Nearly Free Advertising in Nashua Telegraph
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the Nashua Telegraph in any way. I'm in the business of helping other businesses increase qualified leads and business, and here's an inexpensive and easy way I've found.
I moved a couple of years back from a 'burb of Boston to Nashua, New Hampshire. Being originally from Vermont, Nashua appealed to me because it is a nice halfway point between my folks who still lived in Vermont, and friends who lived in and around Boston. It was also a good move business-wise. I could still provide great marketing and design services to my Massachusetts customers—while the business owners here in Nashua have been wonderfully receptive.
I'd been looking for a way to promote my design studio in the area. As with all of my clients' campaigns, the one I created for my studio was multipronged: I wanted to increase search engine rankings, do some network marketing, conduct a direct mail campaign, and advertise in the local paper: The Nashua Telegraph. Now I didn't expect to get much—if any—work from my ad in the paper. I just wanted to start generating awareness of the business, so that when a prospect received my direct mail, did a search and found my web site, or met me out some where, they had at least a tickle of familiarity with the name of the studio.
So I looked at just plain advertising in the paper and guess what... of course it's expensive! For a small studio like ours, running advertising every week in the paper just for exposure... is pricey. I've also found a number of our clients feel the same way. They want to generate attention for their business, but they can't afford to dump hundreds of dollars a month into a newspaper ad campaign. And they realize there is extreme value in exposure that might come from such an ad.
So I dug a little deeper, and found that the Telegraph has a nice little insert in EVERY sunday paper. It features companies that are listed in the Telegraph online business directory. Listing in the directory is only $35 a month. This MIGHT seem like a LOT until you do the math.
First, an ad in the normal part of the paper is probably going to be designed by the newspaper design staff. Because they're just jamming out ads, all the ads tend to look the same and blend together. Case in point—see a recent Valentine's day issue. There's a page that is a sea of red. All the ads look the same. A business that ran a black and white ad on that page would have doubled their sales. That black and white ad would have jumped off the page. So if your ad doesn't stand out, it won't be seen or acted upon. (Always design your own ad or work with a studio that has experience in newspaper advertising—there's a reason newspapers design ads for free)
Second, a heck of a lot more folks read the Sunday paper.
Third, the Telegraph isn't a HUGE paper, but it's big enough that your ad might not be seen by the person you're trying to connect with.
Fourth, there's no online component with regular newspaper advertising. You create an expensive ad, and there's nothing online to support it.
Fifth, to run a decent ad that's going to get attention, you have to budget at least $400 a month.
All that said, newspaper advertising sounds like a tactic for just large companies with money to burn. Not true. With the online listing, you get listed on the Telegraph's web site directory, and you get a small ad in a special insert in the paper. This is BETTER than just running an ad in the regular edition. Why?
First, a heck of a lot of people read the sunday paper.
Second, few people have utilized this amazing service. When I started using it, I was one of about 20 advertisers.
Third, the insert is just that—an insert that sticks out. A couple of times they've printed it on heavy stock, which really helps it poke out from the normal paper.
Fourth, there's an online component. Search engines look at the referring site's ranking when determining how relevant your site is. Trust me, the Telegraph IS RELEVANT. By getting a link on their site, you're telling Google that your content is relevant. That's worth the $35 right there.
FIfth, it's only $35 a month. You probably spend more on coffee.
A couple of notes: the ads are small... about the size of a business card. More companies are signing up every day, slowly whittling away at it's exclusivity. There are a lot of real estate listings, so if that's your gig, I'm not sure that this is for you.
How has it worked for me? Well... I ran the ad for about 8 months. In that time I only received ONE project directly from it, but numerous people who've become clients have referred back to it. And it's hard to measure the impact of the link on my site, but I know it's helping. So I ran the ad for 8 months at $35 a month. The project I got out of it was worth around $10,000. I feel that's a reasonable return on investment—and it fits right in with my cross media strategy.
