There are hundreds of places you could advertise. Obvious ones include newspapers and magazines but you should consider all the options. Some advertising spaces will be huge like the sides of a building – the largest advert I’ve seen recently was on the side of Fort Dunlop in Birmingham, UK, it is over 30 metres high and no one traveling on the Motorway can miss it; others might be small – there is still a place for adverts on calendars or good quality pen printed with your contact details.
There are a number of things to consider when thinking about advertising in newspapers, magazines and directories: -
Page & Position
Our natural inclination is to look at the top right hand page when opening and reading a paper or magazine. Testing & Measuring has shown that the response rate to adverts on left hand pages, especially bottom left hand pages, is much lower than the same advert on a right hand page … especially a top right hand page. This is why you should never advertise on a left hand page and why Get real weekly doesn't carry adverts on the left hand page.
Another issue to think seriously about is that of buying specific spots like the back page or inside front cover of a magazine. These specific pages can give much better results but you need to test these pages against other positions to see what does best for your business.
It is sometimes possible to get a prime spot and pay nothing at all. I’ll tell you how to do that later.
Check the Circulation Figures
How do you know how many people read the publication you are considering advertising in?
There are verified audits made of circulation figures. In the UK the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures provide a good guide to help you judge which paper you might advertise in and most countries have an equivalent objective measure of circulation.
Just because they have a good circulation doesn't mean a paper is ideal for you. Think about it; would you sell fishing tackle in a fashion magazine? Having said that think carefully about the section of the paper you go into. If you want to sell cars in a conventional newspaper and it has a motoring section you are likely to get more success here than in other parts of the paper. You need to understand the layout of the paper or magazine and the profile of the reader as well as the total numbers.
Another tip is that ads in “paid for” publications generally give a better response than the free publications. That doesn't mean that "paid for" publications are better. But it does mean you need to consider the cost of the response from each type of publication and should always measure response rates from all your advertising
More about ABC and similar organisations
These organisations usually provide an independent verification of circulation data to facilitate the buying and selling of advertising space within national newspapers. ABC has now developed into a bigger organisation and provides verification of data for a wide range of titles, exhibitions listings and databases, as well as online/electronic media.
To discover more advertising secrets click here