Newspaper Advertising  

Newspaper advertising can be effective if used consistently. Normally, advertising on a limited basis is a waste of time and money. Here are some tips that would be helpful with newspaper advertising:

1. Use black and white ads instead of color ads. Use color ads if there is no extra charge.

2. It is best if your ad is ¼ to ½ page. The best places to have the ad are on the back page or on the right side. The top corner of the page is the best location on the individual page.

3. The best newspapers to advertise in are paid newspapers that are weekly. The worst newspapers are the free ones.

4. Make a special coupon or free offer to track your newspaper response. For example, you could get a special cost of an item that normally retails for $5 and has a reduced cost of $1. This could be a draw to your small business as a promotional give away. Many newspaper ads have poor selling items or lack of aggressive pricing.

5. You should list the name of the small business, hours and address at the bottom of the ad.

6. The purpose of the newspaper ad is not to make the sale. It is to get shoppers into the small business.

7. Several small ads are better than one large ad. The key to newspaper advertising is it requires frequency to get the message to your potential customers.

8. Ads that look more like a news story are more often read than commercial ads.