Print Ad Placement
Put your print ads in places that get results.
There are two principal publication categories to consider forprint advertising. The first, newspapers, has a positive and anegative side. On the plus side, you can get your ad in veryquickly. That enables you to run an ad, for example, capitalizingon some market turn of events that saves your prospects money ifthey act fast and buy from you. This could be very exciting newsfor them, and that's perfect because they're in a"newsy" frame of mind when they read the newspaper.
On the downside, newspapers usually have a shelf life of just 24hours. Therefore, if you run your ad on Monday, you can'tdepend on anyone discovering that ad on Tuesday. As the sayinggoes, "Nobody wants to read yesterday's news."
If your budget allows for multiple insertions-that is, runningyour ad more than once-do so. Regular exposure of the ad buildsrecognition and credibility. If some of your prospects see butdon't respond to your first insertion, they may well respond toyour second or third. If you have confidence in your ad'smessage, don't panic if the initial response is less than youwanted. More insertions may bring a better response.
The second type of publication is magazines, for which there arespecialty categories of every kind. This allows you to target anyof hundreds of special-interest groups. Another advantage ofmagazines, especially monthlies, is that they have a longer shelflife; they're often browsed through for months afterpublication. So your ad might have an audience for up to six monthsafter its initial insertion. Moreover, readers spend more time persitting with a magazine than a newspaper, so there's morechance they'll run across your ad.
One researcher found the following about magazine ads:
- A two-page spread attracts about one-quarter more readers thana one-page ad.
- A full-page ad attracts one-third more readers than a half-pagead.
- Positioning in the front or back of the magazine doesn'tmatter in terms of noticeability.
- People respond better to illustrations or photos showing theproduct in use than to those that show it just sittingthere.
- Ads with people in them attract more attention than thosewithout.
When advertising in any print medium, contact the publicationfirst and ask for a media kit. This contains rate information forvarious sizes of ads, as well as demographic information about thepublication's readership-age, income and other details-to helpyou decide if this is where your buyers are. The media kit alsoindicates specifications for the format in which you will have todeliver your ad to the publication.
Excerpted from Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-UpBook You'll Ever Need, by Rieva Lesonsky and the Staff ofEntrepreneur Magazine, © 1998 Entrepreneur Press
