Magazine Ad Effectiveness. Proven tips on how to improve the effectiveness of magazine print advertising.
Advertising tips and suggestions for how to improve the effectiveness of magazine print advertising.

“…print advertising has been found to be the strongest medium in terms of helping [consumers] be aware of a new… product or what the product looks like on the shelf.” — The Association of Magazine Media
With more and more products currently becoming available in the craft market, it becomes very important to uncover all the ways to get the most out of your print advertising and reach consumers with your message.
There are numerous details to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of a print message. Ad size,
Many advertisers consider placement a significant factor in the success of a print message.
However, according to the authors of the MPA Handbook;
“Print ads must stand on their own, communicate the advertisers’ objectives and support the marketing strategy. Then they will be effective no matter where they are placed.“
While the placement of your ad in a magazine is not the most significant deciding factor in its effectiveness, other factors like
So how can an advertiser tell if they have the most effective combination?
You may already feel you have a magazine ad that’s working for you, but some of the suggestions listed here may improve your ad’s effectiveness.
How to Increase Your Magazine Ad Effectiveness
Use of Color
If you are running a black & white ad and want to improve your ad’s effectiveness, try adding
A
If four-color is out of your budget, try adding a second color to your current black & white ad.
“The response to my advertising more than doubled when I added a second color to my ad.” — Mike Taylor, Columbus Washboard Company
Magazine Ad Size and Shape
- Three single-page ads following each other on the right side
- Two-single page ads in different sections of the same magazine on the right side
- Double-page spread
- Single-page ads on right
- Single-page ads on left with strip on right
- Single-page ads on left
- Checkerboard ads on right
- Checkerboard ads on left
- Half-page ad, upper right
- Half-page ad, lower right
Magazine Ad Placement
For example, ads opposite the Table of Contents earn higher effectiveness scores than comparable run-of-book ads. In fact, according to Starch Research, they score 25% higher.
As well, cover placement seems to be one of the more significant placement issues that actually affect readership.
Ads on the second cover had the highest average scores with the greatest increases over run-of-book pages (29%).
Ads on the third cover, however, had only a 6% advantage over inside pages while fourth cover ads were 22% higher than those ads inside the magazine.
Contrary to public belief, ads opposite editorials do not perform any better than the norm.
In addition, right-hand page ads versus left-hand page ads showed no difference in ad effectiveness scores.4
1. NEW EQUIPMENT DIGEST Magazine’s, “An Investor’s Guide To High Yield Advertising”
2. “Color vs. black- and- white effects on learning, opinion, and attention” Natan Katzman and James Nyenhuis, AV Communication Review, Vol. 20(1), 1972, 16-28.
3. Cahners Advertising Performance Studies
4. Starch Tested Copy (Vol. 1, No. 6 May 1981)
Conclusion
Consider some of the above-mentioned points when planning your advertising campaign and remember, most important is the ad itself.
Even if you’re satisfied with your ad’s effectiveness, there are still ways to increase the performance of your print message.
It’s wise to invest the time and money to design print ads to give you the results you seek because the right combination can make all the difference in delivering more sales.
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