[Cracking Media]

I would be interested to hear forum members feedback on the value or not of advertising in printed media, e.g. magazines, newspapers.

Do you use it? If so, does it work for you? What sort of return on cost do you make in percentage terms?

Have you tried it and given up on it? If so, did it use to work for you and has now become ineffective? Why is that?

I am sure experiences will differ, largely due to the nature of business that you are. Undoubtedly, advertising in printed media will work better for some than for others (e.g. estate agents still use advertising in printed media a lot so presumably it still works well for them).

I wonder though, with the advent of the Internet and other forms of advertising linked to the way people these days look for products and services, is advertising like this on the wane in terms of its cost effectiveness?

Please discuss...

[admagic]

Originally Posted by crackingmedia

I would be interested to hear forum members feedback on the value or not of advertising in printed media, e.g. magazines, newspapers.

Do you use it? If so, does it work for you? What sort of return on cost do you make in percentage terms?

Have you tried it and given up on it? If so, did it use to work for you and has now become ineffective? Why is that?

I am sure experiences will differ, largely due to the nature of business that you are. Undoubtedly, advertising in printed media will work better for some than for others (e.g. estate agents still use advertising in printed media a lot so presumably it still works well for them).

I wonder though, with the advent of the Internet and other forms of advertising linked to the way people these days look for products and services, is advertising like this on the wane in terms of its cost effectiveness?

Please discuss...

It depends on the product, and how targetted the media are to your niche.

People still go to free papers, if they want to know about a massive sale of household goods - there is little or no evidence of local internet search for those.

They still go to free papers to solve a problem....like drain blocked - or tree removed.

Point is , in free media you will struggle to succeed unless people are searching, because they are wall to wall ads, no editorial content


Paid magazines work much better than free even in a targetted niche - what people get for free they dont value ( I have found one exception to that rule)

When there are three landrover magazines on sale - you had better believe that people are buying them!! - and an ad targetted there will do well.


People still browse the newspapers , both daily and at the weekend, so provided a product is of general interest it can do well there too.

They also browse local PAID papers too

So I have don reasonably well out of the national papers - mainly classified.


So in the right places, with the right copy - print ads still do well.

One I would love to know!!

In our local paper this week, there is a funeral director with a full page ad!! There is no evidence that these people search the internet , or not in much volume

So question ....where do you go for an undertaker?!

[KingPin]

I still use printed media for offsite campaigns. A client of mine designs/makes and sells wedding dresses. She not only has a stunning website but also has been featured in bridal magazines and advertised in them.

Although the internet is a powerful tool, from my experience women still look at the glossy magazines when searching for a wedding dress and accessories so as you mentioned, I do think it's business dependent.

I think printed media still has it's place but for how much longer? that's debatable.

KP

[boxby]

I think that rather than looking at printed media for advertising, it has much greater value when used for PR purposes. And that if you spent an advertising budget on PR you would acheive a far better result.

Offline media is under the same pressures are online for content content content.

[Scottscd]

It does depend on your target market and product/service but generally I'd say printed media is effective for the majority of businesses. It all comes down to how targeted the publication is and what your actual advertisement is. If the sales copy and concept of the advertisement is poor then you'll get barely any sales no matter how well suited your business is for printed media.

Boxby is right though. I'd say 90% of the time printed media PR gives a higher ROI than advertisements. However you also need a suitable media angle or it won't be very effective.

[Cracking Media]

Thanks guys for all your feedback - much appreciated.

So it would seem that advertising in printed media is still alive and kicking, but as Admagic says, "It depends on the product, and how targetted the media are to your niche".

I wonder though how many companies who regularly advertise in printed media do so because they KNOW it works for them in terms of ROI compared to how many do so because they think they ought to? How many I wonder blindly advertise in printed media because traditionally that is what companies have done, yet they never think about measuring the effectiveness of their advertising spend?

I came across an interesting publication a couple of days ago that suggests that companies are under-investing in the Internet for their marketing. A link to it (a PDF) is here: http://technomarketer.typepad.com/FH/DII_2008.pdf

Thanks again all,
Peter

PS. Scott - posting on A1 at 2.30am is dedication - don't you sleep?!

[Cracking Media]

Originally Posted by admagic

In our local paper this week, there is a funeral director with a full page ad!! There is no evidence that these people search the internet , or not in much volume

So question ....where do you go for an undertaker?!

Down Under?!

[Scottscd]

Originally Posted by crackingmedia

PS. Scott - posting on A1 at 2.30am is dedication - don't you sleep?!

Nope

If Tyler Durden only slept for an hour a day then I will too. (I wonder how many people will get that?)

[Greg Findley]

Originally Posted by Scottscd

Nope

If Tyler Durden only slept for an hour a day then I will too. (I wonder how many people will get that?)

Scott.. the first rule is don't talk about it!

[gregsta]

Like eveyone else has said it depends on your target market. I have always found, and I would always advocate the use of the internet for marketing. Especially on a tight budget. You can find out what is working very fast and tweak your advert / landing pages accordingly to maximise results.

The other good thing is you track it all very easily from your referring sites to see what is working.

Hope this helps....