The pitfalls in paper advertising

Doing businesswithout advertising islike winking at a girlin the dark. Youknow what you aredoing but nobodyelse doesStuart Henderson Britt

Increase sales - tell potential customers about your product Increase short term sales with a one off message e.g. special offer Remind existing customers about your business Change peoples attitudes & perceptions of your business Tell customers about changes/improvements to a service / new product Provide basic facts such as website address & contact details Help to develop a distinctive brand to stand out from your competitors Put your business at front of peoples minds, ahead of your competitors

With paper advertising and all other types of mediaConsistent Advertising =Familiarity =Trust =Customers

People will not buy from you until they trust you Trust & confidence take time to build To be successful you need persistence, patienceand a budget to build that trust

Since start of this century, internet has grown and is still growing. Paper adverts are instant, highly tangible. Turn the page and the advert is there. With the Internet, you have to go to the browser and type what you are

looking for by knowing what it is you wish to search. Paper will reach a much wider audience. Instant geographic targeting. Magic 7 - Statistics suggest for both print media and digital, that a customer

has to see a logo/advert on average 7 times before they acknowledge thecontents of the ad

This is what we are calledThis is where we areThis is what we doEstablished 25 years, quality, service etcPlease call us with a BIG fat numberhighlighted

Header/ Strap line - grab attention, make them want to read it!Simple design & layout - consistent, uncluttered & avoid small,

complicated or difficult to read fontsUse clear copy - logical follow on from the headline, build a convincing

case. All the reader wants to know is whats in it for me?Why youestablishing the needWhy thisproving the irresistible offerWhy its a no brainerproving the value

Call to action why you have to do it nowLogo & contact details at bottomAds using these rules out perform a typical style ad by 30 to 1,yet almost all advertisers use the typical ad style!!

I know that 50% of my advertising works,but I dont know which 50%!

Measure & track the response rate from each area eg mags,newspapers, journals, recommendations, website, referrals etc

ALWAYS qualify where the lead/enquiry came from. Put an offer in and ask customer to quote reference number. Smart telephone systems can track every call. Trial and error no rhyme or reason! Return not always immediate.

Covering all aspects of paper media including:

Local / national newspapers Yellow Pages / Thomson Local / BT Phone Book A4/A5 glossy lifestyle mags Local parish mags / school fete mags A5/B5 community based mags A5/B5 directory based mags

Look out for:Quality / Distribution / Retainability / EditorialContent & Proof of Audit

Does the look and feel of the publication match your own companyprofile/ethos? Layout, style and feel of mag well laid out, quality publication or does

it look quite chaotic and cluttered Quality of paper (130gsm and above good quality 115gsm medium

quality - 100gsm poor quality Is the complete publication in full colour or lots of black and white ads? Finish & trimming does the publication have a quality finish, what

does the front cover look like? Would you want to pick it up of a coffeetable?

How & where is the publication distributed & over what period of time? Is the publication hand delivered through the door by an in house team

or outsourced hand delivery or Royal Mail. Is the publication distributed largely through retail outlets and health

surgeries? Is the publication a paid for publication? Is the distribution targeted or blanketed? Demographics any less

responsive homes? Dont pay for advertising in areas where you dont want to target? It

should make commercial business sense.

Without doubt, every business will want their advert to be retained in asmany households as possible for as long as possible in order to fullymaximise the amount of enquiries they may receive. Community information publications are a great read but are instantly

binned as the publication is no longer of use/benefit to the reader. Thislargely includes newspapers and local community mags which have anaverage read time of 10-20 mins.

Lifestyle mags often have a limited audience and again are instantlybinned once read.

Yellow pages etc retained but not highly interesting to read! Howeverlarge majority do hold onto these publications just in case it is needed.

Business directories in a handy size, with some local information andmaybe some lifestyle articles are more likely to be retained for the justin case scenario above.

Quality, style, format as well as the actual distribution of the publication willall lead to a longer life of the print media in the home. However a largecontributing factor will also be the editorial content and readability of thepublication which will undoubtable allow the print media to be retained forfar longer. Examples: Editorial content that meets the needs of as many members of the

household will help in retaining the publication for longer. Crosswords, puzzles and sudokus are very popular with the older

generation. Recipes, fashion, health and gardening articles are highly popular with

female readers. Cars, gadgets & technology always grab the attention of the male readers. Travel features and book reviews appeal to many sectors in the

household. A kids page/section aimed at younger ones will help retain the

publication.

How does anyone really know how many copies of a magazine,newspaper, yellow pages is printed and/or distributed? Enquire with the publication as to how many are printed. Enquire with the publication as to where the publication isdistributed?

It is not unreasonable to ask the publication for proof of this.For example a delivery note from the printers to say howmany have been delivered or any data on how many aredelivered to each area of a town with maps included.

All our publications are well renowned for the following: Lifestyle Articles - Motoring, Travel, Technology, Books At Leisure Recipe, Crossword, Wordsearch, Quiz/Puzzles Community local information clubs, charity, local events Hand delivered through the door - free for readers Retained in the home for longer due to directory value Value for money, effective advertising

We are passionate about giving our readers a magazine theylove to keep and our advertisers a brilliant response from theiradvertising