Anyone tried offline magazine advertising for your website?

Does magazine advertising have a good ROI?

[tomld2]

I am thinking of running a half page ad in a major video game magazine for my online product. However, it costs around $10,000 for one single half page ad. Would that cost warrant running an ad for a $25 product? Has anyone tried magazine advertising? How did it work out? How does the ROI of magazine advertising compare to other marketing methods? Is it a good idea or waste of money?

Thanks

[sem4u]

It all depends on your site and your products. I am about to run some inserts in a magazine to promote a new website in the UK. I am expecting the ROI to be as good as some of the PPC advertising I work on.

[tigger]

I did some adds over 2 months but I never spent the type of money you guys are talking about, it cost me £4500 and I got next to nothing from it.

I'll never try it again

[sem4u]

I have a deal for £250 for 6,000 inserts with an industry specific magazine so I hope for a positive ROI! :)

[1milehgh80210]

Are there ads of a similar nature running for products like yours (price etc?)for a sustained period. Say 6 months or more?
That could give a clue, since no-one likes to throw money away month after month.

[JonnyWales]

"I'll never try it again "

Same with me. Tried several ads in focused UK business mags. Spent about £3,800 and saw very little response. I think the only way these can be effective is if you have very deep pockets and can commit to a lengthy campaign. Not for me though, I'll stick with ppc.

[tigger]

agree

[ukgimp]

A relative did. Difficlult to track and even more difficult to quantify. I mentioned this to them, but they still felt hard done by when they got no noticable ROI.

More of a brand thing.

Would work well if you were looking into something that required ringing a premium rate number. Phone tones spring to mind.

[ectect]

We did well recently from a UK magazine product review - free and generated lots of interest. Maybe a press release would be the way to go?

[andy_boyd]

We ran a quarter page ad in a respected US magazine for our site for 4 consecutive months ... the ROI was zero. Tried another couple of ads in a worldwide mag with the same result.

For you to break even on that ad you would need to sell 500 / 600 $25 products as you have to buy stock, ship them, cover chargebacks ... is it worth that risk? $10,000 will bring in far more targeted leads through PPC.

Leave magazine ads to the big companies who can afford the many thousands it will take to build your brand recognition and spend your money wisely, ie. not on magazine ads.

[AsleepATheWheel]

I've given offline advertising like this a go a couple of times, neither came anywhere near cutting even. Of course it all depends on the product and how / where the advert is.

Paul

[hannamyluv]

If you plan on getting into offline advertising, you really need to know how to play the game. The ad has to be tight and the space you get has to be right. You won't be able to get either of those without some testing. You may want to start in a smaller, cheaper space to get your ad right before taking it big time.

You should also go through a broker about that ad space. DO NOT deal directly with the magazine. They will rip you off on price, because you don't know any better.

Also, you need a decent way to track. The problem with most offline ads for online sites is that you have a very hard time tracking the outcome without something put in place to do so. They may see your ad then search google for you, so you wouldn't know they came from the ad. A source code or coupon code will ensure that you know exactly how much your ad had an impact.

[jsbeads]

I have been running ads in five national magazines for over 4 year now.
My market is very vertical. I get good response.

The key to print ads is repetition.
Taking out 12 small ads, even classified is better than one full-page ad.

Keep it clean and clear.

**********************
wwWebmasterWorldebsite.com
Tips and Tricks
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wwWebmasterWorldebsite.com
Open 24/7
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Something like that.
The key to print ads is repetition.
They see the ads in print then they find your site when searching. It builds a sort of confidence about your site and your company.

Also look at ezines...

[Andymac]

The only magazine coverage that has ever really paid for us is free editorial where the magazine is seen to be endorsing your product. Recently however magazines have got wise to this and are pushing 'advertorials'(yuk) which look as if they are endorsing but but in fact are getting paid.

Magazine advertising is more subliminal than online - I agree with earlier comments - its all about branding.

How many of you would carry on a ppc campaign for six months costing £5000 without any evidence of a return?

[AsleepATheWheel]

Andymac - couldn't agree more, we still get trackable sales from some editorial in an FHM supplement we were in over 18 months ago. Fantastic if you can get it.

[m2c1r]

I spent close to the amount you are considering and had a less than breakeven ROI, although the ad was well targeted to the magazine audience and I ran it more than once.

If I had the money back (Nice thought!) I would instead spend it on adding more website content, more link development, PPC, and a PR effort, and likely get much better results and still have some money left over...

[hcge]

all offline advertising I have ever done in my brick/mortar store as well as my online store is definitely based on repitition. The best advice I ever had was to go with a smaller ad and run it longer. A large ad, with a run time of once, rarely ever works unless you have one heck of a product. The best results I have had have been with magazines that also offer an online presence. I advertise with one magazine that also places me on their website and I get good results from that.

[WebStart]

Typical magazine and newspaper advertising is a shotgun mass approach; same dollars spent on PPC on the Internet reaches a target: those already interested in your product and out actively looking for it, whether to buy it now or later, or learn about it and just maybe buy it; but they are looking for your product (as a general rule).