What are the Benefits of Local Newspaper Advertising?
Benefits of Local Newspaper Advertising?
Small-business owners use advertising to help increase brand recognition, product sales, new foot traffic and repeat business. Common advertising outlets include radio, television, Internet, magazines and newspapers. Although advertising your business via non-print outlets such as radio or television can be advantageous, local newspaper advertising offers many benefits that make investment on your part worthwhile.
Proactive Audience
Newspaper readers often actively look for advertising in newspapers to search for deals and coupons. Placing your ad in a newspaper doesn’t guarantee that readers will notice it, but a reader actively looking for deals is likely to notice your ad, take the time to read it and possibly act on a sale or offer.
Positive Expectations
Many people feel that certain forms of advertising such as commercials and website pop-up ads are intrusive. In a local newspaper, ads are often expected by readers, and their placement is often near content similar to the ad content — for example, a shoe store ad in the fashion section or a computer store ad in the technology section. As this type of placement makes an ad less intrusive, a negative consumer reaction is less likely.
Targeted Audience
Besides ad placement in sections near similar content, local newspaper advertising can target a specific audience in other ways. For example, newspapers often have special sections, releases and inserts that target audiences based on events such as a holiday or season, specific geographic areas such as a street or neighborhood or specific groups of people such as ethnic groups or college students.
Reputation Building
Local newspaper publishers work hard to create positive relationships with members of the community to build a loyal customer base. As a publisher’s reputation grows, community members begin to trust the company for providing timely and accurate information and often begin to believe that a trusted local publisher won’t do business with companies that are untrustworthy. By advertising with a trusted local newspaper that has a loyal customer base, you can build a positive reputation in the community simply through this association.
Last Minute Changes
Another benefit of local newspaper advertising is rapid turnaround on production changes. If you need to make last-minute changes to your ad, the newspaper advertising department can usually get the job done quickly.
Options and Extras
Local newspapers offer small-business owners a wide range of advertising options that can fit nearly any budget. Options include small 1-inch-square classified ads, column ads in various sizes by the column inch, half-page or full-page spreads. You can also negotiate with a publisher to get extra services at no additional cost, such as color printing, design assistance, a slightly large ad or inclusion of your ad in the publisher’s other products, such as magazines or brochures.
