Restaurant Marketing: Are Print Ads Worth the Money?

By Justin Moreau

If I don't have a great location, I need to advertise locally. Are local print ads worth the money?

A great location, while expensive, may actually save you time and money on advertising your restaurant over time. The extra money you spend on a lease with a great location may replace the money you would otherwise have to spend on marketing campaigns. That also doesn't take into account the time you put into marketing (instead of running) your restaurant, nor does it account for the time spent dealing with ad sales reps. Nor does it account for the inevitable fact that some of those ad campaigns - while they cost you money - won't work at all and will bring you zero additional dollars in revenue. So how can you leverage local print ads to advertise your local restaurant?

Dealing with a bad location for your restaurant isn't an insurmountable task, but it will require significant marketing efforts.

How to Use Print Ads to Market My Restaurant

The first and most-obvious issue when marketing your restaurant - however you choose to market it - is to make sure your food is great. Your food has to be good enough to make it worth a little more effort for your customers to come to you instead of taking the easy route to the more conveniently located restaurants. But making great food should be the easy part, otherwise you wouldn't be in this business in the first place. So, how do you market your restaurant using print ads and is it ever worth the money?

Are Local Print Ads Worth the Money for My Restaurant?

To be brutally honest, local print ads for restaurants are not usually worth the money, although there are some exceptions. Print ad sales reps will sell you on "circulation" (the total number of magazines, newspapers, publications they print), then they'll bloat that number by backing it with an even more-bloated number called "reach." They'll tell you that their circulation is X, but their "reach" is about 2.5 times that with the justification that, for every magazine or newspaper that gets picked up, 2-3 people in the household, office, etc. actually read it. This is a load of crap... sorry to you ad sales reps out there. For every magazine in a waiting room that gets seen by 10 people, there are probably 100 or more copies that get tossed straight into the recycle bin in someone's home. Nevertheless, you can advertise your restaurant in local print ads without getting burned. You just have to know what to look for in terms of cost.

When Local Print Ads Are Worth the Money

If a local publication has a decent circulation (and if it doesn't look like it was printed in someone's living room on an inkjet printer), make sure they have a section in their publication that is dedicated to local dining. If the circulation of the publication is decent enough, local readers will know that magazine has a dining section to help them find new ideas on what local restaurants to try out. Local newspapers often have a weekly insert dedicated to local restaurants, clubs, concerts, movies, etc., so that's where you want to advertise more than anywhere else when it comes to marketing your restaurant in print. Also make sure that the majority of the readers of that publication live somewhat nearby your restaurant. If their readers aren't within 2-3 miles of you restaurant, you may want to stay away.

What to Spend on a Print Ad for my Restaurant

Ask the ad sales rep what the "CPM" is of their ads. "CPM" means Cost Per Thousand (the Roman numeral for 1,000 is "M"). CPM is the amount of money you spend on your ad per thousand people who read the magazine.

If the sales rep doesn't know the CPM, that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't advertise in that magazine. It may just mean that he's the latest sales guy in the revolving door of turnover that is the sales industry. If he can't tell you, do yourself (and the sales guy) a favor and calculate it out right there in front of him. Here's how:

How to Calculate the CPM of a Print Ad

CPM = Cost of the Ad x 1,000
                  Circulation

Take the cost of the print ad and multiply it by 1,000. Then, take that number and divide it by the total circulation of the magazine or newspaper. This will give you the CPM.

Example: a magazine has a circulation of 10,000; they're charging $600 for a half-page ad:

1. $600 x 1,000 = 600,000
2. 600,000 divided by 10,000 (circulation) = 60
3. CPM = $60
4. You will pay $60 for every 1,000 printed copies of that magazine.
   
   

What should I be willing to pay for a print ad in terms of CPM?

Typically, we recommend you keep the CPM at or near $50, but certainly under $100. Of course, there's no harm in an ad that has a CPM of well under $50, either, but that is often a sign that the publisher doesn't know how to price their ads properly, or they can't accurately trace their readership levels (readership is different than circulation: not all magazines get read - some get tossed directly into the recycle bin without ever being looked at).

Again, we don't necessarily recommend advertising your local restaurant in print, but if you do, make sure you keep track of any increase in business while the print ads are running.

If you still can't pull the trigger on print ads, we don't blame you at all. You can also check out our other Restaurant Marketing Blogs on Local TV Advertising for Restaurants, Why Coupons Suck, and Online Advertising for Restaurants.