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Advertising in the paper works for many people inbusiness. The astute merchant understands thenewspaper's weaknesses and works to avoid themwhenever possible.
Here are 13 facts you should know.
1 Despite declining circulation figures andincreasing ad rates, newspapers still reach largeaudiences, daily.
2 Newspapers are considered the PRIMARYadvertising medium by 99.4% of all retailers.Newspapers have been there in every step of thetypical store owner's life from the verybeginning. Newspapers covered his birth, his highschool graduation, his engagement, his marriage,the death of his parents and everything else.
3 Many, if not most, retailers, lay out their ownads. It is said that over the years, merchantshave come to believe the only way to get it rightis to do it themselves. This thinking has givenrise to the new breed of newspaper salesperson. Notraining, just a list of customers and the dailyquestion "Gotchyur ad ready yet?"
4 There is no proof full page or double-truck adsare more effective than half page ads. The savingscan be spent on a concurrent radio campaign orbillboards.
5 The same with color. It looks great, but theincreased cost many times does not justify thesmall increase in readership. Forget the color andgo with more frequency.
6 The paper is delivered daily, but there is noneed for an ad every day as the paper reaches thesame readers. 3 times a week works just fine.Spend the difference in the shopper or on asupporting radio campaign.
7 Newspaper coupons will have a better rate ofredemption with a radio chaser. Especially if thecoupons are NOT in a Sunday paper competing with85% of all coupons weekly. Think about a couponson Tuesday with supporting radio to drive themto it.
8 Less than half of newspaper readers read theentire paper. Most are skimmers. How many timesthrough the paper does it take for you to findyour own ad?
9 Over half of every newspaper is advertising.Almost as bad as TV where commercial breaks nowlast more than three and a half minutes. Morethan two-thirds of the huge and heavy Sundaybrick is advertising and stuffers and lap cards(those pesky little cards that fall out when youpick it up).
10 Newspaper rates are climbing faster than anyother advertising media. The smallest of ads inthe smallest papers can cost over $100. One time,one shot and POW!, its at the bottom of the birdcage or spread out for an indoor dog's emergency.
11 Newsstand and subscriptions prices are rising,too. 75 cents an issue is rapidly losing to 4quarters.
12 Most papers offer no competitive protection.Your ad can be placed side-by-side with yourcompetition. Get the salesperson to guaranteeyou separation.
13 Daily newspaper numbers are dwindling. Thereare less than 1000 daily papers left in the US.Smaller communities must rely on weeklies orpapers from another area with a "local" section.In some markets one publisher controls severalsmall town papers, printing them at a centrallocation, changing only the front page for eachcommunity.
Newspapers are still a formidable advertisingforce. Find ways to continue to use the paper toincrease store traffic, but do it with otheradvertising too, so the media mix is efficient.Don't let anyone tell you NOT to advertise in thepaper. Just do it better.
For more about advertising, get my article"Do Your Radio Ads Work?"MailTo:RadioAds@BigIdeasGroup.com
2005 BIG Mike McDaniel All Rights ReservedMike@BIGIdeasGroup.comBIG Mike is a Professional Speaker and SmallBusiness Consultant with over 30 years experience,http://BIGIdeasGroup.com
Subscribe to "BIG Mike's BIG Ideas" NewsletterMailTo:subscribe-956603364@ezinedirector.net
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Marketing Lessons I Learned in Chicago this Week...
1 - Traffic in Chicago is much worse than the allegedly bad traffic in Atlanta where I live. We left the hotel downtown at 3 p.m. and were parked on the "highway" a few minutes later.
The Lesson Learned:
I am thankful - as I know many of you are - that I don't have to leave home and fight through this terrible traffic on a daily basis. Life's too short to
suffer like this regularly. The stress level of doing this would take years off my life.
2 - Despite the traffic, I arrived at the airport early enough to rebook my ticket (by paying the $25 fee) on a flight leaving 90 minutes earlier than my original schedule. That was the good news.
The bad news turned out to be that this flight would leave 45 minutes late so I didn't gain very much for my $25.
Obviously, I can afford the $25, but that's not the point.
The Lesson Learned:
It's not about the money. It's about the perception of value received for the money. When I made the deal with the airline to book the earlier flight, I did so with the specific understanding that I was investing $25 to buy 90 minutes.
But, I ended up only getting 1/2 that time - 45 minutes. So, I felt like I'd gotten screwed in the deal.
People - like us and our customers - invest money with us based on the perception of the value they'll receive in exchange. If you don't deliver on your promise, then the customer is not going to be happy with the deal.
If you deliver more, the customer should be ecstatic. That's why you'll usually find extra - unadvertised - bonuses when you purchase my products.
It doesn't matter that I probably would have spent the $25 to get the 45 minutes anyway - that's not the deal I bought.
3 - When I booked my hotel reservation, the website promoted the fine history of the property. When I was standing in the lobby, they had an interesting wall display listing the famous people and many presidents who had stayed there years ago. And they specifically mentioned how they had upgraded the hotel with the latest in electrical, plumbing, etc.
I'm not sure how long ago someone wrote this fiction, but it must be at least 30 years ago - maybe longer. Perhaps the reference to Diamond Jim Brady should have clued me in.
I won't bore you with the sordid details about the sagging mattress and matted down carpet, but it was depressing to enter my room. Especially when I opened the curtains so I could look 15 feet across the air shaft at other rooms.
The Lesson Learned:
Next time I'm booking a reservation in a "historical" hotel, I need to be certain to ask if they've stayed true to their history or entered the new millennium.
Of course, for $39 a night, I might have expected something like I got. But, when I'm paying $120 for the discounted conference special rate, I'm not seeing the value in the deal.
For many products and services - like hotel rooms - we have an understanding of what we think we should get for the money we spend. It doesn't matter whether our preconceived notion is correct - we've got it in our heads already.
As marketers, we have to deal with the public that has these preconceived ideas. When we're not going to fit with them (like charging way too much for a crummy room), we should be fair and make that clear. But we'll obviously want to do this in a fashion that will show why this is a still a fair, if not great, value proposition.
4 - But this story gets even more interesting...
I was chatting with Paul Hartunian (the PR expert who once sold the Brooklyn Bridge - legitimately) and mentioned that I was not happy with my room. He remarked that other people had also voiced similar opinions, but he loved his room.
Turns out he had asked the hotel about upgrade options and, for $20 more, you could get a completely updated room with a wonderful view of the city and Lake Michigan.
Of course, no one volunteers this when you call to make reservations. And it's not mentioned at all on their website.
But I'll bet the people that work in this hotel are wondering why more people don't choose the upgrade option.
The Lesson Learned:
Don't hide your light under a bushel basket!
Think about this...the hotel could have turned many unhappy people into raving fans simply by mentioning the $20 option. Plus, they could have been grabbing an extra $20 a night from dozens of people for doing absolutely nothing.
Sure, we're sitting here in judgment thinking how stupid this is. But...unfortunately, we occasionally make the same kind of silly mistakes and don't make the really fine benefits of our product or service crystal clear.
To sum up:
1 - Don't play in traffic. It's hazardous to your health.
2 - Explain the value in your offers and deliver what you promise (preferably more).
3 - Don't hide your best benefits and offers. Put them right out front so your prospects will become happy customers.
Yours in success,
Shawn Casey
P.S. If you missed the incredible Jeff Paul teleseminar this week - or just want to review it and take some more notes (Jeff talks fast and delivers a lot of info), you can hear the recorded version here:
http://www.ShawnsNews.net/JeffPaulRecording.html
(Scroll down a little when you get there)
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