Local Marketing 2020 Series: Print Advertising

Old habits die hard. Many established small businesses have placed advertisements in hometown newspapers, swap sheets or penny savers for decades. They often continue to do so simply because they always have. However, in the current landscape of local marketing, may not be the best use of your limited budget.

Measuring Print Advertising

First of all, it is extremely difficult to know how many people saw your ad, became more interested in your business or purchased from you because of that ad. Secondly, why pay for people to see your ad if they don’t care about it? With online advertising, you essentially only pay for potential customers who are interested in what you offer.

Do yourself a favor and conduct an audit of where you’ve spent your marketing dollars in the past and ways you might better use those funds in 2020. That could include SEO, email campaigns or pay per click online ads. Of course, print advertising shouldn’t be ruled out altogether — print isn’t entirely dead after all. If you’re going to advertise on tv, radio or in the paper, at least measure the results so you can track your return on investment.

Does Print still Drive Conversions?

We have seen print advertising work very well if you have a very viable list to send to. Users take action from a specific landing page, and asked to convert. If your audience knows of your business and has a need for your service, that partnership is simple!

As a small business, budget matters and time are your greatest commodities. You don’t have enough of either to spare, so why take chances? Use the proven tips included in each of our Local Marketing Series blogs to devise a sensible, yet effective, local marketing strategy for the rest of this year. Be sure to measure your results along the way as you watch your business grow in 2020!