As much as the Internet dominates the world these days, it’s important to remember that a massive segment of the population still reads the newspaper every morning. Ignoring the continuing relevance of newspapers is a fatal error for any business, since you could be skipping over a potentially lucrative demographic of people who may not spend all that much time online. We all know that older people tend to be better off financially than younger ones; many of them continues to read the paper. Don’t you want to get your message out to them?
If you’ve decided to venture into the world of newspaper advertising, it’s important to get as much bang for your buck as possible. One of the biggest mistakes that business owners make when placing newspaper ads is that they don’t make the most of the experience. Since you’re paying to get your message out there, you should maximize its potential as much as possible. That may sound daunting, but there are several very simple, easy-to-follow tips that you can use to get the most out of your newspaper advertising investment. To help you get started, we’ve highlighted ten of the very best bits of advice below.
1. Hire A Professional To Write Your Ad For You
Most newspapers will offer to come up with an ad for you; don’t take them up on the offer. Newspaper-designed ads are generally bland and tend to blend in with all of the other ads. You want yours to stand out, so have a professional ad writer create one for you. In the long run, it will be well worth the extra cash that it takes.
2. Try Regional Or Larger Newspapers
Starting off with local newspapers is never a bad idea, but you may discover that you don’t get the kinds of responses you want when you go that way. Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t terribly expensive to advertise in some of the larger, nationwide newspapers – especially if you place a relatively small ad. Give it a try and see for yourself – the response you get may surprise you.
3. Choose The Right Day Of The Week
Certain days of the week are better for placing certain ads in a newspaper. For example, Mondays are great days to place newspaper ads if your audience is primarily male; men tend to check the newspaper out a lot on Mondays, thanks to sports recaps and other features. Saturdays are also a cost effective option, since fewer people advertise on those days and rates tend to be lower.
4. Get A Good Spot
Whatever you do, don’t simply submit an order for your ad without ensuring that it’s going to appear in a prominent place. While you certainly don’t need to place a full page or even a half page ad, you should double check that your ad will show up near a popular feature or in another part of the paper that tends to get a decent amount of attention.
5. Use Color
The extra cost may turn you off, but using color in your newspaper ad is a spectacular idea. In a black and white newspaper, any spot of color is certain to stand out. In turn, your ad is more likely to grab the attention of more people – and you’re that much more likely to generate some decent leads. Never underestimate the power of color in newspaper advertising.
6. Try Several Different Newspapers
Determining what the readership of any given newspaper is can be a tricky endeavor; it’s even more difficult to figure out which paper will work best with your particular product or service. Be prepared to try your ad out in several different newspapers in order to increase your odds of success. Don’t limit yourself to just one or two papers, but spread your efforts around a little bit – it is well worth it.
7. Be Patient!
Newspaper ads don’t tend to generate hits immediately. Throwing in the towel after only a week or two is not a wise move. You have to bear in mind that some people need to see an ad several times before acting on it; place your ads then give them plenty of time before moving on to bigger and better things. Don’t try to rush the process if you want to get anything out of it.
8. Use Tracking Devices
How can you gauge whether or not your ad is getting you anywhere? By placing a tracking device on it. This usually takes the shape of a coupon, although you might ask the reader to “mention this ad” when ordering. Either way, you should come up with some way to track and see whether your ad is producing any noticeable results for you or not.
9. Come Up With A Catchy Headline
Many readers simply scan the ads in a newspaper and only look more closely at the ones that have catchy headlines. You need to put as much effort as possible into the wording that you use for your ad’s headline. Try several different configurations until you arrive at one that will be hard for virtually anyone to resist. Test it out on friends and colleagues to get their input on it, too.
10. Use The Space You Pay For!
There’s something to be said for decent amounts of blank space, but it has no place in a well designed newspaper ad. While you don’t want to cram your copy into an inappropriately-small amount of space, you don’t want to waste the space that you’re paying for, either. Make good use of the space you’ve purchased by filling it with informative and interesting information.