Should You Advertise in Local Publications?
The advent of social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter have many small businesses abandoning traditional media, such as print advertising in favor of the web. But when it comes to these traditional advertising approaches, should freelance businesses jump ship just yet?
Online marketing is critical, don’t get me wrong. And it’s a lot cheaper in some cases than mailing postcards to everyone in your community or to every local business. But in the end, it depends on the kind of business you operate.
If you can provide services to people all over the world, then an online marketing campaign may be perfect for you. On the other hand, if you sell to local patrons only, then you may need to focus on local advertising methods. Keep in mind, most businesses will still benefit from both offline and online efforts; you may just need to focus more on one and less on the other.
Advertising in local publications takes the same scrutiny. Each business has to decide if paying for ad space within local magazines, radio stations, newspapers, phone books, and even your local chamber of commerce website is beneficial to them. Read through the information below to help guide your decision on whether or not to purchase local ad space.
The Virtue of Advertising Locally
While the Internet has significantly broadened advertising horizons, print media advertisements can be just as effective for small businesses. Rather than broadcasting to a wide, diverse audience, local publications focus narrowly on a small, specific target market. Of course, not every freelance business should advertise locally: it all depends on the type of business.
For example, for a web developer that primarily works with startups, advertising in local media probably won’t be worth the investment—since this business would typically advertise online to a nationwide or worldwide market. On the other hand, a freelance wedding photographer advertising in local newspapers (or local magazines) would attract nearby clients. For a locally focused freelancer, advertising through local print media is much more likely to pay off.
You can also consider, if your freelance business would benefit from some local advertising, even if a large portion of your current advertising is online.
Local Advertising: Doing It Right
So you’re a small business that offers a local service or products, and you want to advertise in local media. Great! But before you jump in, it’s important to weigh the costs and benefits of such advertising. Like any form of advertising, there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way, so take a couple of things into consideration before you make the plunge:
1. Evaluate Your Business
Before you even begin choosing a medium for you advertisement, examine your unique business model and decide what you want your ad to convey. Depending on whether your freelance business focuses on print design services, photography, or writing your local advertising will look drastically different.
As a photographer are you advertising your family portrait package rates to new customers? As a print designer, are you looking to build identites for local businesses or help them with their ad campaigns? Pinning down a specific goal will help you formulate an effective advertisement and channel to run the ad through. Whether you create one on your own, or work with a graphic designer, having a clear vision and message will help you choose the right medium for your advertisement.
2. Choose Your Medium
Explore the various advertising media in your area, accounting for your freelance business’s budget. Take newspapers, for example. Depending on the size of your community, circulation rates and, therefore, advertising price rates will vary—a smaller circulation will probably mean less expensive advertising costs. On the other hand, a larger circulation might mean a more extensive newspaper with more specific sections—meaning that you might find the perfect place for your ad.
Magazine advertising is often more expensive, but can be well worth the investment. Find out if your community or region has a local interest magazine tailored to your small business, like a photography showcase. Honing in on your precise target market will make your advertisement even more effective.
And don’t forget that you can always put out door hangers, mail postcards, or hand out flyers. Don’t feel locked into advertising publications only. In fact, you can even launch your own publication or local newsletter. Also, consider targeting the businesses in your area with these ads, rather than the general public, if that fits your freelance business structure better.
Tailoring Your Ads to a Local Market
Here’s the good news for small businesses: to be competitive, you don’t have to “get big or get out.” Tailoring your company’s advertisements to your local audience can make you a winning business and a strong player in your community, especially if you are able to continually create exposure for yourself in places that a local audience will be sure to notice you.
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by kayros.
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Pretty much 90% of my clients come from google. A few years back I spent a few K’s and did print advertising to local businesses and results were horrible. Pretty much everyone who needs a graphic designer or any kind of service will go on google unless they already know someone through referrals. How I see it, is that when there is a need then prospects look for the solution, otherwise all the advertising in the world will not get them to call you.
This is a great article because marketing your local area should be your primary segment first generally speaking. It is easier to grow larger budgets and expand once you are successful in a certain geographical area. You want to have a sizeable market share in a certain area and localizing through advertising is a great way to do it.
If you are a photographer, is your name the first thing that comes out of someone’s mouth in your city when they need photography? If not, then you need to do more advertising.
Yes when it is easier to grow in local market, that can be doubled by word of mouth too. If you put together a good story of your business the local publication love to publish it
This article reads like pure theory with no case studies. Does the author have experience with actual media advertising campaigns for freelancers conducted locally that have produced results worth the expense?
Most of us have absolutely no business using traditional means of advertising because most freelancers simply can’t afford to buy enough advertising to make it work. If you advertise just a little, then you will just waste your money, because your ads will just be forgotten.
It is estimated that you have to get in front of a prospective buyer, on average, 5 to 7 times with ads before they will even begin to recognize your service independently to the extent that they might call you.
Each one of those times would be a separate placement of an ad in some magazine or other medium. Each placement will cost, say, several hundred dollars, if we are talking about local advertising magazines like “Reach” or small town newspapers.
Just look at how YOU perceive advertising, if you want proof of my statements. Suppose a plumber advertises once in a local magazine. If you need a plumber later, you will will probably remember that you saw an ad. But unless that ad runs EVERY time in the magazine, you will probably not be able to find it when you actually need it.
Keeping that ad running so it’s visible, in every copy of a local ad magazine, is quite expensive to that plumber.
The author had one good bit of advice – door hangers, flyers, and other personally delivered pieces are not as bad a deal for the freelancer. They are much cheaper and much more targeted.
And you are spending so much to advertise to *everyone*, when only a tiny slice of the reading public could possibly have any interest in your offering. That’s the diluted part: maybe 1 out of every 10 or 20 readers would even *be* in a position to buy your service. 90-95% of your mass advertising is pure waste.
Advertising account managers will QUITE happily blow smoke up your a** that they have lots of repeat customers. They are just salesmen. They really have no clue and they certainly have no stake in your success. And you can’t spend enough with any one of them to make them care that much about your account.
Everything stated above also goes for yellow section advertising in the phone book. With the extra caveat: relatively few consumers and businesses use the phone book to locate services. Almost all business search has moved to the internet.
My qualifications for these statements are the following. A few years ago I started a computer service business. I placed several ads in local advertising magazines and a local newspaper, at a total expense of around $2000. I got exactly 4 paid jobs, each of which netted $200 or less, out of all of these ads.
So I advertised on about the scale that most freelancers can afford, and the results were dismal. (In fact, most freelancers can’t afford any advertising.)
If you’re considering advertising to businesses, target them with mailings, cold calls, and/or use business networking events to reach out.
If you’re advertising to consumers, use social media. Extra points if you develop some personal schtick or clever video or theme that attracts interest.
For both, use Google Adwords and plan to spend a LOT of time optimizing landing pages and keywords.