ch. 10 Print Advertising

• Print advertising enhances an advertiser's media mix
• Newspapers and magazines can complement broadcast, direct mail, and other media with their qualities
• Advertisers can reach and impact their campaigns while staying within budgets by using print wisely

Selecting Media

• Two important factors when selecting media include the unique characteristics of each media and which medium will effectively reach the target audience
• The reach is the number of different people exposed at least once to a particular medium
• The frequency is the average number of times people are exposed to that medium

Print Media

• Print media is any printed message, like brochures, directories, mail, posters, and outdoor boards
• It has more permanence than television or radio since it can be read more than once or passed on
• Print media presents more detailed information since people spend more time with it
• Print media is an important component of the Media Mix, the combination of media types that work together to deliver an advertiser’s message

Pros of Magazine Advertising

• Flexibility: Magazines cover a wide range of prospects with regional and national coverage, links, approaches, and editorial tones
• Color: Color in slick magazines enhances image, identifies the package, and gives visual pleasure
• Authority and believability: Magazines offer knowledge or meaning compared to TV and radio which enhances the commercial message
• Permanence: Magazines have a long shelf life giving readers more time to appraise ads
• Audience selectivity: Magazines are more efficient than other mediums apart from direct mail with predictable, specialized editorial
• Cost-efficiency: Print networks offer reduced prices to advertisers because wasted circulation is minimized
• Selling power: Magazines have proven marketing power and measurable sales results
• Reader loyalty: Readers can develop a fanatical loyalty to their favorite magazines
• Extensive pass-along readership: Magazines can have multiple readers after the initial purchaser and may sit on tables for months
• Merchandising assistance: Advertisers can generate reprints and merchandise to get more mileage out of their ad campaigns

Cons of Magazine Advertising

• Lack of immediacy: Advertisers can get faster results with newspapers or radio
• Shallow geographic coverage: Magazines don't offer the national reach of broadcast media
• Inability to deliver mass audience at a low price: Magazines are very costly for reaching broad audiences
• Inability to deliver high frequency: Most magazines are monthly or weekly, so advertisers build frequency through multiple smaller magazines
• Long lead time: Ad insertion can take two or three months
• Heavy advertising competition: Large circulation magazines have a high advertising to editorial content ratio, sometimes more ads than content
• High cost per thousand: National consumer magazines have high costs per thousand particularly for select audiences with CPMs above $50 for a black and white page
  • Color ads are more expensive
  • Reaching a large audience quickly is difficult because magazines typically come out monthly or weekly
• Declining circulations: Especially in single-copy sales, which limits an advertiser's reach

Categorization of Magazines Content

• Consumer magazines: These are entertainment-oriented periodicals directed at people who buy for their own consumption
• Farms Publications: Directed to farmers/families or agricultural equipment manufacturers
• Business Magazines: The largest category, targeting business readers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, manufacturers, service providers, lawyers, physicians, architects, etc.

Geography (Categorization of Magazines)

• Local city magazines: Caters to upscale, professional people interested in local arts, fashion, and business
• Regional publications: Magazines targeted to a specific area of the country
• National magazines: Distributed throughout a country

Considerations When Buying Magazine Space

• Factors to consider include:
  • Readership
  • Cost
  • Mechanical Requirements
  • Closing Dates
  • Circulation and rate-card information

Understanding Magazine Circulation

• Magazine circulation is often overstated
• 30% of consumer magazines don't meet the guaranteed circulation levels
• Primary Circulation: Number of people who receive a magazine through direct purchase or subscription
• Secondary (pass along) readership: The number of people who read a magazine in addition to primary purchasers
  • This estimate is determined by market research and is important to magazines
  • Some magazines can have more than 6 readers per copy
  • Multiplying the average pass-along readership can give a magazine a substantial audience

Dates Affecting Magazine Purchases

• Magazine rate cards follow a standard format
• This format helps advertisers determine costs, discounts, mechanical requirements, closing dates, and any extra costs for color, inserts, bleed pages, split runs, or preferred positions
• Cover Date: Date printed on the cover
• On sale date: Date a magazine is issued
• Closing date: Publication’s final deadline for supplying printing material

Reading Rate Cards

• Comparing magazines involves looking at how much it costs to reach 1,000 people based on the magazines' rates for a one-time full-page ad
• Cost per thousand (CPM): The cost of reaching 1,000 people for media vehicles

Discounts

• Frequency discounts: Advertisers earn discounts by running ads repeatedly in a specific time period
  • Based on the number of insertions within a year
• Volume Discounts: Given for purchasing bulk quantities of print space
  • Cash discounts of 2% are available to advertisers who pay right away
  • Discounts are offered for buying 4 or more consecutive pages in a single issue
  • Many magazine publishers negotiate their rates

Premium Rates

• Premium rates: charged for special features with rates that can differ for geographic or demographic issues
  • Bleed pages can add about 15-20% to typical rates
  • Geographic editions are distributed in specific areas
  • Demographic editions are distributed to readers sharing similar traits

Pros of Newspaper Advertising

• Mass, local medium: Newspapers penetrate every segment of society with most consumers
• Comprehensive in scope: They cover a specific geographic area comprising both a market and a community
• Geographic selectivity: Zoned editions are available for specific neighborhoods/communities
• Timeliness: Newspapers cover today's news; an ad can appear quickly and for just one day
• Credibility: Newspaper ads rank high in credibility
• Selective attention: Reaches the relatively small number of active prospects interested in what is being told or sold
• Creative flexibility: Ads can use black/white, color, Sunday magazines, or custom inserts and can vary in size/shape
• An active medium: Readers turn pages, clip and save articles, and write in the margins
• Permanent record: Contrasts with the ephemeral nature of radio/TV
• Reasonable cost

Cons of Newspaper Advertising

• Lack of selectivity: Reaches broad, diverse groups, which may not match campaign objectives
• Short life span: Lost forever unless readers clip and save the ad
• Low production quality: Coarse newsprint produces a less impressive image
• Clutter: Ads compete with editorial content and other ads
• Lack of control: No control over ad placement without paying extra
• Overlapping circulation: Some people read multiple newspapers; advertisers may pay for the same readers multiple times

Types of Newspaper Advertising

• Display Advertising: Includes copy, illustrations, photographs, headlines, and coupons
  • Display ads can vary in size and appear in most sections except the first page, the editorial page, and the classified section
  • A common variation of display ads is a reading notice or editorial; a variation of a display ad will look like editorial matter. They're charged higher and must be labeled as advertisements
  • Cooperative (co-op) advertising involves sharing advertising costs by the manufacturer and the distributor or retailer
    • The manufacturer may repay part or all of the costs
    • Retailers often run newspaper ads through these programs
• Classified ads: Arranged under subheads that describe what good or service the ads seek to get
  • Used to provide a community marketplace
  • Rates are based on the number of lines the ad occupies
  • Classified display ads run in the classified section but use larger fonts, photos, borders, white space, and color
• Public notices: Announce legal changes in business, government reports, notices, and financial reports
  • Available for a nominal fee
• Preprinted inserts: Ads printed in advance and inserted into a specific edition and looks like a smaller section
  • newspapers can carry preprinted inserts
  • Formats include catalogs, brochures, and coupons

Print Media and New Technologies

• Online publications offer ads in the form of:
  • Banners
  • Pop-ups
  • Pushdowns
  • Floating ads
  • Billboards
  • Interstitial ads
  • Videos
• Publishers are looking to increase revenue by digital subscribers