How To Run An Ad Introduction Your media options ----Daily newspapers ----Weekly newspapers ----Shoppers ----Other publications Making first contact Analyzing the media Choosing the right one Running the ad After the ad runs Take our ad effectiveness course. Learn what you need to know to get a great response the first time you run. Just $59 • Get more readers seeing your ad • Get more readers reading your ad • Get more readers responding

While circulation and readership are important, choosing the right medium is more than just a numbers game. You should also take a look at what type of readers the newspaper is reaching.

Demographic information
Look in the media kit of any established newspaper and you'll see the results of the publication's latest readership and market survey.

This demographic information is critical in determining if the medium is going to be effective for you, that is, if the newspaper is reaching the right amount of the right types of readers in the right areas to get you a response.

The results from these surveys are relatively easy to read. If you know the profile of your typical customer in terms of age, income, sex, even zip code, you can find out how many each publication is reaching. Again, make sure you're not confusing readership with circulation.

Rates
You'll have to figure out what it's going to cost you to run your ad, and we've got a whole other section on calculating rates. Rates will vary based on how much circulation the publication has, how desirable the demographics of the readers are, and, how targeted these publications are to the most desirable demographics. You'll probably find the big dailies are the most expensive, the shoppers are the least expensive, and the hometown weeklies are somewhere in between.

It's common for first-time advertisers to experience sticker shock when they find out what it costs to run in a reputable publication. Don't be too quick to blame it on that publication, though. It's like that everywhere.

For example, in the top 30 U.S. markets, it's very common for a 100,000 circulation newspaper to charge anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 for one full page ad. In the smaller markets, the rates might be a bit lower, but don't expect to get away with running a 2 column x 5 inch ad for much less than a few hundred dollars in any good publication.

Why? One answer is that the materials to produce a newspaper (especially newsprint) are very expensive, and there's also a huge amount of labor involved.

Another answer to why they charge such high rates is simply that they can. Advertisers have found that even when they make such a large investment, they can still make a profit.

Is that the case with your newspaper? One indication may be to simply take a look at its advertisers. If there are a lot of them running consistently, then they've got to be delivering enough customers to make those relationships profitable.

The old adage "you get what you pay for" almost always applies to the newspaper industry. If you have faith in the effectiveness of your ad (other areas on this web site can help you with that as well as our online course), then don't dismiss the larger publications just because they seem expensive. Try to figure out how many responses you'd need for your advertising to be profitable.

One more thing about rates and circulation that we've touched on earlier. For each newspaper, some people will divide the circulation by the rate (and then multiply by 1000, which results in a cost per thousand, or CPM). Although this may give you a reliable way to compare the relative ad cost per paper, it won't account for the effectiveness of the newspapers. That's because this approach disregards the quality of the readers, the delivery method (see below), and many other factors that make a newspaper deliver the results you're hoping for.

Delivery method
Another thing you might want to look at is the delivery method. At least in the United States, it's widely accepted that the most reliable method of delivery is through the United States Post Office, and you'll probably find most reputable weekly newspapers will deliver that way.

Some newspapers find it's better and cheaper to deliver their product themselves, and another very reliable delivery method is through adult carriers. In most places, the days of kids on bikes working their paper routes are over, partially because of reliability issues. They've been replaced with adult carriers who are a bit more responsible.

In both of the above cases, the newspapers are delivered right to the reader's home. You'll also find that some free publications are distributed simply by leaving stacks of them at supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, and other locations for people to pick up.

Although some legitimate publications do successfully distribute their product this way, you'll probably find that these newspapers don't have very good data on who exactly is reading their product.

Next: Running the ad

Conditions of Use     © 2001-2010 Robert McInnis Consulting