local magazine advertising or leaflets

[RMConeyCarpentry]

im looking at advertising in my local magazine under classifieds i can have a small section that will cost £198 for 3 months or £244 for 6 months or i can go out and spend that bit more and go for a half or quarter page with full colour, pics ect but the price does increase a considerable amount,
they distribute 50000 per month so could possibly attract a few new customers.
or do i get on with printing a load of leaflets? the thing i would need to have my logo designed, the leaflet designed and printing cost

just wanted to get some of you other trades people to tell me you personal opinion and experiences.

and if anyone is in the leaflet printing and logo design industry please feel free to get in contact to discuss prices

 

[Anonymouse72]

We had some success with local community ads a couple of years ago, only 5000 circulation x 3 for different areas, so yours is on a much bigger scale. We found we were up against much smaller companies that weren't vat registered so we were struggling to compete on price for most things. One thing i have noticed now though is the huge increase in ads, the books have almost tripled in size. Easier for people to miss your ad if it doesn't stand out & more competion.

Leaflets have a pretty low return, all depends on your business. What do you do with leaflets? Ours end up in the recyling before even looked at (mostly) whilst the little ad mag is kept for at least a few months.

P.S. just tried your website, i'd get that sorted asap!

 

[Japimedia]

I used to have my own community magazine for four years with a circulation of 9,000 a month. It was my job to ensure the adverts I ran for my customers generated sales for them. Does the magazine in question offer the same service?

You can be the best in your field but unless you convey the right message to potential customers, your phone will stay silent.

I had carpenters advertise with me who gained clients, and they pretty much stayed with me until I closed the magazine.

PS: Ditto Anonymouse72 - check out your website!

 

[RMConeyCarpentry]

Anonymouse72 that's true the amount of trade services are overwhelming for someone looking, there are so many to choose from.
I'm just struggling at the moment to get jobs in, I'm doing good up to Christmas but not allot after, I've only just started working for myself so my previouse customer list for recommendations is low at the moment.
I have to try other methods no point sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring

 

[RMConeyCarpentry]

Japimedia I can't really see how the can make sure I get sales. How did you do this? But yes if I found that it was paying of I would keep paying the money to advertise with them all year every year

 

[Japimedia]

Japimedia I can't really see how the can make sure I get sales. How did you do this? But yes if I found that it was paying of I would keep paying the money to advertise with them all year every year

As a local business supporting other local businesses I wanted their advertising to work for them. I have had clients come to me with their advert that would never work in a month of Sundays. So in a nutshell I made changes that would give them a much better chance of getting people to pick up the phone.

A reputable local magazine should be able to help you formulate an effective advertisement and perhaps they could stretch to giving you a bit of advertorial too, especially if you plan to be a long term advertiser.

 

[Talay]

My local monthly booklet is about £500 per full page per issue with the same in advertorial every 3 months if you book out for multiple months ahead.

Distribution is around 22,000 copies per month if I remember correctly.

It isn't a good place for one off advertising I don't think unless you have a seriously good pitch and you won't get any real "free" support with only one insertion. It works much better by establishing a presence, which helps create the brand and engenders a sense of stability.

I run 4 large full pages and 8 half pages a year in this one, being represented each month. Response is consistently good and offers are well responded to.

 

[S-Marketing]

My local monthly booklet is about £500 per full page per issue with the same in advertorial every 3 months if you book out for multiple months ahead.

Distribution is around 22,000 copies per month if I remember correctly.

It isn't a good place for one off advertising I don't think unless you have a seriously good pitch and you won't get any real "free" support with only one insertion. It works much better by establishing a presence, which helps create the brand and engenders a sense of stability.

I run 4 large full pages and 8 half pages a year in this one, being represented each month. Response is consistently good and offers are well responded to.

£500 quid for an advert is a mistake for a trade type business. In all seriousness the op could have me for a day for less than that and then he would never need to worry about getting enough work again.

Advertising generally is a bad idea for trade and service based businesses. The one thing I would say is that if you do use advertising make sure it is properly targeted, prompts a response, and is based on a sound marketing strategy.

 

[Anonymouse72]

our ads were £25 per quarter page per issue with a small discount for a 3 month booking, but then the circulation was less than 6000.

you sound like it's just you? so i'm guessing low overheads & not vat registered? can't see why it wouldn't work but just so much competition now. your advert will link to your website (get it sorted!) which will show great photo's of your work/services offered. get yourself listed on freeindex & other similar sites & get some word of mouth recommendation going.

are there other local trades that are willing to link up? can you subbie for small work that larger places won't take on? anything up for grabs with the council/housing assoc?

good luck

 

[B&H Digital]

I've PM'ed you. But yes, I'd get that website sorted ASAP. Don't want to lose any potential jobs because your account is overdue (Google now also recognises the title as "Account Overdue"

 

[Japimedia]

£500? Crumbs that's a fortune!

I always offered clients a better rate if they advertised for three months or more and to be honest it's very easy to put in a few lines of advertorial as a goodwill gesture, which can be upgraded further down the line.

The magazine can help your advertising work for you if they have marketing experience and can help you create a successful advert. If they just slot your advert in their publication and take your money then who knows. I have a marketing background so it was in my interests to make my client's advertising work for them.

If you are going to advertise, only include your website details when you have it sorted!

 

[Talay]

£500 quid for an advert is a mistake for a trade type business. In all seriousness the op could have me for a day for less than that and then he would never need to worry about getting enough work again.

Advertising generally is a bad idea for trade and service based businesses. The one thing I would say is that if you do use advertising make sure it is properly targeted, prompts a response, and is based on a sound marketing strategy.

