Any thoughts on advertising in tabloid magazines?

10 replies
Fellow Warriors,
I have never tried them and am considering advertising in nationwide tabloid magazines. Some people I have spoken to recommend them while others do not.

I am curious if they work.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Flowbee777
#advertising #magazines #tabloid #thoughts
  • Profile picture of the author ViralSO-CEO
    Tabloid magazine ads are mostly used for branding purposes so when your salespeople call on a business, they recognize the name. If you do not have a sales team, then I would not do it.

    If you do have a sales team, choose an industry specific magazine that has your target audience as readers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    ya. as far as branding goes.. if your product is not too serious.. i don't mean that pejoratively, but just if it is something sort of novelty or meant to be an impulse buy then maybe... but tabloids are associated with sort of frivolity, it seems, perhaps.. so your product might too, if you associate with them...
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by flowbee77 View Post

    I am curious if they work.
    Some clearly do, because you see the same little boxed small-ads appearing week after week, month after month, some of them from some apparently fairly small businesses, too.

    Whether they'll work for you is a different matter!

    I certainly agree with the comment above about larger ads in tabloids being aimed primarily at brand recognition/reinforcement rather than specifically at sales.
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    • Profile picture of the author donhx
      Before the Internet, I used to sell information products in classified ads in the Enquirer, Globe and other tabloids. It was a moneymaker for me.

      These days, you would use classified ads to drive traffic to your site where the real selling is done. Two things are essential:

      1. Make sure your product fits the tabloid's demographic. For example, a weight loss offer would probably do far better than information about a tech product.

      2. Test. If you get a good Return on Investment (ROI), repeat and expand.

      You can be sure that classified ads in tabloids are a big moneymaker for some. People keep running the same ones over and over. They must be getting a good ROI in order to do that.
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      • Profile picture of the author flowbee77
        Originally Posted by donhx View Post

        Before the Internet, I used to sell information products in classified ads in the Enquirer, Globe and other tabloids. It was a moneymaker for me.

        These days, you would use classified ads to drive traffic to your site where the real selling is done. Two things are essential:

        1. Make sure your product fits the tabloid's demographic. For example, a weight loss offer would probably do far better than information about a tech product.

        2. Test. If you get a good Return on Investment (ROI), repeat and expand.

        You can be sure that classified ads in tabloids are a big moneymaker for some. People keep running the same ones over and over. They must be getting a good ROI in order to do that.
        Thanks Don and everyone,
        Well, yes. I sell novelty items (non Sexual). So I think I will give the tabloids a try then and see how they work out.
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        • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
          Also don't overlook card mailers and other direct mail options. It's kind of "old school" these days and sometimes more pricey than online advertising but it can be quite effective in reaching certain audiences.
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          • Profile picture of the author myob
            Tabloids do work well if you know the demographics. Typically we have done very well selling recipes (yes even now) and bus opp ads also always pull. Don't try to sell anything more than about $20 at first; that seems to be the psychological limit for classifieds. But if you are persistent in followup, you will make money over the long term in re-orders or related items. One advantage is these customers will most likely never see any competing offers as much as they would online.
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          • Profile picture of the author flowbee77
            Originally Posted by bgmacaw View Post

            Also don't overlook card mailers and other direct mail options. It's kind of "old school" these days and sometimes more pricey than online advertising but it can be quite effective in reaching certain audiences.
            Yes I was actually thinking of doing this, just to try out. Don't know if I should go through a fulfillment center though.
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          • Profile picture of the author myob
            Originally Posted by bgmacaw View Post

            Also don't overlook card mailers and other direct mail options. It's kind of "old school" these days and sometimes more pricey than online advertising but it can be quite effective in reaching certain audiences.
            Thanks, I was beginning to think that online marketing was old school, with so many WSOs and threads promoting this wonderful new idea of offline advertising.
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    • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
      They can be very profitable, I used to do them many years ago before I came online.

      What I would do is basically what Alexa has said, I'd monitor the adverts and would see which ones appeared consistently over time.

      Then I would model my adverts and offers on them.

      I don't know if they still do it, but people would send a SAE (stamped addressed envelope) if they were interested, then the brochure/offer would be sent out.

      The conversion rates were incredible, from one batch of 120 leads I must have made around 400 orders from the front and back end sales.

      I prefer to play online now, although I still use many of the principles I learnt from my direct response/mail days.
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