I'm considering advertising in magazines such as PC Gamer and PC Format (UK versions), and am just wondering if:

1) Anyone else has tried magazine advertising, particuarly in the UK
2) If you have, how successful has it been?
3) Did you manage to make back the cost of the advertisement?

I gather that these methods are expensive, I've gotten a few numbers out of the magazines to call and will give the people a call next week to find out the rates.

Before I jump in and start advertising, I just need to decide whether or not it will be worth it.

All responses and suggestions appreciated,

James

Originally posted by b0wser
I'm considering advertising in magazines such as PC Gamer and PC Format (UK versions), and am just wondering if:

1) Anyone else has tried magazine advertising, particuarly in the UK
2) If you have, how successful has it been?
3) Did you manage to make back the cost of the advertisement?

I gather that these methods are expensive, I've gotten a few numbers out of the magazines to call and will give the people a call next week to find out the rates.

Before I jump in and start advertising, I just need to decide whether or not it will be worth it.

All responses and suggestions appreciated,

James
I once wanted to look into this, Companies like 1&1 and Fasthosts are the main advertisers in magazines and they offer crazy plans for a real cheap price and people reading them sorta magazines will fall for it.
If you can affoard it then yeah go for it :gthumb:

That kind of advertising should be considered long term branding IMO. Don't expect next day results but it has it's place in any long term branding & marketing campaign if you are serious about it.

If you're considering advertisement on those magazines which have it's shelf life should last at least three to four weeks, that can give your message repeat exposure to the viewers, thus You'll get more time to generate responses.
You should select such magazine for which the consumers/readers usually come back to it and read it repeatedly.

I advertised in .net and many others for several years on a monthly basis. It brings in a return - but nowhere near as fast as you would imagine and it can take some time to recoup your investment.

Having said that - we stopped advertising in magazines two years ago and we still occasionally get leads from the adverts we placed. Many people keep and pass on magazines.

So if you have a budget that you can consider will be a long term investment then go for it - if you are looking for fast growth then you may possibly be dissapointed.

I think its success for the fast growth depends upon the products, service and the target market and the market influencer.

As I have mentioned that the consumers/readers usually come back to it and read it repeatedly, the readers can ignore it possibility in 1st, 2nd or 3rd time but on 4th time it can arouse some curiosity towards your products or services.

I have seen that few people even keep the cutting of an advertisement which appeared either in a newspapers or a magazine for their future references.

Any idea as to how much it generaly costs to advertise in magazines?

Regarding costs... for a small publication - you could get an ad for as little as $1,500-2,500 per issue.

For a larger publication that has strong circulation, you could be talking about much larger numbers - $10,000; $25,000; $50,000 and beyond.

For back cover ads or special inserts or anything else beyond a normal 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 or full page ad - you are also talking extra costs.

Magazine ads are definitely not inexpensive forms of marketing so you'll want to think it through carefully before doing it and also keeping in mind that it may take multiple ads before the marketing really is noticed and starts to pay off.

Originally posted by Netriox
Any idea as to how much it generaly costs to advertise in magazines?


You should calculate the CPM as per the target audience not for the basis of total circulation. Hence the cost will be effective to you.