PRINT ADVERTISING 2021
B2B INDUSTRY PUBLICATIONS
It is anticipated that most industry vertical publications will continue to consolidate into 2021. This could be a positive trend since the remaining publications will be more relevant to audiences. Also, as social distancing continues, and non-essential travel is avoided content delivered to the audience’s home for consumption becomes more of a connection point within industry circles. Therefore, let’s have a conversation of how to improve your print advertisement presence and media buys with B2B industry publications.
THE PERFECT MEDIA BUY
Negotiation with publication companies is an important component from the onset of the media buy. Print ads are incrementally more effective when they are combined with digital presence, email sponsored content and native content marketing. The top media sales representatives will present a comprehensive plan that meets the advertiser’s marketing objectives. Placing a single print ad insertion is not an effective approach to contributing to marketing goals. Working with the media sales representative to maximize all available assets offered from the publication is a huge step in making for a successful marketing campaign. Then, ask for the price you want to pay!
Timing is a main factor in ensuring your media dollars work to uplift your sales goals. It is a smart practice to chart out your key selling periods and more importantly your customer’s consideration period. When you can align your content and messaging with when your customer is in a decision-making phase this will elevate your marketing strategy. Similar to when you are investing in a key industry event, whether virtual or hopefully in the future in-person, priming your presence with a solid pre-event media presence can help maximize the marketing budget across all investments. One key take-away is to not get lost in the crowed space of special editions or pre-event editions. Think differently and create a plan that stands out from the competition.
DIFFERENTIATION
The key to having a successful print media presence is grounded in differentiation of creative, integration among other media buys, and strong language and call to actions. A proper audit of competitors and other advertisers in the publication will help to create a presence that stands out from the total print environment.
Ideally, you want to create a campaign that spans across several insertions. The main objective is to have a common thread of visuals, seductive content, or a series of calls to action that links the ad insertions together and avoids the boredom of creative that is re-run over and over again.
ENSURING PERFORMANCE
There are certain situations where testing publications alongside each other can offer superb insights into how effective each individual publication performs. Aligning run times and similar media insertions allows the marketer to assess how to spend future media budgets more effectively. It is also important to request from the publication for average performance metrics, so the marketer can assess their individual campaign compared to other advertisers that are targeting the same audience. Whatever you do, make sure you start with the end in mind, setting measurable objectives at the outset.