Magazine advertising should be targeted toward a specific buyer.
Magazine advertising can be highly effective in pulling in leads or sales for your business. There are many types of magazine ads, including classified, business card or small display ads, and half- and- full-page ads. Many magazine advertisers use color and pictures in their ads. However, the key is to keep the advertising message simple and clutter-free. Too many illustrations or words can confuse the reader and cause her to lose interest.
Target Your Reader
The most effective magazine display ads target specific readers through the heading. For example, if you're trying to reach diet-conscious people, lead with a heading, such as "Lose Up To Five Pounds Per Week!" Include before and after pictures of people who have used your diet products in the ad. Focus on benefits in the body of the ad; not the details of your product. Tell the reader how your product can help her lose weight or fit into her favorite pair of jeans. Paint a picture for the reader. You can also phrase the heading in form of a question, such as "Want to Lose 20 lbs. Before Beach Season?" Always be truthful when making certain claims.
AIDA Principle
A magazine ad should follow the AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) principle in attracting people's interest, according to advertising expert Dave Dolak at Davedolak.com. Grab the reader's attention with an illustration, humorous photo or bold and enlarged headings. Build the reader's interest with compelling ad copy. The objective is to increase the reader's desire by matching product benefits with the reader's needs. Ultimately, the goal of your ad is to prompt the reader or consumer to visit the store and purchase your product.
Keying Magazine Ads
Key your magazine ads because you'll likely be running them on a consistent basis. Keying an ad entails placing a code name or designation inside your magazine ad. For example, you could use "Department 110" after your street address to represent a January 2010 magazine advertisement. Include the initials of the magazine before the 110 if you're advertising in multiple publications.
The purpose of keying an ad is to track its effectiveness. For example, if you spent $300 on a quarter-page ad, you'll want to know how many leads that ad generated. Your overall objective is to determine whether the ad was profitable. There are several ways to track keys in ads. You can have callers tell you the department or code number, or create a coupon for potential customers. A beauty salon, for example, could track the results of a two-week ad by counting the number of coupons redeemed.
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