Preparing Your Local Business To Advertise In Print

So you’ve taken the time to define your business’ brand, optimize your website—hey, you may have even started to blog—and now you’re ready to start increasing brand awareness, local recognition, and your sales!

But where does a business start with advertising?

Magazine advertising can be a cost-effective, reputable method of advertising your local business. But before you sign on the dotted line and design those beautiful ads, make sure you’ve done the prep work to make your future buyer’s journey smooth and speedy by answering these 4 questions: 

• Is your business found in search? When you Google, Bing or Safari (totally a verb!) your business, is it easily found in local search?
• Is your site optimized for mobile? With 85% of current websites utilizing a mobile-friendly interface, there’s a strong possibility yours does too. But where the consumer experience is concerned, it’s best to make sure your web content loads quickly and legibly on screens of every size.
• Do you have a way to capture the lead when a potential customer visits your site? Lead generation apps and add-ons, such as Hubspot’s Leadin, allow you to capture, manage, and analyze your website leads.
• Is your site user-friendly? Can your customers get where they want to go relatively easy? Or do pop-ups, misleading titles, and busy page design cause frustration and anger? Your website is your 24-hour salesperson—ready to answer questions, showcase your content, and close deals while you catch some much-deserved ZZZs—so give your website the tools it needs to Always.Be.Closing.....or to be a user-friendly interface that represents your brand well.

When Should A Business Advertise?

If the answer is yes to the questions above, congratulations, you’re ready to market your company!

Oh, but wait! Let’s discuss this budget you’ve set aside. Print is probably more expensive than you think. In order to attain the recognition you want, you’ll need to appear in the same print publication at least six times, if not more! Consistency is key. This could be months or weeks, but to ensure a lasting impression in the minds of the publication’s audience, don’t advertise less than six times in a row.

Can My Business Advertise With A Small Budget?

If your budget is small, I suggest trying out social media advertising prior to placing an ad in any traditional media, including print. For a few hundred dollars per month, you can run effective ads which target your ideal geographic and psychographic demographic, rather than the magazine’s. And you’ll have the analytics right at your fingertips! 

With instantaneous analysis, you can see what’s working, do A/B testing on running ads, and even change the ad midstream for no additional fee!

And if you have a larger budget and are interested in print media advertising, then keep these 2 tips in mind when designing your magazine ad:

• Stay consistent in design and size: Keep the look of your ad consistent month after month, with only minimal changes, such as the main image. Purchase the largest ad you can afford. If you can't afford one of the larger ad sizes the print medium offers, then wait to advertise until you can, or increase your frequency.
• Embrace the empty space around your ad: a clean, beautiful ad will draw the consumer's eye to your message and, hopefully, drive them to your website!

By following these tips, you can create beautiful ads that effectively draw new leads to your spiffy user-friendly website!

Unsure if your website really is user-friendly, mobile-friendly, SEO-optimized, and analytically sound? Contact the inbound marketing experts at BlinkJar Media today for a free consultation.

*This is the first blog in a three part series. Our next blog, in this series, will cover planning and placement of your print ads.