The multitude of advertising vehicles available these days has made it difficult for many advertisers to distribute their advertising budgets. From traditional newspaper advertising to interactive web-based advertising, the opportunities for advertisers are endless. A healthy combination of these and other advertising media is ultimately the best approach to a successful campaign. However, lately the nay-sayers of newspaper advertising have started to garner attention. Allow me to refresh your memory on the continued benefits of newspaper advertising.

Newspapers have been gracing the doorsteps of American homes since the early 1700s. That is over 300 years of budding romance between American consumers and their beloved newspapers. Lee Clow, the Chairman & Global Director of TBWA\Worldwide explains that the, "Newspaper is a special medium. It's not urgent, not yesterday or tomorrow but today. Sitting with a newspaper and a cup of coffee in the morning will always be one of the most intimate media experiences there is." The title of this article is "Newspaper Advertising...Benefits Revealed" so... when will the benefits be revealed? I am getting to that! The newspaper has built its reputation as a trusted source of information; this goes for not only its articles but for the advertisements it features as well. Each individual newspaper has guidelines and restrictions that must be met by each advertiser. This is not always the case with the truckload of advertisers that place ads on the web. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous people and companies that are able to post ads on various websites without undergoing any sort of screening. Consumers can continue to feel secure knowing that advertisements that make it to print have been checked out and approved for their benefit.

Another advantage to newspaper advertising is the portable/permanent aspect of a newspaper. A newspaper is very easily toted from home to work, to lunch, back to work and back to home. This allows readers to pick up the paper when it is convenient for them. As far as the permanent feature of the newspaper... let us look at an example. Over a cup of coffee you are perusing the pages of your local paper. You come across an ad for a new product that strikes your fancy. You set the paper aside until later when you have some free time and can research the product. Later that week, you pick up the ad and make a phone call to the company advertising the product. The same product is advertised while you are surfing the web. You bookmark the site in order to return to the site later. However, later that week the ad is seemingly gone from the site. Is it on a rotation? Was the ad pulled? You may never know. This example may be a bit dramatic, however it illustrates the benefit of a tangible ad that someone can revisit and review.

Perhaps the best argument for making the case for newspaper advertising is the "opt-in" feature. The world is full of annoying advertisements (not to say they don't work), TV commercials, pop-up internet ads, spam emails, etc. etc. etc. Newspaper advertisements continue to be an opt-in advertising method. People can decide whether or not they are going to read your newspaper ads. They know the ads are there, alongside the articles they read everyday, and they have the choice. And as it turns out many adults are making the choice to read those ads, because they find them useful. In a 2007 study done by Mediamark, 51% of the adults they interviewed said that they found newspaper advertising "somewhat/very useful." This day and age, people do not want to be bothered. Case and point? DVRs are becoming increasingly popular and allowing people to completely skip over commercials. People are finding a way around commercials, anti-spam filters are finding ways to weed out spam emails, pop-up blockers are eliminating pop-up ads. The list goes on. However, newspaper ads have not become an annoyance, they continue to be a source of useful information for readers of the newspaper.

Advertisers have a difficult decision in distributing their advertising budgets. There is no "right answer" for how or where to spend your money. No advertising plan is going to be right for all advertisers. Each advertiser must test different ads in different mediums in order to find out what will produce results. Newspapers have long been a valued method of advertising to companies and individuals around the world. They offer benefits to advertisers that web based advertising cannot. Newspaper advertising is still working for advertisers that continue to recognize its value. When you are divvying your advertising budget this year; do your research, weigh your options, but don't overlook the value that newspapers have always offered advertisers.