The Word Wrangler

As someone who’s done time in the trenches of newspaper advertising, I’ve come to understand what works, what doesn’t and why.

I’m going to lay out a few holes you can avoid throwing your marketing dollars into, and give you some ideas on how to improve your chances of getting your message noticed.

What Doesn’t Work and Why

Tiny Ads - True, if you have a small business, the cost of a large display ad can seem prohibitive. But the fact is that small ads get buried on already cluttered newspaper pages. Another drawback to small ads is that they leave very little room for your message. Type is often small and difficult to read. Trying to cram a lot of information in a small space only hurts your chances of the ad being read.

Design - Most newspapers today are short on staff. Their art departments usually consist of only a few people who are responsible for designing the ads, pagination and even handling web duties. With all the ads they design in the course of a day, they’re simply not paying much attention to how it looks. It’s like a factory where they slap one ad together and then move on to the next one. If you want a nice ad, you’re better off hiring a professional designer to create something that can better attract a reader’s attention. Sure, you’ll be spending more money, but if getting a return on your investment is important, then it’s money well spent.

Inserts - Inserts are a bit tricky because in one sense the advertiser has more control over the look of the piece. The bad news about inserts is that you’re gambling with your marketing dollar by taking a chance that readers won’t ever see it. Many newspapers have invested thousands of dollars in machines designed to accurately insert pieces into the paper. The problem is that these machines often don’t work properly. Some papers wind up with twelve of the same insert and some wind up with none. And then there are those people who, for whatever reason, instinctively pick up a paper and toss the inserts into the trash before reading them. That’s YOUR marketing dollar sitting in the trash or on the production room floor.

Color - Yes color is expensive, but it works. On a page with nothing but black and white ink a color ad, regardless of the size, will catch a reader’s eye.

White Space - Newspaper advertisers hate white space. Their thinking is that since they paid for the space, they should fill it up. Well, it doesn’t work. If you look at how much is information is competing for a reader’s attention on any given newspaper page, a cluttered ad blends in and often doesn’t get read. Creating a lot of white space around your ad instantly draws they eye on a page littered with words. Remember, it’s not wasted space if it’s grabbing attention.

Advertorials - People read newspapers for information. They scan the headlines and then decide what stories they want to read. An advertorial is an ad that’s disguised as a feature story. It has a strong, attention grabbing headline and then gives the reader important information that can be relative to a particular business. An example would be an informative advertorial on the causes of back pain put in the paper by a chiropractor. People are more likely to read something that doesn’t look like an ad.

It’s true that newspaper readership is down, which is why you’re going to have to be smarter about the ads you do place in your local daily or weekly paper.