1. Why are your ad rates so much lower than other publications?There are three reasons why our ad rates are significantly lower than newspapers and other publications:
First of all, we operate with minimal staff. We do not employ a staff of writers, editors, and photographers like most publications. The tidbits your read in Tidbits every week can be found in nearly 200 Tidbits papers across the United Sates. We all share in the cost of our editorial material and pass the savings on to you.
Secondly, we have a low cost of distribution. We partner with hundreds of businesses throughout the area that see the value of providing their patrons with good, family-friendly reading material. We don’t pay increasing postage rates or have the expense of maintaining mailing lists.
Finally, we operate out of our home office and pass the savings on to our advertisers.
2. How many of your papers are actually picked up each week?Approximately 80% of our papers are picked up each week. We carefully monitor each place that Tidbits is distributed to get the maximum effect for our advertisers. The rate of pick-up is tied directly to the amount of economic activity in the impact area. If the restaurants and other places where we distribute are busy, we see a greater pick-up ratio, and vice-a-versa. Since most of the fun stuff in Tidbits is not time specific, some papers that are left at the end of the week go to our “Second Market.” Hotels and Motels in the area get last week’s papers so visitors have a chance to see your advertising twice!
3. How many people read Tidbits each week?Research has been done by
Tidbits Media, Inc., the parent company over all the Tidbits publications throughout the nation, and the research found that three or more people read each Tidbits paper. In the publishing industry they call this pass-a-long readership.
Tidbits has very high pass-a-long readership because of the nature of our publication. A Tidbits paper could be picked up by a secretary, taken to the office where the boss solves the crossword puzzle on his coffee break, and then he takes it home to his kids to do the word games, who show it to their grandparents because of something interesting they read. This means that in the Peoria area, we have close to 25,000 readers each week.
4. Where do you get Tidbits?The first three or four pages of every Tidbits paper in the nation should carry the same copy each week. It is written by a variety of award winning trivia buffs under contract with Tidbits Media, Inc. in Montgomery, Alabama. Much of the other material in Tidbits comes from King Features Syndicate, Inc., and some of the content we provide ourselves.
5. Can I subscribe to Tidbits and have it mailed to me each week? Unfortunately Tidbits is not a subscriber-based publication even though we get several requests every year from people who want the paper mailed to them.
6. Can I submit a newsworthy press release item to Tidbits and expect to see it published?We will from time-to-time publish press releases we think are of interest to our readers. However, Tidbits is
not a newspaper.
7. Can I have Tidbits distributed in my business?We are especially interested in finding places where people have to sit and wait. If your business has such a place, or has a place where a lot of people gather every week, we would like to talk to you.
8. Can I write a column for your paper?Sorry, our paper doesn’t distribute any information that isn’t distributed and licensed through our parent company. If you want to educate our readership about something related to your business in the confines of your purchased advertising space, you are welcome to do so.
9. If I buy an ad do I have to design the ad myself?We will design an ad for you at no charge. We have access to a professional ad design service that gives us thousands of print advertising ideas. Also, our in-house copywriters and ad-design specialists are ready to help you come up with an ad that stands a good chance of attracting customers to your business.
10. Can I design an ad myself?Yes! Electronic ads may be submitted in a Microsoft friendly format or send logos or other information in a JPEG or TIF format.
11. How will I know if my ad works?It is extremely difficult to track the effectiveness of an ad. Even the big-box advertisers have not found a method that provides them with the information they would like to have. Some experts suggest you ask customers how they found your business. This method was tested and found to have some flaws in it. The researchers discovered that people would make up answers to please the people asking the questions so they wouldn’t appear stupid.
12. How long do I have to advertise before I see results?The experts say that an ad has to be seen 7 to 10 times before it begins to make a difference. So make sure you have a long-term advertising strategy.
