Restaurant Advertising in Newspapers May Not Payoff
According to an article published in this week’s Saint Petersburg Times, almost every major newspaper in the state of Florida has lost readers. Most were down 3 to 5 percent. In researching the numbers a little further it appears this is a trend across the country. People are subscribing less, buying fewer papers and generally changing their news gathering habits.
Traditional news publishers are not only concerned about the trend, but spending a lot of money developing ways to adopt new media to counter the loss of readers. Many factors contribute to the declining newspaper sales including;
- Younger readers are more in tune with getting news feeds from the Internet. You can get today’s headlines on everything from palm held computers to cell phones.
- Cable television continues to offer more diverse news offerings. Many cable networks are mixing real news with entertaining clips and even videos and comments from the general public.
- While major papers lose readership, there is no evidence that small neighborhood publishers, offering free newspapers, are facing the same fate. Many publish political and newsworthy items that are not picked up by the major media. They are giving some coverage to broader readership and compete with the subscription based news media.
The issue for restaurants is whether newspaper ads continue to be worthy as the most used source of advertising. The answer is a resounding NO! In fact, newspapers are a waste of resources if you compare other vehicles of obtaining new guests and retaining regulars. Each restaurant owner must evaluate their marketing plan to determine how much newspaper ad time to allocate, if any. When should newspapers be used? The answer isn’t simple, but the trend is clear, your advertising dollars will have to be redirected to media that is gaining popularity. Examples include email, direct mail, neighborhood papers, cable television and the Internet.
If I were opening another restaurant today, I would use the largest newspaper in the area for a thirty day campaign to get broad base coverage and hope the paper would expand the coverage by printing my news releases and their food editor would be aware of our cuisine and opening. Beyond the initial blast of coverage, my shift would be to more consistent and productive ways to communicate my message. Personal contact, trading with advertising partners, email, word of mouth incentives and even hand delivered neighborhood flyers would top my list of advertising media possibilities.
While using short term advertising methods, today’s restaurateur must focus on economical long term communications. The most obvious and is email and direct mail. Nothing is more effective than direct contact with your guests and prospects.
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