14 Tips for Better Newspaper Advertising

If you've advertised in newspapers before, the tips below should look pretty familiar. If not, then it will definitely be worthwhile for you to review this information. Quite honestly, whether you've seen these before or not, it's a smart idea to periodically revisit good newspaper advertising techniques to make sure you're getting the best value for your investment.

Number 4 - dominate the page without paying for it - is an especially great tip because everyone is feeling the budget crunch right now. By making your ad just big enough to take up over half the page, it makes it harder to place other ads around it and creates an "island." In fact, there are some publications that even offer "island" advertising on a normal basis.

Let the learning begin...

Tip #1: Consistency is key in newspaper advertising. Whether you’re interested in community, local or national newspaper advertising, always think in terms of using it consistently no less than once a week.

Tip #2: Certain days work better than others for certain types of advertising. Generally, the best day to run a newspaper ad is Sunday. That’s when most people spend the most time reading the paper. Let’s take a look at the other days:

- Monday is good if your audience is primarily men all weekend sports are usually summarized on Monday.
- Tuesday and Sunday are great days for classified ads, especially financial or business related classified ads.
- Wednesday and Thursday are good days if those are the food or health days in your paper, and yours is a food or health related offering.
- Friday is a good day if your business picks up on the weekends restaurants, bars, nightclubs, some retailers, concert venues, farmer’s markets.
- Saturday is good because fewer advertisers use the Saturday edition, thinking it’s a bad day for readership. This means less competition for your prospects attention and money

Tip #3: Positioning your ad. To gain maximum exposure, request that your ad run in the main news section of the paper, as far forward as possible. Traditionally, you were told to always ask for a right-hand page, but recent studies have shown it doesn’t really make a difference. Half the people read the newspaper front to back, the other half, back to front. You should, however, request that your ad be positioned above the fold.

Tip #4: Dominating a page, without paying for it. To dominate a page in the newspaper, which is usually 8 columns wide by twenty-two inches high, design an ad that is five columns wide and twelve or more inches high. This is proven to have the same affect as a full-page ad, at a much lower cost.

Tip #5: Use color. You should also inquire about adding one color. The use of just one color, any color, can dramatically increase your “net exposure” (that's what I call the number of people who actually read your ad) and nearly double your response rate.

Tip #6: Whatever you do, don’t let the newspaper people design your ad for you. Have your ad professionally designed, otherwise it will look like every other ad in the paper. (I once worked in a newspaper ad department, believe me, I know!) Be sure the designer has experience in newspaper ads, too. You want your ad to reproduce properly, which means it may need a certain line-screen. Also, stay away from reverse-type white type against a black background. Keep your type clear; your headline bold.

Tip #7: Make your ad newsworthy. People read newspapers to get the news, so try to make your ad as newsworthy as possible. If your ad is small, give it a distinctive border so it creates a visual identity for your ads.

Tip #8: You’re paying for that space – use it! Be sure to give your prospects enough information to buy what you’re selling. And don’t fall into the trap of revering white space because it looks good. You’re paying for every square inch of that ad – use it. Your ads should win sales, not design awards.

Tip #9: Test, test, test! If you’re just getting started in newspaper advertising, don’t settle on just one newspaper. Test your ad in the various newspapers available to your market to figure out which one works best. Once you’ve figured out which newspapers are read (the most) by your prospects, stick with them.

Tip #10: Don’t expect it to work overnight. CARDINAL RULE: Don’t expect newspaper advertising to work instantly! (This takes us back to Tip #1: Consistency is key.) Unless you make a time-sensitive offer such as a free gift for stopping by before a certain date, or offer a discount coupon with an expiration date, don’t expect a stampede of customers through your door the day you run your ad. It won’t happen. Never does.

Tip #11: Use “tracking devices” to measure ad performance. A “tracking device” is any element you can include in your advertising that makes it easier to measure that ad’s effectiveness. Adding a number code or color code to your coupons is a good example of a “tracking device.” This will make them easier to track if you’re using more than one newspaper or advertising on different days. You want to know which coupons came from where, when, and how many. That way, you’ll know which newspapers work the best for you, and on which days, and even which headlines work best for those papers on those days. Get it?

Tip #12: The “big” newspapers aren’t as expensive as you think. If you’re not happy with your local newspaper, or you’d like to hit a larger audience than just your town, look into advertising in the regional editions of USA Today, The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, if your prospects read them. These regional editions, while more expensive to advertise in that your local newspaper, are much less expensive to advertise in than the national editions. (If you’re a local or regional business, you should NEVER advertise in the national edition. I don’t care what the ad rep tells you, don’t waste your money.)

