PINPOINT ADVERTISING, by David Margolis, President

There once was a time when businesses could combine their advertising content into a single section of the Sunday newspaper and rely on reader habits to get their messages across. Whether it was their goal to provide important clues about the week’s upcoming buys or to simply gain wider recognition, smaller businesses could successfully align themselves with larger big-box retailers focused on price-point shopping. This mass marketing provided a very cost-effective way for small businesses to piggyback on larger advertisers, all of whom benefitted from readers’ widespread habit of reading the Sunday newspaper. However, habits have changed.

As a result, small business owners shifted their advertising spending to local newspapers. So-called “hyperlocal” newspapers have lower ad rates and personalized service that provide local advertisers with opportunities that they scarcely can find anywhere else. According to the 2012 Local Merchant Report, which provides insight into the motivations of small business owners, nearly half of those interviewed cited the “ability to drive new customers” as the primary reason for advertising hyperlocally. When local businesses and professionals run our syndicated advertising content consistently in their coomunity newspapers, the results are unmatched.