How frequently should you run and what size newspaper ads should you use?
The larger your newspaper advertisement the more likely people will notice it. Starch Research does studies on how many newspapers remember seeing your advertisement. Here are the numbers based on the size of the ad:
- Full Page 42%
- Three Quarter Page 38%
- Half Page 34%
- Quarter Page 26%
- One Eighth Page 23%
Newspaper advertising costs are directly proportional to the ad space bought; an eighth of a page is a big bargain compared to a full page ad; ⅛ page gives you 55% of the attention of a full page ad for 12.5% of the cost. Plus, ⅛ th of the page provides enough space for the ad to have big headline, a couple sentences of text, and a coupon or photo. Going smaller than ⅛ page in my opinion impacts your ability to communicate your message.
For certain businesses, there is an argument for larger size ads. If your customers are not necessarily frequent shoppers and are buying big ticket items, having more potential customers notice your advertisement may be more important than the efficiency of the spend. This point of view is well articulated in this article “How big do you need to run?”.
All else being equal, a smaller ad size will enable you to stretch your budget farther and run with greater frequency. When running in a newspaper, you should run your ads at least once per week.