Have you ever heard someone say ‘It must be true!I saw it in print!’ Just one good article in a decent magazine can do more for the marketing destiny of your product than several back-to-back ad campaigns.
Why is this true? Because America loves magazines. Just look at the numbers. According to Oxford Communications, there were a whopping 22,106 magazines in some 308 categories in 2006. This shows that there are at a minimum 310 categories that are of great interest to the residents of the United States of America.
Are We Becoming Desensitized to Advertising?
Marsha Friedman, CEO of EMSI, a national public relations firm that specializes in obtaining media attention for their clients says, ” In virtually all of those 22,106 magazines, there were both ads and articles.” It’s true, many readers do respond to these ads, mainly because they relate to the content of the magazine. The big problem with advertising is that people are overloaded, they can’t keep their attention on any one thing for too long. Fordham University recently did a study on advertising!here is their findings:
Advertising is the most pervasive element of the marketing mix: the average family in America of four is exposed to 1,500 advertising messages and a daily basis !’
Wow. Marsha Friedman adds, “Every day, each of us see anywhere from 300-400 ads a day, like it or not. And because, most of the time, we don’t like it, our wonderful brains screen this promotional onslaught to, essentially, safeguard our sanity. So although we may be exposed to 300 to 400 ads a day, we literally don’t ’see’ many of them at all.”
Now articles are another matter altogether.
Marsha Friedman adds, “Subscribers to those 22,106 magazines are hungry for information on their favorite subjects, so the articles there (unlike all those ads) are actually welcome. In these cases the audience is more accepting as the magazine is an “old trusted friend.” This definitely gives you the upper hand.”
”Here is a terrific example of the power of articles”, says Friedman. “In the very early days of my career, I worked as the director of sales and marketing for a money manager. I generated leads and brought in big money clients.”
”A journalist from The Robb Report contacted me one day about doing a show on money managers, like my boss. While the reporter was interviewing my boss, my boss told him in passing that he was living in the 90210 Zip Code (when the show of the same name was at its zenith of popularity) had a flashy car, and a famous actress as his wife. That apparently was enough to land a lengthy feature story inside the magazine with his picture (alongside his Mercedes) plastered on the magazine cover!”
Friedman continues, “And then the story came out. The phones were ringing off of the hook! The orders just flooded in!” It was amazing how we went from 20 to 50 million dollars in such an amazingly short time!”
Now the question you could pose would be would advertising give this same result? When it comes to advertising, article do have the power to give your promotion a much more quality punch! If you would like to learn more about gaining media attention for your company, product or service, without the financial burden of monthly retainers, Marsha Friedman is available to be of service . Feel free to contact her directly at mfriedman@emsincorporated.com or visit her firm online at http://www.emsincorporated.com. As a public relations expert Marsha Friedman has the ability to get the media attention that you desire without monthly retainers .
Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on public relations for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to receive her free Ebook “How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest” visit http://www.emsincorporated.com.
- Marsha Friedman
Highlights 
April 25th, 2008 