While online advertising might be the hottest thing marketing experts are talking about, newspaper advertising is still an extremely useful tool for local businesses as you can reach thousands of interested people quickly.
However, like any marketing, it’s important that advert is as effective as possible. Poor design, irrelevant information or unclear branding will mean that it’s ignored by potential customers, costing you a sale.
To help you make sure your adverts are as effective and engaging as possible, here are our five key things to know before you start designing.
One of the easiest things to get wrong with is the size and scale of your design. Take some time talking to the newspaper or magazine you’re advertising in to clarify the size and scale of your advert. Is it a full, half, quarter or eighth of a page? What’s that in millimetres? A smaller print advert will need less text and bolder images so it doesn’t look cramped, while a bigger advert allows you a bit more space to add detail.
Once your advert is ready to go it’s important to print out a draft version that’s the right scale and size. This will help you make sure everything in the advert is spot on, it looks good and you don’t fall foul to zooming in on a computer.
You can get to grips with printing terms using our handy print advertising jargon buster.
There’s no point advertising if it’s unclear who the advert is promoting. Any printed marketing or advertising you design should include your business branding (just like in your online advertising).
Using your business branding consistently across all your print and online marketing helps people recognise your business and keeps you front of mind when the time for purchase comes. It’s a good idea to get all the elements of your advert together before you start designing, so you’re not searching for an engaging picture or a high quality image at the last minute. Keep a folder on your computer of different sizes of your company logo, pictures of your products or your services in action, and a list of which colours you use to help save you time.
Printed materials need images which are very high quality so they look their best.
It’s essential you find out what quality of image you need before you start designing; your printer or newspaper contact will be able to tell you. A fuzzy, pixelated or distorted image looks very unprofessional and will suggest to customers that you don’t know what you’re doing.
Certain types of image will also work more effectively in certain types of print. For example, newspaper print tends to absorb a lot of ink, which can mean that images with large areas of colour look ‘patchy’ or pale colours can look washed out. Make sure you check with your printer about what colour format they’d like your final advert to be in, so there are no nasty surprises when it’s printed.
Although the visual appearance of your print advert is really important for catching a potential customer’s eye, the thing that will convince them to buy from you is what you say in your advert.
The text for your advert should be clear and concise, especially if you’ve only got a small space to work in. It’s important you sell the benefits of your product or service; what will customers get from buying from you? What sets you apart when compared to your competitors?
Another thing to consider is who the audience is for your print marketing. Talk to the paper or magazine about their readership and see how you can tap into your potential customers’ interests. For example, if you’re a caterer advertising in a business magazine, you might focus on the catering options you provide for meetings. If you were advertising in the local paper, you might decide to focus on your lunchtime special offers.
Finally, your print advert must include a strong ‘call to action’ which encourages your potential customer to do something after reading your advert. This could be to call you, visit your website, visit your store or sign up for an event. Whatever it is, be very clear about it: “Call us now” or “Visit us today” are concise and to the point. Your call to action should be very prominent on the page, and give people the information and encouragement they need to get in touch.
To help you measure the effectiveness of your advert, you could also include a number or code which customers need to quote when they visit or call you. Keep a note of how many people use this code, or ask customers when they get in touch how they found out about you. That way, you can work out whether your print advertising was worth the investment.
Ready to get started? Using these five tips, you can create a print advert that is effective in reaching out to new and returning customers. To help you further, we’ve written these helpful articles:
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