Newspaper, radio and other forms of traditional advertising can be fantastic ways to advertise a local business. If you get your advertising message right, you’ll send streams of new customers through your doors. Getting it right is tricky, however; and experimentation is expensive.

This guide will help you make sure you get the best bang for your buck with your traditional advertising dollars.

==> The Most Important Thing: Your Message

The most important thing to nail down before you do anything else is your message.

You want to position your brand and your message as both unique and useful. What sets you apart from everybody else? What problem can you solve better than anyone else?

Once you get started with a message, you want to push it hard. Try not to flip-flop once you’ve started branding yourself.

==> Producing a Brilliant Ad

The production of the ad itself is a big determinant in success. A well designed and well executed ad will catch attention and carry your message across in a believable way. A poor ad won’t catch attention, or will just entertain and not sell.

You can either produce the ad yourself or hire an outside firm to do it for you. If you don’t have any of the skills necessary, you’re probably better off hiring an outsider.

If you have copywriting and design skills, the jump to creating newspaper ads is small. Likewise, if you have sales experience and sound good on the mic, then recording your own voice could be a valid option or radio.

==> Where to Buy Traditional Advertising

You have two main options for purchasing advertising: You can go through a media buying agency or you can buy directly from the places you’re advertising.

Keep in mind that often times the cost for both of these is the same. The media agency gets a commission from the places you advertise, so the cost to you is zero or very small.

Buying direct might be slightly cheaper, but you’ll have a much harder time finding the perfect place to place your ads. For example, unless you know every radio station and their demographics by heart, you’re going to have a difficult time targeting your audience.

Newspapers are different – you can generally just pick one or two papers to test your market and ad in.

==> Branding versus Direct Response

When you’re doing newspaper, radio or television advertising, it’s important to set your goals early on for either branding or direct response. Both types of advertising styles are very different.

Direct response’s goal is to make all the money back from the advertisement immediately. You track every sale back to the ad that generated it. If you don’t make a positive ROI, you cut the ad.

Branding works differently. You select the demographic you’re targeting and the message you want to project, then keep advertising until your brand is established in that market.

Creating a successful traditional media campaign is all about matching the right moving pieces together. You need to choose the right advertising style, the right message, the right media and the right target market. If you get it all right, your campaign could easily skyrocket your business to the next level.