If you're looking at advertising in the paper, and have a web site, but feel that it's a little too pricey, give the web site directory a spin.
I moved a couple of years back from a 'burb of Boston to Nashua, New Hampshire. Being originally from Vermont, Nashua appealed to me because it is a nice halfway point between my folks who still lived in Vermont, and friends who lived in and around Boston. It was also a good move business-wise. I could still provide great marketing and design services to my Massachusetts customers—while the business owners here in Nashua have been wonderfully receptive.
I'd been looking for a way to promote my design studio in the area. As with all of my clients' campaigns, the one I created for my studio was multipronged: I wanted to increase search engine rankings, do some network marketing, conduct a direct mail campaign, and advertise in the local paper: The Nashua Telegraph. Now I didn't expect to get much—if any—work from my ad in the paper. I just wanted to start generating awareness of the business, so that when a prospect received my direct mail, did a search and found my web site, or met me out some where, they had at least a tickle of familiarity with the name of the studio.
So I looked at just plain advertising in the paper and guess what... of course it's expensive! For a small studio like ours, running advertising every week in the paper just for exposure... is pricey. I've also found a number of our clients feel the same way. They want to generate attention for their business, but they can't afford to dump hundreds of dollars a month into a newspaper ad campaign. And they realize there is extreme value in exposure that might come from such an ad.
So I dug a little deeper, and found that the Telegraph has a nice little insert in EVERY sunday paper. It features companies that are listed in the Telegraph online business directory. Listing in the directory is only $35 a month. This MIGHT seem like a LOT until you do the math.
First, an ad in the normal part of the paper is probably going to be designed by the newspaper design staff. Because they're just jamming out ads, all the ads tend to look the same and blend together. Case in point—see a recent Valentine's day issue. There's a page that is a sea of red. All the ads look the same. A business that ran a black and white ad on that page would have doubled their sales. That black and white ad would have jumped off the page. So if your ad doesn't stand out, it won't be seen or acted upon. (Always design your own ad or work with a studio that has experience in newspaper advertising—there's a reason newspapers design ads for free)
Second, a heck of a lot more folks read the Sunday paper.
Third, the Telegraph isn't a HUGE paper, but it's big enough that your ad might not be seen by the person you're trying to connect with.
Fourth, there's no online component with regular newspaper advertising. You create an expensive ad, and there's nothing online to support it.
Fifth, to run a decent ad that's going to get attention, you have to budget at least $400 a month.
All that said, newspaper advertising sounds like a tactic for just large companies with money to burn. Not true. With the online listing, you get listed on the Telegraph's web site directory, and you get a small ad in a special insert in the paper. This is BETTER than just running an ad in the regular edition. Why?
First, a heck of a lot of people read the sunday paper.
Second, few people have utilized this amazing service. When I started using it, I was one of about 20 advertisers.
Third, the insert is just that—an insert that sticks out. A couple of times they've printed it on heavy stock, which really helps it poke out from the normal paper.
Fourth, there's an online component. Search engines look at the referring site's ranking when determining how relevant your site is. Trust me, the Telegraph IS RELEVANT. By getting a link on their site, you're telling Google that your content is relevant. That's worth the $35 right there.
FIfth, it's only $35 a month. You probably spend more on coffee.
A couple of notes: the ads are small... about the size of a business card. More companies are signing up every day, slowly whittling away at it's exclusivity. There are a lot of real estate listings, so if that's your gig, I'm not sure that this is for you.
How has it worked for me? Well... I ran the ad for about 8 months. In that time I only received ONE project directly from it, but numerous people who've become clients have referred back to it. And it's hard to measure the impact of the link on my site, but I know it's helping. So I ran the ad for 8 months at $35 a month. The project I got out of it was worth around $10,000. I feel that's a reasonable return on investment—and it fits right in with my cross media strategy.
If you're looking at advertising in the paper, and have a web site, but feel that it's a little too pricey, give the web site directory a spin.
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posted by bill schick design at 7:11 PM
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