Deciding where to advertise

southernnvlst

I would appreciate your thoughts, suggestions and comments on how you choose where to advertise your business.  Let`s assume that you are beyond the flyer/poster stage and that the internet is not applicable to your business. In other words, newspapers, magazines are more appropriate for your product.
How do you decide which newspapers and magazines to advertise in? What criteria do you use?
Thanks

gwbev

southern,
depends very much on your product or service, target market, budget, etc.   if you want to share more about what you are selling. i would be glad to offer some suggestions.  80% or more of advertising does not work.  that is true for a variety of reasons, but can range from wrong media, to wrong target, to crappy ad.  make absolutely certain that you have all your ducks in a row before leaping.  as i said, if you can give me some more info, i will be glad to try and help.
greg 

southernnvlst

The product can be anything from a realtor ad to an ad for a department store or hair salon. We are launching a "regional lifestyle" magazine and want to be sure that we provide the potential advertisers with the information they need to make a sound business decision. The magazine is full color, glossy, 8.75 x 10.75 and 100+ pages, perfect bound. It will be a monthly and our circulation is 50,000 copies per month x 3.5 readers per copy which gives us a readership (ad exposure) of 175,000 people per month..
So far, we have lined up jewelry stores, medical offices, banks, insurance companies, restaurants, auto dealerships, interior decorators, art galleries, realtors, etc. as advertisers.
Our competition charges approximately what we are charging for ad space. We also have some very good distribution networks set in place. We just want to be as good at what we do as is humanly possible. That is why I was asking for what you would look for when you make advertising decisions.
Thanks
 

misterwicks2006

what you need is a book called - `how to write articles for newspapers and magazines` by Dawn B. Sova ( Arco publication) - a small book that takes a day to read. next, you need to decide on a promotional device that you can place in the articles. i had a housemate, he advertised in a free mail flyer called `community ***` - he included coupons in his ad. for free stop-in goodies. but, i would shy away from ads. that aren`t article based, but make sure the articles (product pitch) isn`t too long - long drafts take space($). also, when you call on a publication, ask them what kind of results you can expect from placing ads. with them. ask a lot of publications and take statistics from one to another to cut the best deals!! c-ya