It is horses for courses though. It would probably not be worth it for one off, lower end product sales unless the volumes were huge or the distribution much greater.

To state that advertising is generally a bad idea and back that up with a whopper of a promise that you can deliver endless streams of work ad infinitum for less than a day's pay is ridiculous and would be false advertising itself.

 

[Talay]

£500? Crumbs that's a fortune!

I always offered clients a better rate if they advertised for three months or more and to be honest it's very easy to put in a few lines of advertorial as a goodwill gesture, which can be upgraded further down the line.

The magazine can help your advertising work for you if they have marketing experience and can help you create a successful advert. If they just slot your advert in their publication and take your money then who knows. I have a marketing background so it was in my interests to make my client's advertising work for them.

If you are going to advertise, only include your website details when you have it sorted!

I guess it costs more to advertise in Vogue than it does in Barber Shop Weekly. Supply and demand, market forces, price elasticity etc. all go together to generate the cost.

 

[eventdomain]

Forget buying from Magazines - their too expensive as the colour seperation charges your hit with will cut into your profits. Trade industry mags may be targeted, but they aren't 'search tools', their a publishing/reporting tool designed to make money.

The difference between black & white ads Vs colour can be as much as £150 or more, that's a lot for a 6 month run, and you won't know the results until the 6 months are up eg: to give the magazine time to reach out and be read.

Many magazines are very low on content, I know a couple that are No1 in the field, yet are just 20-40 pages maximum. Even my local papers have minimal content, wafer thin etc, and I wonder if the readerships stated, are true in reality, and its a safe bet that magazines work on the same principle eg: pretty good targeting, but low response rate.

Advertised in one of my local papers - I paid £160 for 8 weeks ad space, but made zero profit, but break-even on it was best I could do - mmmm, not good.

 

[S-Marketing]

It is horses for courses though. It would probably not be worth it for one off, lower end product sales unless the volumes were huge or the distribution much greater.

To state that advertising is generally a bad idea and back that up with a whopper of a promise that you can deliver endless streams of work ad infinitum for less than a day's pay is ridiculous and would be false advertising itself.

I agree, I shouldn't type as i'm thinking. That was a silly thing to type when its completely out of context.

Given context though, the actual content of my post is not ridiculous, but would obviously be subject to certain conditions.

 

[RMConeyCarpentry]

£500 quid for an advert is a mistake for a trade type business. In all seriousness the op could have me for a day for less than that and then he would never need to worry about getting enough work again.

Advertising generally is a bad idea for trade and service based businesses. The one thing I would say is that if you do use advertising make sure it is properly targeted, prompts a response, and is based on a sound marketing strategy.

Hi Stuart

I would like to know a bit more what you can do for my company
Feel free to pm me

 

[Japimedia]

I guess it costs more to advertise in Vogue than it does in Barber Shop Weekly. Supply and demand, market forces, price elasticity etc. all go together to generate the cost.

I thought we were talking about a local community magazine?

 

[S-Marketing]

Hi Stuart

I would like to know a bit more what you can do for my company
Feel free to pm me

Ill reply here as I like to be open and honest. Talay was right to pick me up on the rather enthusiastic and misleading statement that you have quoted in your post.

As I mentioned in my response to Talay, I really shouldn't type as I think, then press submit without reviewing what I have typed.

Put into a bit more context, what I should have written was that it would cost less than £500 quid for me to research your business and opportunities to come up with a plan to get you as much work as you would need for the foreseeable future. This would be the only payment you would need to risk, as everything else I would need to do I would do for a results based fee.

Sorry if my original post was misleading. I suspect I am also sailing pretty close to the wind now regarding self promotion on the forum.

If you would like any information about my results based fee marketing work, feel free to get in touch.

 

[Elliottc26]

The problem is that you could spend £300 and not get a return. A few years ago now, I paid £400 for an ad at yell.com, and I made about £400 from it in a year!

Perhaps try sites like this first: http://www.mybuilder.com/carpenters-and-joiners/in/uk and this one http://www.ratedpeople.com/local/carpenters-joiners

This will give you an idea of the type of jobs people are wanting doing at the moment and cost you a small amount for genuine leads.

Later on, you can then have a flyer copy-written, designed and printed targeting home owners in your area for these types of jobs (you can get 5000 printed for £80 these days) as well as focus a website toward it.

You never know, may be just what you need.

 

[Anonymouse72]

The problem is that you could spend £300 and not get a return. A few years ago now, I paid £400 for an ad at yell.com, and I made about £400 from it in a year!

Perhaps try sites like this first: http://www.mybuilder.com/carpenters-and-joiners/in/uk and this one http://www.ratedpeople.com/local/carpenters-joiners

This will give you an idea of the type of jobs people are wanting doing at the moment and cost you a small amount for genuine leads.

Later on, you can then have a flyer copy-written, designed and printed targeting home owners in your area for these types of jobs (you can get 5000 printed for £80 these days) as well as focus a website toward it.

You never know, may be just what you need.

Sorry, but i wouldn't recommend any of those sites mentioned. Just search on here & see the negative feedback.

 

[lawrence147]

Hi RMConey

I agree with Anonymouse72 and not go for the sites above as they charge an up front fee and the quality of leads are not great.

From my research, a better site is Quotatis, who don't charge an up front fee, you only pay for the leads you 'buy' and you can suspend/cancel anytime with no charge.

I'm just trying them out as I'm not getting the enquiries I was with my normal advertising.

Lawrence