The SKINNY on Newspaper Advertising

The SKINNY on Newspapers

Using the paper is considered gospel by manypeople in business. Use it wisely and it can be agood tool.

Remember, newspapers are passive, non intrusivemedia. They tend to reach only buyers who arelooking for the product. They are poor at reachingprospects before the need arises.

Think about it, there are few times you have beendriven to go to a store to buy a product you neverheard of because you saw an ad in the paper. Youhad to have an earlier impression about theproduct for the newspaper ad to point you to thelocation to buy it.

There are 4 ways to use the newspaper foradvertising.

1) Display advertisingfrom one column wide by 2 inches high to a fulltwo pages, display ads can be so numerous the newsstories have to be cut so both can live on thepage.

There is usually no protection. Competiting storeads can be next to each other (next time you seethe paper look for tire store ads on the samepage).

When designing your ad, remember it's all aboutthem. Use a catchy headline and tell them what youwill do for the. Forget about your picture or your"Number One in the District Award". Goodadvertising "feels their pain".

2) Classified advertisingThe effectiveness of classified ads varies bypaper and by who wrote the ad and by what the adis selling. Many classified sections have turnedinto giant car dealer pages and huge homes forsale sections complete with four color pictures.

The small, private, "gotta sell my Bow-Flex" adscan be lost in a giant classified section. Manyshoppers and Nickle Savers have smaller, andcheaper, classified sections.

Some small business operators find success with aseries of small classified ads. Small blurps tendto build "top of mind awareness". A cheap way tokeep your name out there.

3) Tabs and special sectionsTabs, the cash cow for newspapers, aremanufactured events designed to sell ads. ProgressEditon. Easter Shopping Special. Dollar Days. Youname it, there is a tab every idea.

Typically a tab is the regular paper page turnedsideways (landscape) and folded in half.

Tabs get ad-on advertising dollars from existingclients and offer one time only exposure to thosewho don't normally use the paper (i.e. the giantcorporate ads in every Progress Edition). Mostpapers have so many tabs, they print anadvertising calendar.

Understand them for what they are, vehicles to getextra bucks from you. If you want to be in one,rearrange your budget, don't ad to it.

4) Inserts and stuffersSome Sunday papers weight 4 to 5 pounds each,mostly for the weight of stuffers and inserts.Usually reserved for national advertisers and bigbox stores. They print them and deliver them tothe paper and pay a per piece fee to have themstuffed and delivered. For smaller businessesthey become cost prohibitive. Better to stick withdisplay ads.

Sunday papers have the biggest circulation, and adrates are more expensive. Regional and nationalpapers can be expensive, too. Local papers andshoppers are less expensive, but nonetheless canbe a major part of a small business ad budget.

Newspaper advertising is sold by the column inch.Different categories of ads and section placementdetermine the rate and rates vary throughout thepaper. Rates also vary with advertisers, dependingon how many column inches they have agreed to buyin a one year period. The more the cheaper.

Plan your advertising well in advance and stick toyour budget. Sell to needs, not ego and newspapercan be your buddy.

For more about advertising, get my article"What Does your telephone say about you?"MailTo:TelephoneSay@BigIdeasGroup.com

©2005 BIG Mike McDaniel, All Rights ReservedMike@BIGIdeasGroup.comBIG Mike is a Small Business Consultant,Professional Speaker and former Major Market TVNews Anchor. http://BIGIdeasGroup.com

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