Adverts - a waster of time?

[dlstephenson12]

New to this forum, but will keep it brief!

Basically, I am in charge of the marketing in an SME who is currently concerned that we are spending money on small adverts in the back of magazines. (Ball part figure approx £2000 p/a for a 1/4 page).

Personally I dont think that they work (but my MD seems to like them) and I am in the view that only people who actually read this section are either your competitors or magazine editors themselves.

Does anybody have any clear evidence that I am wrong and I should refrain from this mindset?

[Expat629]

In my opinion, print advertising works but it may not be the best way to spend your money.

I look at it this way - very few traditional (print/TV) ads are effective enough to make people put down their magazine, turn off the TV, or run home and do whatever the ad wants them to do (go to a website, buy a product, etc). The difference comes when they see that same ad 100x, remember it, and it influences their purchasing down the line.

But I think you have to take a long, hard look at the investment involved in *finally* influencing this purchase; this is especially true for an SME.

Personally, I think Internet marketing is much better and longer lasting. Whether it's pay-per-click on per impression, you have caught people at a moment when they're likely not all that busy. I forget the statistics but I read somewhere last month the amount of people who lose entire hours of their day aimlessly surfing... we all do it! I think that represents a better opportunity to grab the consumer, but that's just my own experience.

Good luck.

[www.infoebookstore.co.uk]

We have a similar "discussion" in our company, but our MD doesn't like them! I think you need to consider what your competition is doing and if you not advertising in the same places is going to work in their favour.

One example for us, advertising in the Association for Project Management Magazine is not IMHO good value as it is going to be read by all our competitors not clients. Advertising in Building Magazine is more relevant as you may get some clients reading it out of general interest. Advertising in Airport Operators Association Magazine is much better value as it is mainly read by our clients.

At the end of the day our MD thinks they are all a waste of time!

Sorry it doesn't really help you, just some thoughts.

Jim

[Peter Bowen]

Hi Jim,

Small business should only ever pay for advertising that can be tracked. Anything else is a waste of money. This means that you need to be able to determine exactly how many people responded to the add and can then calculate the return on it.

Tracking mechanisms include unique landing pages if you want them to go from a print ad to a website, a special phone number to call, a coupon etc.


And, you're right - you need to know what your target market is likely to be reading if you want even a small chance.


Cheers

Pete

[dlstephenson12]

Brilliant! - great responses there, thank you.

I am in the same personal mindset that I would rather see money put into internet advertising (its the future! - as they say).

Pay per click is something that has been mentioned by our web-designers - can somebody please tell me what this is exactly and the cost implications?