by Bill Cherry
Learning Objectives:
1. Is newspaper advertising the best kind of advertising?
2. Different kinds of newspapers and advertising
3. What are the advantages of newspaper advertising?
4. What are the disadvantages of newspaper advertising?
5. What does “circulation” mean?
6. What does “readership” mean?
7. All about newspaper ad production
Newspaper Advertising: The Granddaddy of All Media
Newspapers have been around since before radio, before TV, before direct mail and all the rest. For over one hundred years newspapers were the only media available for advertising. It was the only source of news and information people had available. As radio came along it took a small part on the newspaper’s advertising dollars, and when television came along it changed the whole advertising game.
Today with the development of many competing media, the number of people who get their news, information, and entertainment from newspapers has fallen dramatically. Nevertheless, newspaper continues to be a powerful and effective advertising medium.
Different Kinds of Newspapers
Today there are a number of different kinds of newspapers. Of course there are the morning and evening daily papers, business newspapers, regional newspapers that serve a specific geographical area, local community newspapers, and of course the shopper type of newspaper.
Each of these newspapers delivers a different kind of reader at different prices. The large daily morning and evening newspapers deliver the largest audience and readership. Regional newspapers can be very good advertising mediums.
They often cover a geographical area not covered by the major daily newspapers and thus you reach a different market. Since most people buy 90% of their product within a five mile radius, a regional newspaper can be a very effective way to reach customers.
Some specialty newspapers like a business or sports newspaper can also be good for advertising to reach a specific target group like men age 25 to 55.
Many markets have a local business newspaper that has all the most current happenings in the market. They can be effective advertising tools as well. Even community newspapers can be good advertising for smaller businesses like carpet cleaning, or plumbing, and they are cheap.
Finally local shopper newspapers that carry only classified ads can also generate sales for the right kind of customer.
Advantages of Newspaper Advertising
First, the daily’s and the regional newspapers give credibility and prestige to their advertisers.” If it’s in the newspaper, it must be OK.”
Second, newspaper advertising has a very wide geographical reach covering a broad range of readers. Most larger newspapers only cover up to 50% of the market.
Next, newspapers are mobile. You can buy one at many locations and take it with you to work, traveling, home and any other place a person can go.
Because a newspaper is tangible, advertisements can be referred to over and over again exposing your ad to readers multiple times.
Newspapers have a “pass around” readership. That means one copy will often be seen by more than the person who bought it. You have probably seen the daily newspaper lying around the break room at work, or at the salon where you get your hair cut. Many more people ready those copies and that is pass around readership. Most other printed publications also have pass around readership.
Newspaper ads can adjust their sizes to accommodate the amount of content in the ad.
Large ads can contain many different items and services that make it like a shopping catalog.
Large amounts of information can’t be advertised on radio or television because 30 second spot spots are limited by the time limit of 30 or 60 seconds spots.
While newspapers reach a broad range of different readers, it can still target certain segments. Business men and women can be reached by advertising in the local, political, and business sections. Women can be targeted by advertising in the entertainment or fashion sections.
If you want to reach teens or young adults, don’t advertise in the newspaper. That generation gets all their information from electronic sources such as the Internet, TV, I-pods, cell phones, RSS feeds and radio. They don’t read the paper.
Disadvantages of Newspaper Advertising
Like all advertising media, newspapers have certain disadvantages. First, morning and evening daily’s are extremely expensive for the small advertiser. For decades newspapers were rather arrogant about their advertising rates and keep them high. As readership of newspapers has decreased and more and more businesses are advertising on television, radio, and many of the other mediums newspaper’s inflexible advertising rates have contributed to their demise. The regional and neighborhood newspapers have affordable advertising rates.
Second, newspapers cannot target certain specific demographic segments. You can advertise in the sports section to reach males 30 to 65 years old, but if you want to reach a narrower demographic, other media are better.
The quality of graphics in newspapers is limited resulting in photos and other images not looking crisp, and bright like full color magazines. News print, the kind of paper that is used to print newspapers is a course, cheap paper with which you cannot produce a high quality image.
Newspapers are printed with a 90 line screen as opposed to a magazine with high resolution images printed at 150 to 300 line screens. The higher the number of lines in a screen, the higher quality image you can print.
Another negative that newspaper has is that news print can rub off on a reader’s hands or clothes. This affects businessmen and women adversely.
Circulation vs. Readership
Most newspaper ad sales people like to tell advertising customers the paper’s circulation is, for example, 500,000. They work on commission and sometimes exaggerate. The number of people who actually read the newspaper is always much less than the circulation. It could be as low as half the circulation number.
Circulation and readership are very different and if you don’t know the difference, you could waste a bundle of money thinking your ad is reaching more people than it does.
Circulation is the number of papers that are distributed to subscribers and sold at places like grocery stores. They often give away free copies in order to keep the circulation numbers high.
Readership is the real number you should pay attention to. It doesn’t matter how many papers are distributed. What matters is the number of people who read the paper during a given week. When an ad salesperson tells you the paper’s circulation numbers, be sure to ask for the readership numbers as well.
Big newspapers have lots of research data about newspaper readership, time spent reading the paper, the number of readers that read each day of the week and lots more. Ask to see their data, and use it.
Newspaper Ad Production
Like TV advertising, creating a newspaper ad is an additional cost for you. Paying a graphic designer to create and layout the advertisement will add to the cost. If you do the layout and design, you will save money but it probably won’t look professional. Because each newspaper requires different specifications for its ads, your designer will need to create the ad in the correct size. One size does not fit all. Newspaper advertising is purchased in column inches.
The editorial material is always laid out in two, three, four and up to eight columns. So ads are measured by how many columns wide they are, and the number of inches high. A two column by seven inch ad would be a 14 inch ad. You pay for newspaper advertising by the number of column inches in your ad.
All newspapers have what is called an “open rate” they charge customers who do not want to sign an annual contract committing to run a certain number of ads. The open rate is the highest price of all. Like all other media, the more ads you commit to buy over a year’s period, the lower rate you will pay. Newspaper deadlines are not flexible. If you don’t get your ad to the paper before 5 pm on deadline day, your ad doesn’t run. Newspaper advertising can be a powerful medium when used right. It will continue to be for years to come.
Magazine Advertising
Many of the characteristics of newspaper advertising also apply to magazines. They both have many of the same advantages and disadvantages. The biggest difference with magazine advertising is that magazines are usually printed on high gloss paper allowing beautiful high resolution photographs. For this reason, magazines are best used for building the image of a product or a business. Magazines are generally not designed to get large numbers of customers into a business.
Magazine advertising is similar to radio advertising in that they both target very specific demographic and life style groups such as teenage girls or tennis players. If you want to advertise to a specific group there is a radio station format and a magazine to reach them.
Generally speaking, magazine advertising is usually purchased only after a businesses’ newspaper, radio or TV advertising budget is allocated. This means there are less dollars left to spend on magazine advertising. Bummer for the magazine business.
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