Space advertising is your typical newspaper or magazine ad that often includes an image with some copy.
If you’re going to do a space ad, it will generally get better results if you use the same layout as the editorials so it looks less like an ad and more like a news item. Use the same font styles and sizes for the headline, body, etc. If the newspaper uses 2 columns per article on the page your ad will appear, use 2 columns in your ad. If they use 3 columns, you use 3. The “advertorial” approach almost always does better than traditional space ads that scream “advertisement”.
Learn to experiment in many creative ways to find out what works best for you and always test different components of your ads to see what brings you the most results.
I know one local paper that has both classified ads and space ads and I noticed that one company has their space ad featured upside-down in every weekly issue. At first I thought it was a mistake, but after seeing it upside-down week after week, I suspected they found that their upside-down ad stands out from the clutter. People think it’s a mistake and read it. Yes, it’s a gimmick, but you need to test different approaches and see what works best for you.
Written by Steve
Topics: Offline Marketing