Newspaper Advertising Question, HELP NEEDED PLEASE!

[Dr Spooktakular]

We're open 8 weekends this season, start the 3rd weekend of Sept. and run through the first weekend of Nov. When placing an ad in a newspaper or web based publication, they usually offer significant discounts in 4 week incriments. What are the 4 most important weeks to advertise to get the most out of your dollar?
Thanks,
Scott

[sophisticatedterror]

I would say the first set of weeks...two weeks before or even one week before and 2 or 3 weeks into when your open...because if you arent getting busy by the time your over halfway over with your season then you are pretty much out of luck....just my two cents..


Kale

[Badger]

Remember to ask yoursef if your target demographic still reads the newspaper. Honestly, I don't know many people under the age of 35 that still take a daily paper. I'm thinking radio/TV/internet is the best way to advertise to that all-important 18-34 age group. Make sure the majority of that advertising in of the online variety.

Just my 2 cents.

[damon carson]

Definately findout how many people the paper reaches. What day the most papers are delievered ect. How many area towns it reaches as well. Plus make sure your add is a coupon. Plus see if they will do a story on your haunt the weekend before Halloween since your spending money with them. News paper can work for you but you have to do your homework! I agree internet and radio is bigger but you may not have the advertising budget for all 3. You got to do what works best for you.
Damon

[FEAR ASYLUM]

you got to advertise in the high school foot ball section man

[Dr Spooktakular]

We're in Texas, these booster clubs and school papers bend you over to advertise.

[HouseOfHorrors]

Honestly in my market and I'd say its pretty safe to say MOST markets... it's just not worth advertising in the newspaper... Your main target audience just doesn't read it. Teenagers are getting all the news they want online... I give $20-30,000 to charity every year and the newspaper even sponsored my event putting real nice ads in for me every week free of charge in Fridays "night life/movie/entertainment" type section with a coupon worth $1 more than my regular coupons burger king, subway, etc were giving out and we still got a very small response. For my pool business I have advertised in the newspaper for YEARS.. doing lots of large 1/4 and 1/2 page ads which yielded great results years ago... That's just not the case anymore.. I pretty much dropped doing newspaper ads a few years ago. Most papers readership is WAAAAAYYYYY down, and alot of newspapers are STILL expensive... I think you could get a better bang for your buck putting that money into a different media.. just my thoughts....

-Tim

[Jim Warfield]

No "Magic"

Newspapers began dieing 20 years ago on the east coast as cable TV took over, then satelliteTV, then on-line web sites, ex cetra.
If you can research your market (not by asking someone trying to sell you ads) as to what's "Hot"?) then make your decision, it might be the most popular radio show, it might be something else.
I have been very fortunate over the years to have my place featured on numerous Tv shows, books, magazine covers, some of the TV shows were shown over and over again all across the country and europe...and yet..I can't tell you how much of all of this actually brought anyone to my door.(And it was all FREE!)
AND, I have been open every night of the year plus most Sat. & Sun. afternoons to be open to take full advantage of such advertising.
There is no be-all, end-all, magic ad or one format that I have ever found.
My efforts at entertaining people are fairly unique by commonly accepted standards though, maybe this had much more impact upon their decision to arrive at my door, needing to hand me their money?

[Dreamreaper]

you got to advertise in the high school foot ball section man

We have had the football announcer's advertise us before during the games also if in the paper it was in the events section.

[Jay Dead]

rag papers

While newspapers are dying out, people still take the free rags you can find on street corners and coffee shops. Advertise where people are gonna look for things to do on the weekend - bands, movies, bars, etc...
and the only real way to track your advertising is with a coupon, 5 bucks off, free gift, buy one get one, whatever.

Jay Dead

[Dr Spooktakular]

Thanks for all the words of wisdom! Overall, if you would advertise in a school paper, local paper, etc... is the consensus to advertise earlier in the season than later?

[chuck weber]

get on your local high school

football schedule/school sports schedule. usually a poster put in local stores and pizza shops as well as in the school. you can buy an ad on it (at least around here) I see them everywhere! newspapers ? really ? Around here that age group dosen't go near a newspaper (teens-25 yr olds) just my opinion from personal experience.... good luck !!!!! could be my area- philly suburbs.

[FEAR ASYLUM]

He's got a point even radio is starting to wither away as most people listen to CDs and mp3s now if you were gonna do newspaper I would suggest in your areas high school football section cause every teen in school gonna look at it just to see there picture money well spent in my opinion sir

[FEAR ASYLUM]

no dont advertise too soon people are like sheep and tend to get lost in the chaos if you were to spend your money early on the news paper add then it would have been long forgotten by the time your event even arrives man i can tell you do it locally and spend about two days on the internet listing it on every local news calendar event listing and special kids programs you can find you will be surprised plus your meta tags will be so hi when people google haunted house in your area you will be among the first to pop up also dont forget about google maps yahoo local bing and all the main hub sites especially haunt world hope this helps