Pros and cons with advertising on a niche magazine and publication
While there are businesses who make products aimed at a wide audience, there are many more who fall into what is best described as a niche category. Those businesses tend to have a very devoted customer base. However, finding those customers can be a challenge. Niche businesses really need to be careful with their advertising budget because it’s important to spend a limited budget in places where a good return is all but guaranteed. Niche magazines and online publications are certainly one way to go, so let’s look at the potential pros and cons of this type of advertising.
Reach a highly targeted audience
The people who purchase or subscribe to niche publications do so with the express purpose of learning and exploring more about the specific subject that they are interested in. This includes looking for businesses who can supply them with the products they need to furnish their hobby or interest. Rather than hoping to find people interested in your ads, niche magazines deliver people who already share the same passion and are willing to spend.
Benefit local businesses
In many cases, niche businesses tend to be smaller in scale, which means that they very often operate locally, as opposed to doing business on a global scale. Niche publications also operate in the same way in that they have local subscribers, which is great news for those businesses looking for customers close to home.
Have higher ad rates
You might reason that a smaller niche publication may offer lower ad rates than larger generic sites because of a smaller reach. However, that might not be the case because of the highly targeted audience. If you are looking to run ads in niche publications, you can expect to pay higher ad rates, but that may not necessarily be a bad thing. As we already explained, you will be getting access to a highly targeted audience, which in turn means that you should still experience a very positive ROI, perhaps even better than going with a generic publication.
Build a direct relationship with the publisher
Marketing might be a number business, especially without the face to face meetings of the online world, but that is different when it comes to niche publications. In many cases, you will be able to develop a direct business relationship with the publisher, a relationship that almost always benefits both parties. The longer you advertise with the publication, which assumes you found a good fit and are seeing positive results, the more likely it is that you will begin to get better ad rates and deals.
Offer limited audience and exposure
The biggest downside in going with a niche publication is that you are not going to get a great deal of exposure with your ads, which means reaching a limited audience. If you are fine with staying local then this is the perfect way to go. However,
ad serving on niche publications alone is not recommended for businesses looking to expand rapidly and rush in a wealth of new customers. It’s always a good idea to combine multiple channels and sources for your ads and to talk to publishers about their reach and results of previous ad campaigns that they have hosted before.
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