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PRINT ADVERTISING

Print is one very powerful advertising medium, and depending on exactly what form of print you use, it can be both very effective and very expensive. The reason for one is the other. Since it is so effective when utilized properly, publishers know just how valuable their an ad in their newspaper or magazine is, and they want to make all the money they can.

Unlike a radio or television advertisement, print has the added value of what is called "pass along" or "pass through" potential. If you happen to miss a TV or radio advertisement, that's it. There's no chance to "catch it again" unless it is re-broadcast and paid for again by the advertiser.

However, in newspapers, and even more so in magazines, that ad may be seen and read by several people since usually, more than one person reads a single issue of a magazine. With newspapers, the pass through value is up to as much as three readers. In magazines, the number can be as high as six to eight different readers! So your ad, if it's a good one, gives you a lot of ""bang for the buck".

Think about it. In a doctor's office you might have a variety of magazines left out for patients to read while awaiting their time with the physician. In that case, you could have as dozens of people seeing that one ad you placed for many months after you've placed it. Just recently I responded to an ad in a magazine in my doctor's office. It was an issue from 1997, and to my amazement the 800 number still worked!

Does this assure you that your advertising in published print will be cost -effective or even profitable? Absolutely not. As I've said over and over again, there is no lazy way to do this. If you haphazardly spend your money on print advertising, I will give you a less than 10% chance of breaking even on that ad. You must use common sense, along with accurate and relevant data, and start your testing from there.

I very recently saw a full page ad in Star Trek Magazine, a very expensive magazine that certainly caters to a very diversified, yet niche audience. It was the first I ever noticed in there that was not selling some kind of Star Trek or science fiction memorabilia or other such product. In fact, I think it was for a book or series of tapes to help people overcome their shyness about speaking with others in public situations-something the vast majority of us do with no problem every day. I cannot imagine in my wildest dreams that this ad, which cost tens of thousands of dollars, generated more than a few dozen sales, if even.

STAR TREK MAGAZINE?

Yet I can see how on an impulse, some advertising account executive (who was probably a Star Trek fan himself) would present this medium as a great market to test this particular product in. He/she probably read somewhere that many people who are normally socially inept, or even timid, manage to project entirely different image when they are in the company of others who are fans of that TV series. Maybe there was even a formal study that showed that something like 8% of the Star Trek viewers considered themselves ineffective in social situations. Would I spend big bucks on an ad to reach those people? Not with the demographic data I got from Star Trek magazine. I don't care if the pass-along rate is 8 to 10 readers, it's just not gonna happen.

So, at first glance, this might seem like a viable ad placement, a viable medium. However, if the person who's money was being spent on this took a look at the surveys and even more importantly - a quick overview of who is advertising in that particular publication, they would have probably saved their company a lot of money and refused to do it. Instead, I saw a rather poorly composed ad in a medium where it just made absolutely no sense. That ad exec's head would be on a pole outside my office if they had told me to run that ad!

My point is simple. Print advertising is very powerful and when it clicks it's just unbelievable. But if you approach it in a half-assed, "yeah this looks good" kind of attitude- you're going to loose money, maybe some big money. So think, think, think... then think again before you make such a commitment.

This free resource is owned and operated by Bill Frazzetto, president & CEO of Web Target Marketing Group, Inc., and Creative Director and Managing Partner of OuterMedia USA. If you would like to contact Mr. Frazzetto directly, you can click on either link and the contact information on either site will assist you, or you can use the email doorway provided on this site under the left border menu.