All About Inspiration

•  Intentional storytelling opportunities across platforms

•  Creativity and collaboration with a team who shares your audience

•  What kinds of ads inspire you? How do those ads play into editorial content? Consider digital opportunities and advertorial concepts to help tell your story with that pub across digital platforms as well.

•  “Marketplace” ad placement (different size ads that fit well together on a page) are a good option if your budget doesn’t allow for larger ads.

Look for the Perfect Fit

•  Does my brand and its values align with this publication?

•  Is its readership my target demographic?

•  Readers trust the content of the publications they engage with, which is beneficial to marketing partners.

•  Narrow your focus to partners who are good fits for your product/service/business.

•  Most publications want to create meaningful partnerships with their clients and will consider the goals and resources of businesses of all sizes.

•  Be open to a range of options: print ads, digital ads, in-person events

Anatomy of a Great Ad

Your business needs complete branding and visual guidelines prior to developing an advertising media plan.

1. Visual Hierarchy

•  Most ads are read in a “Z” pattern, but some are read in an “F” pattern. 

•  Think about the most important to least important messages and make sure your visual hierarchy reflects those.

2.  Content/Copy

•  Less is more. Consider the “billboard rule” of seven or fewer concise words. Anything that can be cut out, cut it. Do keep in mind industry requirements. 

•  Lean in on your brand messaging.

•  Most high-end ads have little copy. Let your images do the talking. 

•  Headers: The Four U’s: urgent, useful, unique, ultra-specific

– What do you want people to do? Choose one clear call-to-action.

•  Use QR codes and make specific landing pages to track performance.

•  Readers don’t need “www” in front of websites anymore. Feel free to use “@” instead of social icons. Readers know where to look for you.

3. Photography

•  Use images to tell as much of the story as possible.

•  Show, don’t tell.

•  If your logo is in the photography, you may not need to repeat it.

•  In your regional publications where you’re more well-known, you can even consider taking out CTA. Make readers a little curious!

•  Consider running one ad year-round, changing the image with the season.

4. Typography

•  Use 2-3 fonts MAX. Try different weights, styles, and sizes instead of completely different fonts. Different weights can help with visual hierarchy. 

5. Color

•  Use your brand’s colors but take into account the publication’s content. Is it best to do what the other ads to or stand out?

6. Technical Requirements

•  File Types

– Most publications will require “print-ready” PDFs but may accept JPG, TIFF, etc. Avoid PNG if possible. 

– Some publications may even build the ad for you, and you may consider that a discount off the ad buy.

•  Photography

– Most will require 300 dpi (dots per inch). A full page could be 5 MB or more. 

– AI has great image “upscalers” to increase resolution, such as pixelcut.ai and imageupscaler.com.

– Is your ad full bleed (images goes off the side of the page) or bordered? AI also has photo expanders. If sending a full bleed image, include crop marks. – 

Q&A

• Is there a rule of thumb on ad budgets? It varies – 10% for ad and marketing and comm, depends on business.

• Marketing needs to be one of the first thing you think about

• Print ad is a great way to get on the radar of the pubs you want placement in – they see you support their business and may be more likely to open your email; starts relationship/partnership with pub; they see your ads when they open mag too

• Southern Lady is looking to expand demographic, so think about that when making ad; bringing digital social media trends into print. 

• Advertorials don’t have to say “sponsored ad” and can look like editorial content.

• Advocate for yourself always. Ask how editorial content might fit in with your plan. Brands want integrated campaign, and mags are used to that. Look to work with ad reps who are collaborative partners. Put your money where you want to be. Follow the lead of where your local CVB advertises.

• QR code recommendation: The QR Code Generator https://app.the-qrcode-generator.com/