Magazine Advertising: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

8 min read

The digital marketing space has expanded unprecedentedly over the past few years.

This has made many businesses double down on their digital advertising while pulling back on more traditional methods. However, several traditional offline methods can still be incredibly effective, such as magazine advertising.

From 2016 to 2021, the number of magazine readers in the United States has remained above 220 million. This is a significant audience that many businesses could be missing out on by not using magazine advertising.

Number-of-magazine-readers-in-the-U-S-2021-Statista

Continue below to learn more about magazine advertising and how to use it effectively.

Magazine Advertisement Examples

Before going any further, let’s take a look at some magazine advertisement examples and types to understand their format better.

Classified ads: Just like newspapers, many magazines have classified sections where businesses can submit a short blurb about themselves and their contact info. These are often some of the most inexpensive forms of advertisements in magazines.
Display ads: Display ads are the noticeable and obvious advertisements within the publication. With large fonts, photos, and other visuals, they are meant to grab the reader’s attention as they go by. These can be reasonably priced, depending on the scale of the publication.
Full page: As the name implies, full-page ads cover an entire magazine page. They give the advertiser the opportunity to display a product or service in significant detail using visuals and text. Big brands are usually the best examples of magazine advertisements.
Half page: Half-page ads provide ample space for visuals and text to impact customers and increase brand awareness.
Inside front cover: This is one of the most desirable magazine ad placements. They are designed with eye-catching visuals with large images and impactful titles to really catch the reader’s attention. Of course, this placement will be costly. After all, this is what the reader will see upon initially opening the magazine.
Inside back cover: Inside the back cover of a magazine is another excellent advertising space. Just like inside the front cover, these ads feature large graphics to capture attention. They often feature a captivating title and offer to draw customers to reach out.

Options for Advertising in Magazine

When considering magazine advertising, many people might jump right to massive publications full of name-brand advertisers. This can make it immediately seem like an out-of-reach market.

However, magazines can vary in many ways, including publication size, interests, prices, genres, reach, and more. In other words, smaller or mid-size businesses should not count themselves out of magazine advertising.

Some national magazines will have sections dedicated to smaller businesses. Of course, the bottom line is that advertising in national publications will always be more expensive than in smaller or local publications.

The first thing to decide is the target audience. A business needs to figure out who they are trying to reach.

If the business caters to a particular industry or interest, they can look into magazines related to that specific topic. The interest could be a peripheral connection as well. In other words, the business may not be directly in the magazine industry if it offers a product or service that readers may also be interested in.

It comes down to what’s in your business’s budget. Small or mid-size businesses can always start out with local free magazines to see how they perform and expand from there.

Advantages of Magazine Advertising

With the prominence of digital marketing, business owners may ask what the advantage of magazine advertising is. Well, there are actually several benefits to advertising in magazine publications, including the following.

Trusted publications: According to MarketingSherpa research, 82% of consumers trust print ads compared to 61% for search engine ads and 25% for pop-up ads. Many publications have been running for some time, which sets them up as a trusted authority. Advertising in magazines allows businesses to piggyback off this already-established trust.
Targeted market: Advertisements in industry-related magazines are delivered directly to the target audience. The same goes for brick-and-mortar businesses that are attempting to drive foot traffic in a local area.
Stand out in the crowd: There is a sea of businesses and competitors advertising in the digital space, which makes it difficult to be seen. Magazine ads at least decrease the amount of competition for ad space. This makes it more likely for your ad to be seen and acted upon.
Staying power: Magazines are often left in waiting rooms, offices, common areas, and more for some time. At least until the next edition is published, which offers more opportunities for your ad to be seen.

Tips for Effective Magazine Ads

For those considering magazine advertising, here are some quick tips for effective ads.

Don’t overcrowd: Make the ad effective and use all of the available space, but don’t overcrowd it. Too many visuals or a large mass of text can be offputting and cause readers to skim right over it.
Design: Use color theory and design that is modern and pleasing to the eye.
Compelling copy: Write effective copy that captures the reader’s attention and makes them want to read the whole thing. Include a call to action to inspire the reader to learn more.
When in doubt, hire out: If you are unsure about creating an effective magazine ad, hire a professional design company to create one. Spending money on ineffective ads can end up being a waste of resources.

Overall, magazine advertising is no replacement for digital marketing, but combining the two makes for a robust strategy. It can help to capture the attention of those who spend less time in the digital space or who have a particular niche interest.

Ultimately, digital marketing will remain dominant as the internet grows, but this doesn’t mean traditional strategies are dead.

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Aug 25, 2023

About the author

Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.