How To Promote Your Business Locally

A good approach is to think about your best customers, their interests and the types of publications they read. If you’re not sure, why not ask them? 

 

Also, try to identify the things your customers have in common; for example, where the live, how old they are or how much they earn. This will help to narrow down your options and make the best possible choice. 

 

You know who your competitors are and how your products and services compare in terms of price and quality. You will also have some ideas about why your customers choose you rather than someone else. If you can narrow that down to specific traits such as an interest in sports, technology or money you will be able to create advertising to appeal to them. 

 

Magazines will have a media pack that tells you about their editorial policy, who reads the publication and where they are, as well as how much advertising costs. Ask for a media pack from any magazines you think your customers will read to see how well they fit with your business. 

 

Read the magazines for yourself to see how well their style and content fit your business and your customers’ style. 

 

It can sometimes be difficult to know what represents good value for money when it comes for advertising. One simple measure is to work out how much it costs for a specific size of advertisement to reach 1,000 readers. Sometimes a publication seems to offer a great price, but this measure could show that it’s really quite expensive to reach each reader. On the other hand, you might be wasting your money if a magazine has a large circulation outside of your local area, so take a look at distribution areas too. 

 

One advertisement won’t suit all publications. You will need to tailor it to suit the magazine’s style and readership as well as to deliver your message in a relevant way. Successful advertisements identify a need and show how it can be met. 

 

For example, if you are selling gardening products in a lifestyle magazine you might want to emphasise how the garden will look after your products have been used. If you’re selling the same products in a gardening magazine you might want to tell readers how they will achieve great results. 

 

Choose images and colours that will be attractive to the readers, as well as presenting a great brand image for your business. There will be quite a lot of competition for the attention of your readers, so make sure you stand out from the crowd. The name of your business, your contact details and logo are important, but you need to catch your readers’ attention first. 

 

The most important information for your reader should be at the top of your advertisement, moving from left to right. Then move to the centre of the advertisement with an eye-catching image or offer and finish by explaining what the reader should so next on the bottom right-hand side. 

 

A single advertisement is unlikely to achieve the results you’re looking for. Your advertising budget should allow you to test your design and offer in several editions. Include an offer code, for example, to see what works best or create a different landing page on your website for each advertisement so that you can track who responds. 

 

Ask what options you have for the position of our advertisement. You can often ask for your advertisement to be in a relevant section for business, community or finance for example. 

 

It’s also worth asking about feature articles for the editions you are interested in to see if any are relevant to you. Normally you can also ask for your advertisement to be placed on a different page to your competitors. 

 

The Pulse team is always happy to give advice, so please call us.