There has been a lot of talk about newspapers being dead, and the Internet taking over advertising. But many shops, like ours, still include print ads in the daily or Sunday newspaper in our advertising mix.  Circulation may not be as robust as it once was, but a significant percentage of our potential customers still read the newspaper.

The key word here is “potential,” because electronic media is ideal for keeping in touch with existing customers by sending them e-mails and having them “friend” you on Facebook. But aside from making sure your business turns up on top in a Google search, it’s tough to make new friends online.

A good print ad in a newspaper (or magazine) can catch the eye of someone who has never been in your store, or who is not a loyal, regular shopper.  As with all advertising, you need to reinforce your brand image several times to have much impact.  And you need to make sure that your print ad is effective, and includes what I refer to as a “call to action”  or offers a solution to a customer’s needs.

In looking through tonight’s paper, I see a number of ads by local retailers that are basically statements of what they have to sell.  These ads may work if what you are offering happens to be exactly what a reader is already looking for, but they are pretty boring.  When you are competing for attention with the day’s headlines, boring is not good.

Other ads use the tried and true terms “sale” and “free,” which are words that consumers love to see.  Not very original, but effective enough if they’re not overused.  Everyone, after all, “needs” to save money.

But my favorites are those that offer a solution to a specific problem many consumers are likely to have, for example the “Goodbye, Pain” ad for a chiropractor. What does your shop have that a customer needs?  Is there a clever way to express it?

An additional call to action that attracts attention is an invitation to do something immediately, such as “Stop in Today for a Free ___,” or “Meet Our ___ Expert, Saturday Only.”  How can you create a sense of immediacy to bring the customer into your store soon after he or she sees your ad?

According to Roy H. Williams, whose Wizard of Ads books I have found inspiring and helpful, “A recent Yankelovich study tells us that Americans are confronted by more than 5,000 selling messages per day – radio and television and magazines and newspapers and billboards floating on an ocean of store signage, posters, point-of-purchase displays and product packaging – each one hoping to gain our eyes, ears and attention.” 

In order to make your print ad stand out, he says, you need to be unpredictable — and to focus your thoughts outwards on your customers and their needs. I suggest that you look through the newspaper every day to see which ads seem most effective to you, and work on your own advertising program to see if including a solution to a problem and/or a call to action bring you better results.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder