Print Advertising
Print is a traditional, visual medium that reaches a large audience. Newspapers and magazines provide consumers with current events, informative articles, features and editorials.
Why Choose Print advertising?
Newspapers
Newspapers are a part of the daily routine for many loyal Americans, providing news and information to readers. Used copies are often left behind and picked up by more than one reader, giving your ad more exposure. Newspapers are printed either daily or weekly, so they have a fast turnaround time if you need to get your ad in quickly. They are great for targeting audiences in a specific geographical area and come in a variety of sizes and formats (such as display ads, classifieds and preprinted inserts).
Magazines
Magazines can be carried by consumers and read almost anywhere at any time. With a range of over 19,000 titles that appeal to a wide variety of demographics, lifestyles and interests, advertisers can focus on reaching a specific target audience. Magazines ads are visually appealing and allow the use of photography, graphics, color and copy. In-depth advertising messages or “advertorials” can also be created to appear more like editorial copy than an advertisement.
How is Print audience measured?
Print media is measured by circulation. Your newspaper or magazine rep should be able to tell you how many people subscribe to the publication.
Scarborough also measures American newspaper readership through field interviews conducted by phone. National magazine publications report reader demographics from surveys by
GfK Mediamark Research & Intelligence.
Best Practices and Considerations
With print advertising, your audience can refer back to an interesting ad and look at it multiple times, so there’s more room for details. You can target a national, regional or local audience, depending on the edition of the newspaper or magazine.
Magazines have a long lead time, so your ad must be ready months before the publication date. Newspapers have a short lead time, so advertisers can respond instantly to changing market conditions. In general, magazines are better for branding campaigns and newspapers are more effective for call-to-action campaigns, due to the lead time. You should make your decision based on your campaign objectives.
Newspaper and Magazine ads are cluttered with several others at one time, which blend your ad in with your competitors’ messages. Magazine ads can be highly creative and aesthetically appealing through the use of photography, graphics, color and copy. Keep in mind that newspaper ads are typically limited to 2-3 colors, so your message needs to be even stronger in order to stand out.
Newspaper readers tend to pull out the sections that they want to read and then discard the rest. Know your target audience and determine which section they’re most likely to read. The wide variety of magazine titles that are geared toward specific lifestyles and interests can help you target a specific audience. However, with all the titles available on the newsstand, there’s a lot of overlap. You may have to advertise in multiple publications to reach your audience. The internet has caused a decline in print readership because it’s faster to get news online.
Newspapers and Outdoor Advertising
Outdoor advertising can extend the life of a Newspaper campaign by presenting messages to your target 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Readership rates are declining due to the alternative sources of news online. Outdoor advertising is unavoidable, and impacts consumers who may not subscribe to a newspaper or get their news elsewhere.
Magazines and Outdoor Advertising
Outdoor advertising fills in the gap and strengthens Magazine campaigns by delivering constant exposure to your target between issues or reaches consumers who don't subscribe to the publication.