Newspaper Advertising - I need an Education

I'm looking to start running some adverts in my local newspaper. Can some give me the run-down on what to ask and what's important to know?

I know that most publications accept PDFs of ads and that they have the file requirements on their sites.

What about dimensions? How big is a column?

The specs say 1 Column by 1.833 Inches does that mean? Does that mean 1 inch (height) by 1.83 (wide)?

What does Full Run and Part Run mean?

I know that my question could be a 5 day seminar in itself, I'm just looking for the basics.

Thanks for any advice in advance!!
MikeC

Personally, I don't have the answers to your questions, but I can tell you this:

A "stand-alone" insert ad (like a flyer in the paper) has been shown to out-pull display ad response by over 4-1.

I've heard this several times and know of two business people who do it with good success.

To use this stratege can be expensive in a larger circulation paper, but much more affordable in a local, neighborhood paper.

Where I live, there's a very well-done homeowner association newlsletter sent to over 3000 homes every other month. They allow five full-size insert flyers per issue for around $300 per mailing.

A good option to explore!

Lawrence

Why don't you just try classiefieds first and see if they bring in money first. If they don't what makes you think big ads will do it. My paper charges $3000 for those damn flyers. If it were $300 maybe I would do.

I once told an employer who is not no longer my employer that if he paid the $3000 and got one client he would break even and it would not cost him anything. He charge $3700 for his service. He had a school where I taught and he charged $3700 per student. But he could not understand that. I sell $19.99 books so I would need a over 20 sales per insert to break even. May not work for me.

Hi Mike,

All types of Display Advertising in Newspaper & Magazine publications can Cost and Lose you a Fortune if you Don't know what you're Doing.

Google around for Display Advertising and other related Keyword phrases and you'll get my message...

Most Newspapers are Poorly Niche Focused...

And that's why PPC... Google Adwords, MSN and Yahoo... Are a Much better investment, Again if you know what you're Doing...

Here's a Good Starting point...

10 Tips for Unleashing the Power of Classified Ads

Great article if you're New to the World of Marketing & Classified Advertising...

Don't let their brevity fool you: Classified ads can bring in the business if you do them right!

How to Write a Winning Ad
http://www.entrepreneur.com/advertis...cle172774.html

Have a Peek through the Table of Contents etc...

Direct Response Advertising Made Easy
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1599...52#reader-link

Phil

Here's some of the answers to your actual questions and more.
http://retail.about.com/od/marketing...ate_card_6.htm

Phil

[Ankesh]

>The specs say 1 Column by 1.833 Inches does that mean? Does that mean 1 inch (height) by 1.83 (wide)?

Column = width. 1 column by 1.833 inches mean 1 width and 1.83 height.

Full run and part run has to do with distribution. Newspapers have zones or regions of distribution. Full run means your ad will go in all the regions. Part run means just some regions.

(Many newspapers also do this: have one same newspaper for all the regions. And special supplements for different regions. If that is the case, then it'll be full run rates in the main newspaper and part run in the supplements.)

If you call up your newspaper where you want to advertise - their ad sales person will help you in all this. They will give you all the details and answer all your questions about what means what. And they will also give you their reader's demographic profile. And many of them will also help you in creating the ad. Usually for free.

[Ankesh]

The Basics of Newspaper Advertising

1. The most important part is the message. The ad itself. The words you use.

Because split testing is easier online, You could maybe test your ad versions online. And then go with the best one offline.

Usually, colour ads aren't worth the extra cost. So go with black and white. And increase your ad size instead of going with colours.

Use borders and spacing well - to make your ad stand out. A dotted coupon type border usually increases the readership and the response. But most newspapers will charge you extra for a border.

If you want to learn how to "write" good ads, I recommend buying Joe Sugarman's books. Especially Advertising Secrets of the Written Word.

(Not going into the writing part - because that will triple the size of this post.)

2. Target Audience.

Obviously, if your target audience is - say - only doctors - it doesn't make sense to advertise in the local newspaper. You should instead advertise in a trade journal for doctors.

Make sure your intended target audience reads the newspapers where you want to advertise. Or its just money down the drain.

3. Ad placement

The best - and also the most expensive place to advertise is on the front page of the newspaper. Then the last page.

But - even better than that is placing your ad next to "suitable" content. If you know an article is running about your industry - get your ad placed on the same page.

Or if your target audience loves sports - get your ad on the sports pages.

Case study: The Crossword magazine ran ads only on the pages with the crosswords on it. They had to pay extra for this placement. But they willingly spent the extra because they found that placing their ad anywhere else in the newspaper was never profitable for them.

4. Frequency.

Frequency has to do with your product selling cycle.

"If people buy your product once a week, don't expect your ads to return a profit during the first week. If people buy once a month, don't expect to break even on your advertising during the first 30 days. If your product selling cycle is longer than 2 years, you can expect to lose money on your ads – even if they're good – the first 4 to 6 months. You'll start pulling ahead during the second six months. Your real growth won't happen until you begin reaching that same group of people for a second year." - Roy H. Williams

So make sure you run ads again and again for a longer duration than your product selling cycle.

Obviously - you can run a "Sale" ad that sells at heavy discounts - and you'll persuade a few people to buy the product earlier than they would. But in the long run, discount ads are not worth it.

5. Testing.

Test your ads. You can do this in the call-to-action of your ads.

Provide different URLs in different ads and track the clicks. Or provide different phone numbers to call.

Or simply just ask people to call for Joe - where Joe is not a name of anyone working for you.

Things like that... hopefully this post gives you a good idea of things to look out for if you try out newspaper advertising.

Let us know how things go for you.

[Ankesh]

Also - many newspapers will sell remnant ad space to you at a discount.

Remnant ad space = ad space that hasn't been sold by them and they have to go for printing soon.

Mike Winicki has written a cool report on buying remnant ad space (the trick is to send your ad and a cheque before hand). He had also published it in the offline newsletter that was published by him and Michael Ross.

I'm not sure if Mike visits SowPub regularly anymore - if he does, hopefully he'll read this post and elaborate. Or post a link to his report.

Or else, you can contact him at his website:
http://www.bigfatnoise.com/

--

You could also try out http://www.mediabids.com

Phil,

Thanks for mentioning Classified ads.

Don't let their brevity fool you: Classified ads can bring in the business if you do them right!

Two of my businesses are only marketed with Classifieds. I obviously won't disclose income. But let's just say they Both make more than a wage. Just from those small ads. In fact, one got so busy I had to stop advertising.

WARNING: Sometimes the worst thing that can happen is an ad works first time. Because then you will keep running it over and over even if it stops working. In the delusion it will Come Good.

Also know... sometimes ads do not pull and then suddenly they do. As if no-one saw the ad and then everyone wanted what you advertised. Responses in Surges. Like Ocean Waves.

With Classifieds always run them for a least a month to get a good test. If they do nothing from that test, drop them and do something else.

Michael Ross

Thanks for all the replies. Ankesh, thanks for the good information!