Newspaper ad's cost effective?

[bennysweeney]

Newspaper (or any other media) ads work for some and not for others. It depends who your target audience is and whether they read papers, etc. It depends what you have to say and how you say it. It depends whether you catch the reader's attention, so you may need to give the reader a few 'opportunities to see' (OTS - advertising jargon). You may need to catch the reader at the right time, you may need to lead them through stages from ignorance, awareness, knowledge, desire, action. You may be lucky first time, but probably not. You need to think about the long haul, building recognition, using testimonials, building trust. I could go on...

[Power Lunch Club]

Originally Posted by stressmom

Do you think that newspaper advertising as a whole is becoming a bit of a relic? I still like to look at the paper daily but I know there are many young people who never even read the newspaper once per week, so I guess if this is your target audience then newspaper ads really are not the best route to take.

It is ironic that most people who advertise in a newspaper either get very little response (or nothing) from it, yet the papers exist because of advertising revenues. So someone's doing it.

[barryhynd]

I was at one of Gordon's PLC events fairly recently and one of the things i took from the events was some advertising stats. I've heard this from various different people but according to the stats you have to advertise at least seven times in your chosen publication for people to start noticing you. So I guess the question should be can you afford to pay for an ad seven times or can you use that money in a better way?

[TFGtv.com]

Originally Posted by PLC

It is ironic that most people who advertise in a newspaper either get very little response (or nothing) from it, yet the papers exist because of advertising revenues. So someone's doing it.

Funny you should resurect this one.... I was just mulling over the worth of advertising in trade publications... "The Drum" for instance.... NOt reached any conclusions....

[Idea15]

No one has ever hired a web site designer out of a newspaper ad - and if they did, they would probably be a client from hell!

That said I have a monthly advertorial spot in a local magazine. I get 400 words. That's my monthly challenge - distill a web design topic into 400 words that anyone off the street could understand. It usually takes me 4 hours to get it right, but what a fantastic way of keeping the communication skills sharp. Anyway, I've gotten 3 clients out of the advertorials, which is actually a great rate of return.

[TFGtv.com]

It's that thing about attracting attention to your website...

I used to regularly use the eyecatchers on the Herald along with ads on the backs of busses etc... the idea being to 'implant' the idea that people knew of us before we came chapping on their door...