Definition: Print ads that run in local or national, daily or weekly news
publications
Newspaper advertising has been around longer than any other form
of advertising we see today and is still the first kind of
advertising that businesses think about doing. These ads can do a
lot more than just advertise one item or one sale--each one can
work really hard to bring in customers, and then bring them back
again and again. They're a good way to reach a large number of
people, especially those aged 45-plus who tend to read the paper
more frequently than younger demographic groups who tend to get
their news from television, radio or the internet. And you can
target your ads to the appropriate markets by requesting that your
ads run in the section(s) that most closely relate to your target
audience, be it sports, lifestyle or business.
Like all forms of advertising, your print ad costs will depend
on a lot of things: the size of your ad(s), what publication(s) you
use, what sections of the paper(s) you want your ads in, the
frequency with which you run the ads, and whether you use color in
your ads. When it comes to working with the publication, you'll
have a different sales representative from each newspaper who will
not only quote you prices and deadlines but will also help you
design your ad.
When it comes to price, daily papers are the costliest of your
choices and are best handled with annual contracts, since these
publications make committing to one ad at a time cost
prohibitive--rates plunge dramatically even for the smallest
contract, compared to the one-time rate.
If you find dailies to be too expensive, you can save money by
only running your ads in the local sections the dailies all provide
to their subscribers. These are tabloid-like sections that usually
run just one day a week and carry news pertaining to small
geographic areas or neighborhoods. For instance, the Post Standard
in Syracuse, New York, carries its local publication, called
"Neighbors," on Thursdays. This local section is inserted into the
appropriate daily papers and distributed to the various suburbs of
Syracuse, instead of to the paper's entire coverage area. If your
business was based in the Syracuse area, you could choose to run
your ad in just "Neighbors East" or "Neighbors West" in order to
target your business's neighborhood. As you grow, you would
probably want to consider purchasing ad space in the local section
aimed at another area along with, not instead of, your original
area of coverage.
When you look at a paper, you'll see it's divided into columns.
Your newspaper ads are sized according to a very set formula: a
certain number of columns wide and a certain number of inches long.
Multiplying the two numbers together will give you the number of
"column inches" of your ad, which determines the ad's cost. For
example, because you'll pay a specific dollar amount "per column
inch," if your ad covers three columns in width and is five inches
long (15 column inches), and you're paying $30 a column inch, that
ad will cost you $450.00 (15 column inches X $30.00). This is true
for print ads in any newspaper, whether it's daily or weekly.
If you can't afford to run an ad in your daily paper at all,
start with your subscription-based, weekly neighborhood
publications. Again, you can purchase one area, two areas or all
that are available. You don't need a contract for these
papers--they're pretty reasonable and are read more thoroughly than
the free, local papers or "shoppers" are because people actually
pay to receive them.
Both the daily and weekly papers will have special sections
(holiday, home improvement, landscaping and so on) throughout the
year, and you should ask when something appropriate for your
business is scheduled. Your sales representatives should also
contact you to let you know what's in the works. It's a good idea
to place ads in these special sections even if you're not regularly
in the publications--your competitors will. The good news is, many
times these special sections carry a less expensive rate, or
automatically runs your ad in all papers, in all sections, and
sometimes even offer free color printing, which is a fabulous
perk.
Here are a few more tips when it comes to newspaper ads:
- Use the bottom section of your ad as a coupon to
provide an added incentive for readers to visit your location. Be
sure to put an end date on the coupon. And use the coupon to track
the response rate of your ads--you'll know how good your ads are by
the number of people using the coupon.
- Add your URL to every print ad to drive people to
your website where you can tell and sell them more and provide a
coupon to print out when they get there.
- Give your sales rep all the information he or she
needs well ahead of deadline so you can get a proof sheet to check
all the facts before it goes to print.
- When it comes to proofing, check your phone
number, your URL, any percentages off, brand names, and every other
detail to be sure what the reader sees is what you intended. Get
another pair of eyes to check for mistakes, too.
- Be sure your print ad corresponds with any other
advertising you may be doing for maximum impact.