Print Is A Favorite Advertising Medium

Since there are so many options to discuss for print

, we will keep our focus on newspapers for this discussion. Newspapers have been around since the 1700' s in the United States and you can trace the origins to when Ben Franklin took over and began publishing the first newspaper.

Compared to radio or television where you have very specific unit sizes to purchase, print you will find has many shapes and sizes. The vast majority of Radio or Television are 60 second spots or 30 second spots.

Because print media comes with many more options, the majority of newspapers are purchased by column inches. When you open up a newspaper, the size of your ad is how many columns of print it takes up wide, and how many inches long. You would think that would be easy to understand, but not when the sizes of the columns vary depending on the section of the newspaper.

Some additional information you will need to know includes knowing their "mechanical" data, which will tell you how many inches are in their columns, and what the actual sizes are of the ads. For example a 1/4 page horizontal ad has different dimension than a 1.4 page vertical ad. You will find that newspapers often negotiate contracts based on column inch sizes, which is why it is important to keep all of the "mechanical" data organized. Understanding this information will be important before negotiating with a newspaper for sizes and rates.

The next most important item about newspaper advertising is understanding exactly what sections of the newspaper run on what days of the week. You may also wish to know if there are any special sections that run during the year so you can plan your advertising budget accordingly. it is also possible to negotiate positioning requests such as having your ad run in the beginning of a section rather than middle or end.

Because the newspapers are audited by an independent firm, you can find readership information that provides knowledge to help you make decisions about your ads and the newspaper(s) you wish to choose. This would include demographics and geography.

You would think that with newspapers on the decline that this medium may not be right for your budget. On the contrary you will find that newspapers are helping advertisers reach their target audience. This has opened numerous advertising opportunities outside of the traditional ad space in the newspaper itself. As you can imagine your budget will allow you to get a better value too.

Ask about opportunities that may be more cost efficient for your specific campaign. This could include special sections being published monthly and available in more localized areas that would cut down on costs or allow you to get more. You can also consider more creative advertising that will help your ad get noticed such as stick on notes on the front of the paper or inserts that are eye catching.

Ask you sales representative to let you know about

"remnant specials", which are advertising space available last minute at a discounted rate. As you work with a specific newspapers and sales rep, you will understand the numbers better for remnant specials. Always evaluate how much it costs to reach your target audience and compare it to other offers, opportunities and vendors.

As you can imagine there is always room for negotiation with any type of traditional media. Newspapers generally have specific "contract levels" to determine the discount you receive based your volume of advertising.

by: Kara Knapp

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