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MAKE EVERYDAY ADVERTISING IDEAS WORK

69 Inserting promotional material in newspapers

Inserting your promotional material in newspapers and
magazines is an alternative to advertising in these publica-
tions. You can insert anything from a newsletter to a
brochure to a business card. Most newspapers are happy to
take inserts, generally charging a fixed price per thousand.
If you inserted a brochure into every copy of the publica-
tion it would cost you a lot more than placing an
advertisement. However, the joy of inserts is that you can
do them to suit your budget or, in the case of letterbox-
dropped publications, you can choose the geographical area
that you would like covered.

Putting promotional material in papers is an alternative
to straight letterbox drops, and many marketing people
argue that it is better to have your material in a local paper
rather than by itself in a letterbox as most junk mail goes
in the bin whereas people tend to read local papers.
Another advantage of putting a brochure in the local paper
is that it will get wrapped up if the weather is wet. If you
just drop a flyer in a letterbox the odds are that it will get
destroyed as soon as it rains. Of course, you pay for this
service, hence inserts cost more than letterbox drops.

Local newspapers can also be put into letterboxes that
have ‘no junk mail’ signs on them. So if your material is
inside the paper you have managed to get inside a house
where a normal letterbox drop would not.

A point to remember is that if you fail to get a response
to the insert don’t immediately blame the paper they were
delivered in because, odds-on, the problem is your promo-
tional material. I tend to suggest creating a brochure or
flyer specifically designed to be inserted in a newspaper.
Try and keep to a simple formula with big bold headings,
clear easy-to-read text, a picture of the product and a few
testimonials from satisfied customers if possible.

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