Cost and Design Options for Magazine Ads

The bottom line: there's lots of detail in this article, but we know you are mostly interested in the bottom line, so an up to date price quote is at the end of this page, and here's a link to our Portfolio where you can see samples of some of our magazine ads.

The good news is that after the initial decisions and setup, the process of placing ads becomes quite easy. Hopefully this document will help you move smoothly through the options available and make getting started with a print advertising campaign as pain–free as possible.

The first decision is with which magazine to advertise, which territory, and whether you would like us to work with the magazine to make the ad run purchase, or if you would like to do this without us as the middleman. If you work directly with the magazine, be sure to ask about any upcoming discounts, or special issues which may focus on your industry as well as ROI information.

Are you going to provide copy? Or will you have us write the copy? What text information will you have consistent to every ad? Usually company name, address, contact information is always included, as well as tag line and/or list of services. The amount of text will dictate much about the ads design as well as size.

The next issue at hand is graphics. We will need your logo in a jpg, ai, gif, psd file with a resolution of 300dpi – attached to an e–mail. We will help you figure this out if you do not know. And then graphics for the ad; your two options are stock or original photographs. We recommend Fotolia or iStock as the price is great and they have a good selection of quality photos. If you search and find an image you like, let us know the stock number and we will take care of purchasing the correct size for you. The downside to stock photos is that you might find them used in other businesses ads, websites, brochures, etc. Mangelsdorf Professional Services is available to take original photos if you are in or near to our territory. Please contact John for information on cost and shoot setup.

To get started on a design style and layout, we will meet with you in person or by phone to discuss:

• If the style of the ad needs to match any branding in place – website, brochures, etc.
• Your business tag line, or mission statement, and it’s goals and focus – care, technology, a particular service, etc.
• To whom you are advertising – your target – families, young professionals, seniors, etc.
• Your contact at the magazine/paper, and the size of ad you have purchased
• Your purpose – simple introduction to your business and/or staff, a special offer, a particular service or technology, etc.
• What it is you hope to achieve with this ad
• What graphics you have prepared, including a logo, and the quality (they need to be 300dpi/print resolution)
• If you intend to run the same ad, or if it will change with different offers, bursts, info, graphics, etc.

Costs 

The initial design meeting takes about an hour ($90). If we are to take photos at this time, the cost will depend upon the size of the shoot. A larger shoot will require both John and Rachel.

If you elect to have us find stock photos for your ad, we spend an hour searching through about a thousand shots, and prep the best five to ten for your review ($90).

The actual work takes one to three hours. This includes prepping graphics, laying out all the text and any emails/phone conversations between us. This may include two different layouts for you to review. ($90–$270.)

Finally, we take fifteen minutes to prep the ad for print, uploading it to the magazine, and following up with the art department to be sure it is received ($22.50).

If you hire us to purchase stock photos, or to work with the magazine to set up your ads run, we do not mark up these purchases. We bill the same amount as we pay these vendors, and only bill you for our time and work.

Once all this initial setup is complete, new ads usually take half to one hour to design and submit ($45.00 to $90.00). The more changes from ad to ad, the longer the redesign.

We hope this is useful information which has saved you time and given you a good idea of expectations. Please contact John with any questions.