Tip #13: The first thing people will see in your ad is your headline. This should entice the reader into wanting to learn more. I always INSIST that a headline make a meaningful or fascinating statement of benefit – or an outright offer – to the reader. For instance, “Get Your Tax Refund Today!” or “Professional Tax Preparation Only $10” are much better headlines than “Bob Jones Tax Service.” That’s pretty obvious, I know, but I can’t tell you how many people put the name of their business or product or service or worse yet, some totally worthless copy, in place of a headline and then hide the meaningful, fascinating stuff in the copy. It’s the biggest mistake in advertising! Put your main benefit or offer in the headline (and/or subheading) so even those who don’t read the entire ad will get the main point.

Tip #14: Next, people will see the visual, any subheadings, and then your name. Adding a visual can TRIPLE the “net exposure” of your ad. More people will notice it if it has a photo or image, which means more, in turn, will RESPOND to it. A photo of yourself will add instant credibility. A product image is better than a logo. Even better is an image of your product or service being used. Let people see it in action. Let them see how good it looks, how good it fits or how good it works. Let them see the smile on the face of a person using it.



(Courtesy of Phil Autelitano)

FCC considers product placement rules for TV

So I was watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 the other night because I may or may not be obsessed with their adorable kids. For those of you not aware, Jon & Kate Plus 8 is a show on TLC that follows a family of 10 - the two parents and their twin girls and sextuplets - through their everyday lives.

It's become clear to me that the product placements on this show are getting more and more pronounced. In previous episodes there were lingering camera shots of certain juice bottles and obvious references to food and clothing brands, but at least they were not totally in-your-face endorsements.

Well, in Monday night's episode, there was a toy kitchen that Jon (the father) had gotten for the younger girls to play with. While he was setting it up there was a shot of the box and the name of the toy brand. He mentioned it like it was no big deal, just bought it for the kids to play with.

A few minutes passed and I forget about the toy kitchen set until the next commercial break, when what do you know, there's a commercial for the very same toy kitchen set. Must be magic!

In any case, it got me thinking about the evolution on product placements over time. From the Reese's Pieces in the movie "ET," to the ridiculous and continuous product plugs in American Idol, which "logged a impressive 4,636 product placement shots during the first half of this year."

Apparently the FCC is now thinking about an initiative to make advertising placements more obvious to viewers. Reminds me of the children's shows that I grew up with having to announce a disclaimer when going from tv show to commercial because the kids couldn't tell the difference between the programming and the advertisements. ("After these messages, we'll be right back!")

In fact:

The Children's Media Policy Coalition warns that embedded ads worsen toddlers' "inability to distinguish commercials from programming, and makes it more difficult for them to discern persuasive content."

Click the link above for some additional reading.

(Courtesy of ars technica)

Rumours of a Facebook Block Persist in Egypt

Fascinating article from the Arab Press Network. I guess Facebook is used for something other than virtually stalking strangers...

A recent surge of social activism among Egyptians has alerted the government to a networking force that has thus far eluded their control: Facebook. Since the 6 April general strike, rumour has it that the social networking website has been front and centre on the Egyptian authorities' radar as they mull over the possibility of a block.

Further:

Wael Nawara, an avid blogger and Vice Chairman of Egypt's El Ghad opposition party, once depended on independent El Ghad newspaper to represent an alternative voice to the official publications. The paper was founded in late 2004, with famed Al Dustour editor-in-chief Ibrahim Eissa at the helm, but after a string of scandals, the paper was finally banned in August 2007. Within days of the banning Nawara turned to Facebook as a channel to broadcast his oppositional message, initially starting with two groups: The Third Republic and Egypt Remembers."

Facebook came as a surprise to everyone," Nawara explained. "When the government realized that tens of thousands of people and activists can be rallied in a few days time using viral communication techniques available on Facebook, they started to monitor the social network more closely. The word is that there is even a special division called the State Security Investigation Police for Facebook."

Holy crap.



(Courtesy of the Arab Press Network)

Academy to Allow Film Ads on Oscars

It was only a matter of time before the Oscars allowed movie advertising back into the awards telecast. The Academy understandably wanted to rule out any notion that movie studios were able to "influence" the awards, and for years did not allow any movie advertisements.

