Newspaper advertisements are as old as advertisement
itself. Although, it’s an age-old method of advertisement, it still receives
the same response and is highly successful. Both small and large businesses
still choose this method to promote their products and services. Ask them and
nearly hundred percent advertisers would select newspapers as their primary
advertise medium.
In spite of registered decline in newspaper
circulation numbers and advertisements featured in a newspaper, they are read
by millions of people at their breakfast table. The rate of increase in price
to place advertisements in newspapers is climbing rapidly when compared to
radio, television and billboards. The main aim should be to get the desired
attention from the advertisement and out do the competitor. Various factors
should be considered and measures should be taken to ensure success, while
keeping the cost low.
Many advertisers, who advertise through newspapers,
design their own advertisements without any prior training. This has lead to
the rise of larger number of retailers who think that making an ad by them is
the only way to get it right. This approach saves a lot of money and is good
for small businesses, only if they reach to correct customers. The one time
cost of placing a small advertisement is $150, so the measures should be taken
to place them effectively. It isn’t necessary to have a full-page advertisement
posted in the newspaper. If smartly designed, even half page advertisement can
do wonders; the money saved can be used to advertise concurrently in other
mediums like radio, websites, etc.
Using colorful font can multiply the cost to many
times and is not worth the return. If the budget is low and the matter is
confident enough, black font will be fine. Regular readers read the newspapers
daily; therefore, there is no sense in placing the same ad in the same paper
everyday. The advertisement can be placed in different papers everyday. The
frequency can be three times a week for a particular newspaper. But there is an
increase in the number of readers on weekends, so more money can be invested on
placing advertisement in the weekend edition. Don’t be disappointed if all the
advertisement space is sold on weekend. Insert fliers in between the pages of
the newspaper.
As many advertisers will be posting their ads on
weekends in the local newspaper and the chances of your ad getting lost in the
muddle, the conventions can be twisted a little to beat the competition. Place
an offer coupon in the mid-week editorial and pay the local station to
advertise and talk about the offer on their famous program. Ask them to
specifically mention about the coupon placed in the newspaper. Out of the daily
readers, only few of them go through the entire newspapers. Most of them view
the first and last page. So instead of posting an ad thrice weekly in the
middle pages, invest on placing the ad on the first or last page of the
newspaper, once a week. Majority of the newspapers don’t give competitive
protection, that is, an advertisement of a firm can be placed next to the
advertisement of its competitor. Specify about this condition to the sales
person and take the guarantee from them.
There is a decrease in the number of local newspapers
every year. In United States, only about a thousand newspapers function on a
daily basis. Local people are now relying on weekly papers or newspapers with
the local section. Sometimes only one publisher controls many of the local
newspapers. Newspapers for all the localities are printed at one place with
only the front page being changed. When advertising in such publications, care
should be taken on recognizing the audience that is being reached. All the
effort and money is wasted if the wrong customer is reached and the result can
go in loss. Mixing different medias instead one for advertising is a smart
approach. One can take care of the shortcomings of the other and work in tandem
to make the overall advertising campaign a huge success.
