You may well be finalising your marketing plan. Or, if you are a start-up, you may be considering the best way to launch your business.
The first thing we often hear from clients putting together their plans is, “well, I will obviously need to place an ad in the newspaper”
But waaaaaait! Is it the most effective place to sink the majority of your marketing budget?
The advantages of using press advertising are:
- Large audiences – some press audiences can reach into millions, so it can be an effective way to reach a lot of people.
- Fast results – today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapper so responses will come in quickly.
- Large volumes of responses – although a magazine or newspaper response rate is very low (around 0.01%), with such a large audience this can equate to a lot of responses still.
- Negotiable rates – many advertising sales people are open to negotiation, especially as the publication nears the deadline, so you could pick up a good deal by playing hard ball.
Sounds great! But what else should you consider?
The possible disadvantages of using press ads:
- Cost – advertising is not cheap. You could be looking at many hundreds of pounds for just a small space.
- Competition – unless you can afford a big ad in a prime position on a page (top right of the right hand page is considered the best position to have an ad) then your advert may get lost in amongst the host of other messages screaming for attention.
- Low readership of ads – millions of people may read the newspaper, but how many actually scour all the adverts?
- Less targeted – advertising is broadcasting your message to everyone without cast effectively choosing those who may be interested in your product.
So, before you plough all your promotional budget into only advertising, talk to us. We’ll help ensure your marketing budget reaches the right people in the right way. Advertising may be a tactic that is needed, but we’ll make sure it’s part of a cost effective strategy.