From Gregg Kilday of The Hollywood Reporter:

The opportunity to promote upcoming movies -- particularly summer tent-poles -- is sure to appeal to the studios, which already use the Super Bowl broadcast to unveil new ads. And just as there are viewers who watch the Super Bowl simply for those ads, previews of highly anticipated summer movies also could lure more eyeballs to the Oscarcast.

Of course, there are a number of carefully constructed rules to ensure an unbiased approach. Studios can't promote nominated movies (including any prequels or sequels), only one movie spot can air per commercial break, each spot can only promote one film at a time, and the spots cannot make any mention of the words "Oscar" or "Academy Award".

Seems a small price to pay to be able to promote films during the industry's biggest night.


(courtesy of Adweek)

Shameless Self-Promotion!

It's about that time...

Check out my new blog, Katie's Advertising Deals, for information on advertising specials I can provide. I'll keep it updated with exciting new services, remnant space offers, last-minute deals, and anything else I can get my hands on!

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Remember to check often, as many of the deals I get are only offered for a limited amount of time. If there's something specific that you want and you don't see it there, let me know! I'll be happy to do the legwork for you.

Font Play

Folha de São Paulo, a Portuguese language newspaper from Brazil, is running these very cool ads of celebrities created solely from characters in different font characters.

Brando's still pretty fine, considering most of his top half is made out of punctuation.

(Courtesy of Geekologie and Walyou)

Natural Born Clickers

A study commissioned by Starcom and Tacoda, and conducted by comScore shows that only 6% of the online population accounts for 50% of all display ad clicks.

While click-throughs are generally a valuable tool for judging campaign effectiveness, don't be fooled into thinking that they provide 100% accuracy. The study suggests that this small percentage of "heavy clickers" does not represent the click habits of the general public:

In fact, heavy clickers skew towards Internet users between the ages of 25-44 and households with an income under $40,000. Heavy clickers behave very differently online than the typical Internet user, and while they spend four times more time online than non-clickers, their spending does not proportionately reflect this very heavy Internet usage. Heavy clickers are also relatively more likely to visit auctions, gambling, and career services sites – a markedly different surfing pattern than non-clickers.

Click the title above for the full press release.

Jeans Theme: Unbutton Your Beast

I'm sensing a trend here. First it was Quiksilver Deep Blue, making their jeans into creatures from the deep sea.

Now? Trout Troutman literally pops out at you from a pair of Levi's and starts talking.

Levi's 501 is letting you "unbutton your beast" on their website. There are some critics that see this as a campaign "so lacking in nuance, it makes you want to cringe."

To that I say...

If it's generating buzz, it's working! And really, tell me who doesn't appreciate a hilarious penis joke - subtle or not. I think we are all winners here.

In any case, between the actual claw, the dangling toothpick, and the nut-cracking, I'd be a little nervous if I was a dude and THAT was in my pants.

Good Marketing in a Bad Economy

You're sick of hearing it, but here it is one last time - It's very important to continue advertising, even when the economy is bad. Especially when the economy is bad.

And here is someone else who agrees - David Warschawski, in an opinion piece from the August 25 edition of Mediaweek. He says:

Just as any wise investor knows that the best opportunities are found in down markets, the savvy marketing executive knows that this is the perfect time to proactively market their product or service.

Recessions are periods of opportunity that can be taken advantage of or can take advantage of you. Make certain you know how to capitalize on the great marketing opportunities provided by a recessionary period.

OK. I lied. I just really can't emphasize this point enough - It's very important to continue advertising, even when the economy is bad. Especially when the economy is bad.

Here are two more links to fascinating case studies and facts/statistics on advertising during tough financial times:

Investing In A Bad Economy (Chuck McKay) - From 2005 but definitely still relevant. Excerpt:

During the recessionary period 1989-1991 Kraft salad dressings, Jiff peanut butter, Bud Lite, Coors Lite, Pizza Hut, and Taco bell were in the aggressive group which increased advertising expenditures. Jell-O, Crisco, Hellman´s, Green Giant, McDonalds, and Doritos cut back on advertising during this period. Predictably the first group had showed growth during the recession ranging from 15% to 70%. The second group´s sales dropped 26% to 64%

How a Bad Economy Can Be a Good Opportunity (Clff Freeman & Partners) - Excellent case studies and focus on importance of sound business model to truly use ad dollars wisely. Excerpt:

By one measure, 70% of companies are not fully prepared for an economic slowdown. Moreover, a survey of 100 US senior executives showed that only a handful of business leaders see an economic downturn as an opportunity that can be turned into a long-term competitive advantage.

Don't be fooled - despite the bad economy people are still going to have to spend their money. Make sure they spend it with you.