Think newspaper and magazine advertising is “dead?” Think again! Even in this digital age, there is still very much a time and a place for traditional media. Read on to discover if newspaper and magazine advertising makes sense for you.
Newspaper and magazine advertising may make sense for your business if . . .
You’re trying to target a hard-to-reach generation
Older generations, who can be harder to reach effectively, are still avid newspaper and magazine readers. Not only that, they tend to place more trust in print ads than any other form of advertising.
Your audience has a niche interest
Magazines often focus on specific interest categories or trades. Maybe you want to target hobbyists, collectors, enthusiasts, or people of a certain profession or industry. You can easily do that by placing an ad in a publication geared towards that demo.
Our professional services clients are able to take advantage of this by targeting clients in the B2B space through trade publications. On the B2C side, say we are placing an ad for a travel agency. It’s safe to say the ad would have an effective reach when placed in a magazine focused entirely on travel enthusiasts (and even better, travel enthusiasts choosing to read about travel).
You desire longevity
Print ads offer a permanence that digital ads simply don’t. An ad on Facebook or a banner ad on a website might only command the user’s attention for a couple seconds until they scroll by or click to another page. Then, it’s gone and might not be shown again. Print ads can quite literally live forever (we’ve all kept a magazine or a newspaper around for way too long!) and can be circulated to multiple readers in their lifetime.
You want a local presence
Most cities and states have local publications with a loyal readership. This can be a great way to show ads to the people in your own backyard. This is especially useful for retailers with brick and mortar locations. For example, one of our clients is luxury jewelry store located on Cleveland’s east side. They often advertise in jstyle and Cleveland Jewish News to reach their local customers who live in the vicinity of the store. These ads serve as an effective way for the client to get in front of a likeminded, local audience, encouraging them to visit their storefront.
You want to send traffic to a website or an online store
Your print message doesn’t have to just build awareness, or encourage brick and mortar store traffic. Newspaper and magazine advertising can be used effectively to drive the user elsewhere, like a website or an online store. For example, one of our clients is a sewing manufacturer who teases a sewing project in print publications but drives users to the website for full details. It’s an effective strategy that garners web traffic from the right audience.
Bonus tip: Almost all newspapers and magazines have digital publications as well, making it possible to advertise in both places (usually for a bundled discount!) to reach an even wider audience.
