Traditional Advertising Isn’t Dead! The Benefits of Magazine Ads for Your Business
As we spend more time clicking, posting, and scrolling through social media and websites, it may seem like the age of print is behind us. But for advertisers, this isn’t the case. Print publications are a thriving business, and there are many benefits to magazine advertising.
As we spend more time clicking, posting, and scrolling through social media and websites, it may seem like the age of print is behind us. But for advertisers, this isn’t the case. Print publications are a thriving business, and there are many benefits to magazine advertising.
The Pros Of Print Advertising
1. Target Your Audience
Whether you are a small business or a large company, magazines offer the benefit of targeting your audience via specific publications. Take a list of business magazines, for example.
If a specific business magazine reaches people with parallel demographics as your target customers, then it’s a no-brainer to run ads there. Magazines make it possible to target and reach your brand’s unique customer base.
2. Price
Though the idea of advertising your business in a national magazine may seem daunting and expensive, you’d be surprised at how affordable it can be.
An article by Entrepreneur states that pricing for print advertising starts at $500, a very affordable option that benefits small and mid-sized businesses with a budget.
Many national magazines offer local advertising for small businesses, an easy way to reduce magazine ad costs and promote brand exposure in top business publications.
3. Better Recall
As highlighted by Forbes, paper materials, whether ads or lecture notes, are “easier to process mentally and tested better for brand recall” compared to the digital equivalent. Therefore, consumers who read an advertisement via print are more likely to remember the brand or promotion. This recall tool highlights how important magazine advertisements are in the long run.
4. The Experience
Undoubtedly a large difference between print and digital advertisements is that you can physically hold a magazine. It is a “tangible and emotional experience for consumers” that can stimulate an emotion or feeling. It’s more than just a piece of paper presenting you with a product; it can create an experience around a company’s products.
5. Reach
How often have you been in an office waiting room or the hairdresser and picked up a magazine to browse through? Because print advertisements are tangible, they have the potential to reach consumers who didn’t purchase the magazine. Numerous people can easily see your advertisement, increasing exposure for your brand.
The Cons Of Print Advertising
Whenever looking at the benefits of something, it’s always a good idea to weigh the negatives. Here are some disadvantages to print advertising.
1. Measurability
A downside of magazine ads is businesses’ inability to track analytics. Once your advertisement is printed and mailed out, there is no way to collect data regarding your campaign. Everything is an estimate.
For companies looking to record statistics about their advertisements, this can be a hurdle: the solution–digital advertising. Digital advertising allows companies to track the success of their ad in real-time through sales engagement platforms.
2. Timeline
Print publications have a lengthy timeline with strict deadlines months before the actual magazine is even published. As a result, companies looking to advertise in magazines have to have their advertisement ready to go months in advance. This tedious timeline can be a huge deterrent from magazine advertising.
3. Visibility
As you flip through any magazine, there are lots of advertisements looking to grab your attention. A disadvantage of print publications is that your ad can easily get lost amongst the rest of the clutter. Ads are all competing against each other and fighting for readers’ attention. As a result, there is no way to guarantee every reader will see and respond to your advertisement.
4. Static
With print, your advertisement is two-dimensional. Although it can evoke certain emotions or feelings, it’s fighting to be seen amongst the other ads.
With digital ads, you can utilize sounds, movement, and other effects to make them interactive. When competing for consumers’ attention spans, sometimes these added bells and whistles make all the difference in attracting customers.
5. Quality
With print advertisements, quality is a toss-up. Once your ad leaves for print, you have no control over it. You don’t want to lose customers because of blurry photos or unaligned titles. With digital, you can eliminate this fear and monitor your ad throughout the whole process.
Though it may seem like the age of print is behind us, there are many advantages to advertising in magazines and utilizing print to market your company.
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