Members of your target audience read publications everyday: from newspapers to magazines and journals. Because your audience is there, we want your message to be there, too!
Some clients initiate a print ad project at any time by calling Masterpiece Marketing and saying, I want to run an ad next Sunday in such-and-such newspaper. Other clients have the dates and publications in their annual marketing plan so we can reserve the space ahead of time. In either case, we will handle all the details for you from reserving the space to designing the ad to submitting the ad to the publication.
Before beginning creative design, we will present you with the cost of the ad. We will usually give you several options for size, color, or placement (where it goes in a publication such as a certain section or the inside front cover). Once the specifications are approved, we will reserve the space with the publication on your behalf.
SIZE – Tell us your budget for an advertisement, and we can recommend the appropriate size.
COLOR – Although commonly ads are either 4-color (full-color, CMYK) or black & white (grayscale), they could also be line-art (black with no shading or gradients), or 1-, 2-, or 3-color. Some publications charge an additional rate to print your ad in full-color rather than black & white.
DEADLINE – It is essential to know and follow deadlines for publications. Reservation dates and camera-ready art submission deadlines may not be the same – often, the reservation is due days or even weeks before the art.
For a print ad, we will follow the regular steps for production: brainstorming, copywriting, and design. Once you are satisfied with the ad, we will submit it to the publication.
COUPONS
If there is a coupon on the ad, be sure to give us any necessary disclaimers such as “May not be combined with any other offer.” Additionally, we will help you be sure that the expiration date of the coupon allows enough time to be used after the release date of the publication and takes into account when the next issue of that publication is released. For example, you don’t want to have a coupon expire six months after the release date if the publication only comes out once a year. As a final step, we recommend you include a code on the coupon so you can track the success of a certain ad by the number of times a certain coupon is used.
THE BOTTOM LINE
If prospective customers or donors are reading a publication, we want your message there, loud and clear!
