Which advertising medium is the best for my business

Which media to choose?

Many small firms are convinced that advertising is a waste of money. They have parted with a limited amount (but large to them), relying on an ill-considered design, with no objectives or strategy, that has produced no measurable results.

Advertising does work if you adopt some basic rules and simple techniques that can be easily grasped. I am not talking about designing your own TV campaign but just improving your own awareness either to advise an agency or generate your own ads to a reasonable standard.

The main media at your disposal are online, press and local radio, direct mail, door leaflets and the telephone. Mass media publications can deliver the largest audience at the cheapest cost per head - but many will be of no interest to you; you will also be competing with both editorial and other ads. This main use is in capturing large numbers of people from which your segment can be isolated. If you must go in a large circulation paper make sure there is an appropriate heading under which you can slot to isolate your prospects.

And the costs

The bible of the advertising industry, BRAD, lists all the basic rate-card costs, though you should be able to get at least 10 per cent off those, often far more if you leave it to the last minute. If you have a reasonable budget it often pays to establish a working relationship with a magazine whereby you always pick up the last quarter page, or whatever, when available. You can pick up some real bargains.

Newspaper and magazine advertising

The two main types of printed ads are classified and display. Classifieds are usually grouped together under a variety of headings. They require typesetting only and can often be booked quite close to press date. If you run an unusual specialisation some trade papers may put in a fresh heading just for you. It helps to make your ad stand out: the publisher hopes it will attract more advertisers. Display ads are designed and need artwork, headlines, text, etc. These will be dotted throughout the publication and generate most of the paper's income.

When deciding which paper to go for, pick the one with more advertising; many journals are bought, and read, more for the ads than the editorials. This particularly applies if you have a small budget and can only run to classified. The ultimate is, of course, Exchange & Mart. Remarkably good responses are pulled for quite expensive items. Between the two are semi-display ads, which are used by some magazines.

Trade setting

Pretty well every publication will lay out an ad for you from your rough. If you're desperate to meet a deadline, simple ads can be e-mailed or phoned through: there are no doubt some excellent in-house admen who will do a competent job. In my experience the local press are poor at designing ads, probably because they are deluged with handwritten copy at short notice. You will probably do better by following my simple advice that follows and getting the basic concept down yourself. Production costs can be charged as an extra but, in my experience, simple layouts are treated as part of the service. Colour is always extra. But by and large, for imaginative designs you should go to an outside agency or freelance graphic designer.

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