Newspaper Advertising, Advertising In Newspapers, Press Advertising

If you’ve been keeping up with the news during these hard economic times, no doubt you’ve been hearing about the death of the newspaper industry.  While it’s true that newspaper circulation is down, newspapers are far from becoming extinct – but newspaper advertising costs have never been so attractive to small business owners.  With a little bit of creativity, you can take advantage of this downturn with newspaper ads for your business, without having to hire an expensive advertising agency.

Your community’s daily newspaper is the first place to check.  Find out their rates for all advertising media they offer – the print edition, the online edition, special sections, banner advertising, and even foul weather bags used in home delivery. Newspapers have gotten extremely creative with their advertising media, and now even small businesses can get in on the game, perhaps targeting selected neighborhoods or demographics.

Depending on what kind of business you own, think about advertising in the local college or high school newspaper.  Everything from car dealerships at graduation time to nail salons when the prom rolls around is fair game, as well as weekly advertisements for bookstores, coffee shops, fast food joints and other businesses of interest to the younger set.

If you have a home-based business or an Internet business, you can cut advertising costs considerably by using the classified section.  A simple, one-line pitch plus your URL address can cost you pennies, and still seen by as many people as a larger, more expensive ad.

Being involved in community affairs can be a boost for your business as well.  Say you owned a store on a street that had a traffic issue or a zoning restriction that was important to area business owners.  Why not pitch the idea of a newspaper article about it to one of the journalists?  You can be quoted on the matter, and your name and business will appear right within an article that your entire community will read.

With coffee shops becoming the place to hang out for those with disposable income, weekly community newspapers, which litter the tables and counter tops in such places, can be a great opportunity for you as well.

In the Internet age, it is so easy to dismiss newspapers as a quaint reminder of a bygone era. But as a small business owner, you should strongly consider making newspaper advertising a part of your business marketing campaign strategy.