide to Fairytale Weddings, a smart move for a small business trying to market its brand. Hayward also maintains a presence on social media, but this 290-page printed book allows her to go into much greater depth about what sets her weddings apart from the offerings of other planners. This is a case study of business storytelling in action

You can also use a book to highlight customer testimonials or your product’s most impressive features. Another example: the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers (CHART) prints a hardcover photo book after each of their biannual conferences. Inside, they reflect on the three days of training and connections fostered by their gatherings. Print products like these can be used to attract new clients or keep you top of mind for existing ones, leaving a lasting impression.

Going big: scalability and sustainability

We all love physical books—but what about scale? One reason that social media seems so appealing is its promise of scale: the alluring possibility that you could go viral with one post and overnight your work would be seen by millions. The reality is that sustainable scalability happens gradually, over time. Try going viral when you lack adequate customer support or order fulfillment structures. All that attention could be more of a curse than a blessing. Suddenly overwhelmed, your business will be left with a lot of unhappy customers. 

Producing a book doesn’t happen overnight but that’s the point. Publishing a book can demonstrate your staying power. Creative entrepreneurs of all kinds are using affordable book formats to establish themselves as thought leaders. For example, Scott Lerman is a veteran brand consultant who has worked with some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Kodak, Harley-Davidson, and American Express. Lerman has embraced print by publishing his own comprehensive guide to brand identity development using Blurb (now in its second edition). This shows how business book ideas can be used to solidify expertise and enhance corporate branding. Of course, Lerman also has a website, but he recognizes that by publishing a book, he establishes a level of credibility and seriousness that’s hard for any online page to match.

Books can also be used to “generate leads,” that is, create customer interest or inquiry into the products you have to offer. Using Blurb, you can fully design a book or magazine and then make the whole file available for sale as a PDF. You could also put a sample of your book online as a free, downloadable resource. Put it on your website or share on social media and simply ask the people who are interested to give you their email address where you’ll send them the file. This way, you are both gathering potential clients’ contact info while offering something free of charge. In the process, you’re also establishing your authority as a trusted expert in the field.

[More tips: 12 strategic ways a book can propel your business]

Combining print and digital for maximum effect

At Blurb, we love books, but we also recognize that we live in a digital world. The most creative and agile entrepreneurs are taking advantage of each medium and combining them for maximum effect. One way to think about this combination is that print is best for making a lasting impact while digital offers a wider reach.

Michelle DeVries and Mark Sprague are professional photographers and perpetual travelers. Their slow-paced, off-grid travel style allows them to travel for months at a time while continuing to work as they move. Alongside their commissioned work, the couple has recently produced a series of publications on traveling in Baja California. They have made two different roadtrip journals—82 Days in Baja and What a Day—as well as The Ultimate Baja
Camping Guide. All three are available in one of two forms: either as a PDF for convenient viewing on electronic devices or as beautiful, hold-in-your-hands, stash-on-your-dash publications. Their work reminds us that it’s not about print versus digital but how the two forms work best in tandem. 

Perhaps you work or volunteer at a non-profit, community organization, or local church. Your fellow group members or donors appreciate updates on everything your organization is doing, but emails get lost in the shuffle and social media posts quickly disappear. Consider making an annual or biannual report that both reminds your supporters of the great work their donations are enabling and offers them something non-disposable. Again, don’t think of print and digital as standing in opposition. A social media post or email newsletter can be shared easily and could spread widely; a print publication can strengthen connections and leave behind an indelible impression of what you have created. The point is that moving back and forth between print and digital and taking full advantage of both mediums is a crucial part of growing your business and defining your brand.

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Blurb has all the design and publishing tools you need to get your work off the screen and into your customers’ hands. Get creative and make something that will last. Blurb makes it easy. Start today!