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The pitfalls in paper advertising

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R
Raj Nagji

The document discusses the importance of advertising for businesses. It notes that doing business without advertising is like "winking at a girl in the dark" because no one else is aware of your actions. Later, it provides tips on designing effective print advertisements, including using a headline to grab attention, clear and logical copy, and including a call to action. It also stresses the importance of measuring the results of different advertising tactics.

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“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does” Stuart Henderson Britt
The pitfalls in paper advertising
 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 media Consistent 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, patience and 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 the contents of the ad
This is what we are called This is where we are This is what we do Established 25 years, quality, service etc Please call us with a BIG fat number highlighted
 Header/ Strap line - grab attention, make them want to read it!  Simple design & layout - consistent, uncluttered & avoid small, complicated or difficult to read fonts  Use clear copy - logical follow on from the headline, build a convincing case. All the reader wants to know is “what’s in it for me?” Why you…establishing the need Why this…proving the irresistible offer Why it’s a no brainer…proving the value  Call to action – why you have to do it now  Logo & contact details at bottom Ads 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 don’t 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 / Editorial Content & Proof of Audit
Does the look and feel of the publication match your own company profile/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 coffee table?
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?  Don’t pay for advertising in areas where you don’t want to target? It should make commercial business sense.
Without doubt, every business will want their advert to be retained in as many households as possible for as long as possible in order to fully maximise 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. This largely includes newspapers and local community mags which have an average read time of 10-20 mins.  Lifestyle mags often have a limited audience and again are instantly binned once read.  Yellow pages etc retained but not highly interesting to read! However large majority do hold onto these publications “just in case” it is needed.  Business directories in a handy size, with some local information and maybe some lifestyle articles are more likely to be retained for the “just in case” scenario above.
Quality, style, format as well as the actual distribution of the publication will all lead to a longer life of the print media in the home. However a large contributing factor will also be the editorial content and readability of the publication which will undoubtable allow the print media to be retained for far 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 sudoku’s are very popular with the older generation.  Recipe’s, 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 is distributed?  It is not unreasonable to ask the publication for proof of this. For example a delivery note from the printers to say how many have been delivered or any data on how many are delivered 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 they love to keep and our advertisers a brilliant response from their advertising”
The pitfalls in paper advertising

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The pitfalls in paper advertising

  • 1. “Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does” Stuart Henderson Britt
  • 3.  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
  • 4. With paper advertising and all other types of media Consistent 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, patience and a budget to build that trust
  • 5.  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 the contents of the ad
  • 6. This is what we are called This is where we are This is what we do Established 25 years, quality, service etc Please call us with a BIG fat number highlighted
  • 7.  Header/ Strap line - grab attention, make them want to read it!  Simple design & layout - consistent, uncluttered & avoid small, complicated or difficult to read fonts  Use clear copy - logical follow on from the headline, build a convincing case. All the reader wants to know is “what’s in it for me?” Why you…establishing the need Why this…proving the irresistible offer Why it’s a no brainer…proving the value  Call to action – why you have to do it now  Logo & contact details at bottom Ads using these rules out perform a typical style ad by 30 to 1, yet almost all advertisers use the typical ad style!!
  • 8. “I know that 50% of my advertising works, but I don’t 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.
  • 9. 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 / Editorial Content & Proof of Audit
  • 10. Does the look and feel of the publication match your own company profile/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 coffee table?
  • 11. 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?  Don’t pay for advertising in areas where you don’t want to target? It should make commercial business sense.
  • 12. Without doubt, every business will want their advert to be retained in as many households as possible for as long as possible in order to fully maximise 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. This largely includes newspapers and local community mags which have an average read time of 10-20 mins.  Lifestyle mags often have a limited audience and again are instantly binned once read.  Yellow pages etc retained but not highly interesting to read! However large majority do hold onto these publications “just in case” it is needed.  Business directories in a handy size, with some local information and maybe some lifestyle articles are more likely to be retained for the “just in case” scenario above.
  • 13. Quality, style, format as well as the actual distribution of the publication will all lead to a longer life of the print media in the home. However a large contributing factor will also be the editorial content and readability of the publication which will undoubtable allow the print media to be retained for far 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 sudoku’s are very popular with the older generation.  Recipe’s, 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.
  • 14. 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 is distributed?  It is not unreasonable to ask the publication for proof of this. For example a delivery note from the printers to say how many have been delivered or any data on how many are delivered to each area of a town with maps included.
  • 15. 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 they love to keep and our advertisers a brilliant response from their advertising”