Is the print ad dead? With all the talk about websites, Pay-Per-Click and social media marketing, it’s easy to think that the day of advertising in newspapers, magazines and the like has passed. Certainly, Internet Marketing is a strong and worthy competitor for your marketing dollars and often squeezes out display advertising.
By combining it with your online marketing efforts, you can make your ads far more effective. If you’re going to run display ads then you should turn them into “direct response ads”.
Is print advertising right for you?
Bottom-line, if we believe spending money on a display ad will make us profit, then it’s a no-brainer. However, businesses often spend money on advertising out of a feeling of insecurity, out of a feeling of “we need to do something” to drum up business.
Here’s a really simple test to help you decide if buying a display ad is worthwhile:
- Will the ad reach a significant number of my Ideal Customer?
- Are there other ads in there geared towards my Ideal Customer?
- If I get a modest (1%, 2%) response rate, will the ad more than pay for itself?
- Can I afford it? (We all work with limited marketing budgets that we need to optimize)
How To Use Your Website To Turn Your Print Ad Into A Direct Response Ad
One of the biggest challenges with display ads is that they’re a passive medium in a world crowded with advertising. Yes, you want to create an ad that stands out and gets noticed but you need to do more than that if you want to get action.
Wouldn’t it be great if people reading your ad could take an action quickly and easily? One that would get them experiencing your brand and potentially giving you their name and Email address? You can by adding a call to action that takes them to your website.
Here are two easy Calls to Action that you can add to your display ad:
- Coupon. Create a coupon a page with a secret (easy to type) link that is only published in the display ad. People can go there and download and print or (maybe even better) show it to you on their smart phone when they come in to your store. (You can get fancier and have people put in their mobile number to opt-in to receiving coupons and specials by text or have them opt-in to get the coupon code by email).
- Opt-in to download a special report. If you’ve got the kind of product or service that people tend to do some online research on, then having an educational special report can be a highly effective tactic. The nice thing about this tactic is that you are now building a mailing list of names and emails that you can continue to market to.
Not only can you track how many coupons or special report opt-ins you get, you can also track how many people go to those hidden page links. Knowing your conversion rate will allow you to test different offers and layouts to maximize the number of people who take action.
By using your website to turn your display ad into a direct response ad, not only will your ad stand out more and be more likely to get a higher response, you’ll also be able to measure the results.
What’s been your experience with print ads?
