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2012 Advertising Outlook

The January issue of DM News (Direct Marketing News) had some interesting commentary about the advertising outlook for 2012.

They note that overall advertising expenditures are expected to outpace the US economy this year.

They also proclaim that online ads are expected to thrive in 2012, growing 11.2% to lead all forms of advertising. (This stat was shared by Stuart Elliott of The New York Times, citing Vincent Letang, executive VP and director for global forecasting at the MagnaGlobal unit of Mediabrands.)

This is good news. Advertising today paves the road for sales tomorrow. The overall economy will surely follow.

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Twelve Facts About Magazines

The following is from the 2010/11 MPA Magazine Handbook:

Magazine audiences are growing – and young adults read heavily: The number of magazine readers has grown more than 4% over the past five years. Ninety-three percent of adults overall and 96% of adults under age 35 read magazines.

  1. Magazine audiences are expanding across platforms: The number of magazine websites and mobile apps is increasing; e-readers are projected to grow rapidly – and consumers want to see magazine content on them.
  2. Magazine advertising gets consumers to act: More than half of all readers (56%) act on magazine ads. Plus, action-taking has increased 10% in the last five years.
  3. Magazines improve advertising ROI: Analysis of client-commissioned cross-media accountability studies found that magazines most consistently generate a favorable cost-per-impact throughout the purchase funnel.
  4. Magazines contribute most throughout the purchase funnel: Magazines are the most consistent performer in the purchase funnel, with particular strength in the key stages of brand favorability and purchase intent
  5. Magazines build buzz: Magazine readers are more likely than users of other media to influence friends and family on products across a variety of categories. Magazines complement the web in reaching social networkers, whom marketers increasingly favor to generate word-of-mouth.
  6. Magazines spur web traffic and search: Magazines lead other media in influencing consumers to start a search for merchandize online, ranking at or near the top by gender as well as across all age groups. Also, magazine ads boost web traffic, and magazine readers are more likely than non-readers to buy online.
  7. Magazines prompt mobile action-taking: Magazine readers are most likely to use a text message to respond to an ad and redeem a mobile coupon versus other media. Plus, magazines rank high in generating other mobile action.
  8. Magazines and magazine ads garner the most attention: When consumers read magazines they are much less likely to engage with other media or to take part in non-media activities compared to the users of TV, radio, or the internet.
  9. Magazine advertising is valuable content: Consumers are more likely to have a positive attitude toward advertising in magazines compared to other media.
  10. Magazines supply credibility: Multiple sources show that consumers trust ads in magazines.
  11. Magazines deliver reach: Across major demographic groups, the top 25 magazines deliver considerably more rating points than the top 25 primetime TV shows.
  12. Magazine audiences accumulate faster than you think: More than three-quarters of readers read their copy within the first three days. The average monthly magazine accumulates approximately 60% of its audience within a month’s time, and the average weekly magazine accumulates nearly 80% of its audience in two weeks.
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How The Yellow Pages Are Changing

It’s that time of year when the new phone books come out in our area; I have three observations:

First, for one of the books, this year’s installment contains no residential section, just a business listing section and the yellow pages. On the cover, there’s an unobtrusive instruction to go to their Web site for residential listings.

That seems strange. They need people to use their book to give value to the advertisements that appear in it, yet they give people one more reason to not use it. True, the residential white pages generate very little revenue and are an added expense, so for the short-term, it seems like a no-brainer to eliminate them. But for the long term, they are doing themselves harm.

The second thing is that the two major books used to both be issued in August. A few years ago, one of them moved up their distribution to July. This serves to distinguish them from their main competition, but I’m not sure if it’s better to first the first book out or the last. One thought is the first book out will be used, while the second book is discarded as unneeded. The alternate school of thought is that when each new book comes out, the existing one — regardless of the provider — is tossed in favor of the new one. With this perspective, the first book would be used for one month and then replaced with the second book, which would be used for eleven months.

The third item is that there is a third book in our market, provided by the local phone company. It is small and inconsequential; it is generally disregarded. With the Yellow Pages not being as useful or as often used as in the past, there is no point in even considering a market’s number three book; even the second book (with no residential listings) has decreasing value.