Magazine advertising?

[csa]

I'm considering buying ad space in a small local magazine. I'm afraid that the cost might not justify the return. Anybody have a story of success or not from such a venture?

[dracula02]

I advertise in the local Bridal magazine, but that's my target audience. What kind of magazine is it that you're thinking of advertising in, and is it what your target audience picks up to read?

[STP Images]

In my personal experience, print ads result in very few bookings directly. We run ads in a few key local publications, but we approach it as branding and not specific advertising. Even with a call to action or a really special deal, the phone won't ring a ton. The times it does ring, you've got to be in sales mode and handle the incoming inquiries with absolute confidence and assuredness and get them in for a consultation.

We typically spend our marketing and advertising dollars in other areas.

[csa]

This was kind of my gut instinct. This is one of those free-to-household local mags. There's a local bridal show coming up in Sept. When I asked about the bridal issue that coincides with the show, they put the heavy sell on for multiple issues. I decided to wait since it was a little pricey for mid-summer with a slim chance of return at this moment.

[toverman]

Getting to know vendors that cater to the type of clients you are after is another way to network that doesn't cost money.

A print ad's success assumes several things: someone looking for your services will see the ad, be in the right frame of mind to remember it, and then get around to contacting you. From there, other factors come into play. On a page full of ads, how many do people actually see?

[Aric C. Hoek]

If you do decide to go this route, you will want to make sure that you are tracking every contract you receive, and not just ones from the magazine. This will allow you to calculate "cost per lead". If you pay $1000 for this ad space you are looking at, and you only receive only 10 phone calls from the ad, then each phone call is a $100 phone call.

Here is a copy and paste from something I wrote in the past -------

In most cities there will be multiple options where you can place a magazine ad. It is important to understand that each magazine will cater to a different budget, both for the consumer and for the advertiser. While I cannot say which option will be best for you, I can tell you what I did when I first started with magazine advertising.

When I first started with magazine advertising, I placed an ad in all of the wedding magazines in my city. I flooded the market. I covered the entire spectrum, and my phones rang with prospects interested in my services. Over and over again, I would hear people say that they saw my ad everywhere, so they called. I wanted to give my company an injection of business, and that is exactly what I got. However, I got that injection at a high cost, the $18,000 I mentioned earlier.

Today, I no longer advertise in magazines at all, as I have found other more efficient ways to educate people that my services exist, but if I were to start advertising again in magazines I can tell you that I would only place ads in the magazines that correlate to the level of my artwork, attract the type of customer I want to attract, and all of my ads would be full-page ads.

You may have located websites in your area where you would like to advertise. Some of these websites are actually affiliated with a magazine and they may require that you purchase an ad in their magazine before they allow you placement on their website. If I had to choose between a web ad and a magazine ad, I would choose to do a web ad for the simple reason that I am able to change my ad more frequently. Most magazines where I have advertised will only allow you to change your ad twice a year. With a web ad you can change your message frequently.

Whether you choose a magazine ad or a web placement, you will have to think about what your ad is going to say. When writing your copy, keep one thing in mind: the reader doesn’t care about you. They only care about how you can ease their pain and they want to know what the benefit is to them should they chose to hire you. They care about how you will change their lives for the better.

Brides-To-Be do not care about what type of camera you use. They do not care about how many weddings you have photographed. They do not care about how you got into photography. They do not care about how you dress at a wedding.

Brides-To-Be care about how they are going to feel when they receive their images from you. They care about how gracefully they will be able to tell the story of the most important day of their life. Women communicate through the use of stories and you are going to provide them with the tools they need to tell that story. Let the words you choose to place in your advertising tell Brides-To-Be how they will feel when you deliver their images.

Imagine you are in a car driving down the highway, moving along with the pack at a pretty good click. As you are driving by, you notice a few billboards. These billboards have a few catchy words and contact information. They do not have an entire paragraph for you to read, and they do not have a set price on their product. The billboard advertiser knows that he/she only has one second to catch your attention to get their message to you.

Now think of someone quickly flipping through a magazine. Minimalism has always been a good approach for me.

[csa]

Good advice, Aric. I have actually considered all of things, especially the story telling concept and minimalism in copy. I like the idea of cost per contact which is what I had been most concerned about. Thanks for your input.