print advertising...worth it?

[Jason]

Just wondering what you all think of the effectiveness of print advertising (AVNOnline, Klixxx, etc...) in our industry. And if it is worth it, where do you get the best value for your advertising dollar?

[Direct Holly]

We advertise in Cybersocket and do quite well because that is a magazine we can target both consumers and webmasters at the same time... We will be doing online ads soon (like Gay Wide Webmasters) however they will not replace our print ads because people still like something tangible they can hold and read and Cybersocket is the best deal for my print ads....

[Airmy]

Holly I agree with you. Cybersocket is a great magazine. Our ads usually target the cosumer. We have a great return with new members.

We also did a two page spread in the Klixx Winter Resource guide for 2004. That didnt get us much attention...and cost a pretty penny.

Another idea would be to find target markets you feel your product would do well in and use grass roots advertising.

[Scott]

I am definitely a strong believer min print advertising........it is all about branding. I am revamping some of my advertising budget and two of my main magazines will be Cybersocket and AVN........

I see IBILL on the back of CS all the time...you are definitely doing a great job with your advertising.

(((THIS IS MY OPINION!)))):groovy: :groovy: :groovy:

[NS Reena]

Print advertising is an absolute must. I believe that otherwise you run the risk of not reaching a significant and large part of your target audience.

I have to agree with the rest. When it comes to our our gay targeted print advertising, Cybersocket Rocks! It works to get us both the consumers and webmasters and we have noticed a significant increase in our brand recognition purely in relation from our advertising, consistently with them.

As for other publications, we have had success with specialty publications - men, freshmen and unzipped for consumer ads.

[vsballina]

Jason,

Hey babe, oddly enough I just got off the phone with Chad over at AVN and just saw Cybersockets news of how much they raised for charity at the Unity Ball in Vegas.
I think that it is well worth it, if done with the right people in the right places.
This is my input for what it is worth.

Hugs,
tina
xo

[Gary-Alan]

Hey Jay!

I'm not going to expound on venues for print advertising.

I will say is that anytime we have placed ads, had articles appear or press releases included in the trades we have seen a return. Sometimes it's not immediate, in some cases a return was seen over a couple of printings, bit it did come.

Print advertising should always be considered, especially at this point in the evolution of this business

My best,
GA

[BDBionic]

Print advertising, like so many of the other aspects of promoting a site, succeeds or fails on the shoulders of the site owner.
I've seen ads directed towards consumers placed in to industry business publications, ads directed towards webmasters placed in end user publications, ads placed in mags with a readership entirely different from what the person's trying to sell, the wrong region gone after, so on so on.
And then an exasperated "WTF?!" at why the ad campaign didn't produce the desired results.
Whether it's online or in print, the key is to study the audience available through that particular medium and fashion your campain accordingly.
"Well I didn't wanna waste money on developing a new campaign for our ads in that mag. We already had some drawn up for another campaign in a different magazine and so just used those" when the 2 magazines had totally different readerships.
Something like Cybersocket? You know that reader has internet access. You know it's read by industry professionals. Fashion your campaign accordingly and you can see excellent results.
Spec Pub? They have a loyal readership that appreciates quality. They're the "end user" - the porn surfers and buyers. Fashion your campaign accordingly.
Is it a raunchier mag? Regional rag? Specialty/niche zine? Fashion your campaign accordingly.
Cuz it's not only that immediate response you're going for, it's brand recognition, it's familiarizing your audience with your name and product, it can help legitimize your presence, and it can mean generate name recognition for a long time to come even after the campaign has expired.
Do it right, and it'll do you right in return 8)

[Tyler]

I just hooked up with Cybersocket to do some print advertising starting in March so the timing of this positive string could not be better for me :groovy:

[Bec]

While I'm a long way aways from being able to afford that kind of advertising, I have had businesses in the past (brick and mortar)and it was absolutely a boon for "branding" my name/logo.

[Scott]

Originally posted by BDBionic
Print advertising, like so many of the other aspects of promoting a site, succeeds or fails on the shoulders of the site owner.
I've seen ads directed towards consumers placed in to industry business publications, ads directed towards webmasters placed in end user publications, ads placed in mags with a readership entirely different from what the person's trying to sell, the wrong region gone after, so on so on.
And then an exasperated "WTF?!" at why the ad campaign didn't produce the desired results.
Whether it's online or in print, the key is to study the audience available through that particular medium and fashion your campain accordingly.
"Well I didn't wanna waste money on developing a new campaign for our ads in that mag. We already had some drawn up for another campaign in a different magazine and so just used those" when the 2 magazines had totally different readerships.
Something like Cybersocket? You know that reader has internet access. You know it's read by industry professionals. Fashion your campaign accordingly and you can see excellent results.
Spec Pub? They have a loyal readership that appreciates quality. They're the "end user" - the porn surfers and buyers. Fashion your campaign accordingly.
Is it a raunchier mag? Regional rag? Specialty/niche zine? Fashion your campaign accordingly.
Cuz it's not only that immediate response you're going for, it's brand recognition, it's familiarizing your audience with your name and product, it can help legitimize your presence, and it can mean generate name recognition for a long time to come even after the campaign has expired.
Do it right, and it'll do you right in return 8)

YES! THAT TOOOOOOOO!