June 2006

A Low-cost Advertising Alternative

Have you ever attended a local concert, theatrical presentation, or high school graduation ceremony? Of course you have. And after you’ve settled into your seat and made quiet small talk with the person sitting next to you, what did you do next? The chances are that you looked at the program.

Programs provided at smaller local productions and events provide an excellent low-cost alternative to heftier newspaper and magazine advertising. Whereas frequent and sustained newspaper and magazine ads can easily run into five- and six-digit figures annually, smaller ads placed in programs can be had for a song, as low as $25 to $200 in some cases.

Many smaller businesses simply cannot afford to advertise frequently over a sustained period. This kind of advertising is typically the domain of larger retail operations that generate the considerable revenue needed to advertise frequently and over the long haul.

But why bother advertising in a small concert, theater, or similar program with limited exposure? Consider how you read a newspaper or magazine versus how you read a program. Typically, you scan a newspaper or magazine, looking for a story or article that catches your attention. You already know that the paper or magazine will be filled with advertising, often taking up about 50 percent of the space. In your search for a story or article, you “tune out” the ads and gloss over them, unless there’s really something that grabs your attention.

But reading a program is different. In the minutes before the concert, play, or ceremony begins, it’s usually quiet. You look at the program to see what’s what and who’s who. You probably actually look at the ads, if for no other reason to see who’s advertising. If you happen to see a competitor’s name, you might say to yourself, “There’s old Bob – he always advertises in things like this.” The non-business person might notice an advertiser and think, “Well, it’s nice to see that ABC supports things like this.”

Ad Layout Diagram Programs are often printed in a 5-1/2” by 8-1/2” format. Often this format will yield a full-page ad option, a half-page option, or a quarter-page option (see diagram). We recommend that you provide a professionally designed ad that includes your logo, house typestyle, and any other branding elements that readers might recognize. By all means, do not let the publisher prepare the ad because it probably won’t look like it “fits in” with the print media your company normally produces.

Will ads such as these bring in new customers? Maybe. Maybe not. But low-cost advertising such as this could be well worth the cost and effort because for a few minutes, anyway, you will have captive readers who will likely pay more attention to the program than what they saw in their morning paper.