Which newspaper to advertise in, in Cork City?

cate3may

Hello,
I hope I'm not breaching any site rules putting this up but looking for a general opinion.
I want to advertise a new business in the City for september, so looking to place a number of ads in Cork papers such as The Echo, The Cork News, The Cork Independent etc..

All have various prices of course and for a certain budget you get very different return depending on the paper.... my issue is which is the one most read by people in the city? The free ones or the one you buy like the Echo...
Are you more likely to take notice of an ad in a free paper or the bought one....
I'm trying to figure out whether 2 ads placed in the paper read by a lot of people or a whole dose of ads in a free paper but no one might see them...

I am aiming at the age group of parents with children in primary schools

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Cate

Ludo

What about primary times south edition maybe. Free quarterly which comes home in kids school bags. The wife always scan through it. Neither of us read any of the others you mentioned.
Maybe check them out at www.primarytimes.ie

Summer edition came today so I assume there will be another in the autumn.

evilivor

cate3may wrote: »

Hello,
I hope I'm not breaching any site rules putting this up but looking for a general opinion.
I want to advertise a new business in the City for september, so looking to place a number of ads in Cork papers such as The Echo, The Cork News, The Cork Independent etc..

All have various prices of course and for a certain budget you get very different return depending on the paper.... my issue is which is the one most read by people in the city? The free ones or the one you buy like the Echo...
Are you more likely to take notice of an ad in a free paper or the bought one....
I'm trying to figure out whether 2 ads placed in the paper read by a lot of people or a whole dose of ads in a free paper but no one might see them...

I am aiming at the age group of parents with children in primary schools

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Cate

Use an advertising agency - they will do the legwork, design, placing and get a better rate and position than you can negotiate - it's their area of expertise and they deal with media all day long.

They will also advise on how you reach your target market/demographic in print, radio, online or even a leafleting campaign - the have the data - you can get it yourself by contacting all of the papers but even then it requires interpretation.

If you don't know what you are doing in advertising you might as well just throw the money away - hire an expert.


(I don't work in advertising btw)

Milly33

I would read the free ones more as they are more local and more or less have the same information on them. Cork News, Cork Independant, Douglas Post all those ones..Pink pages in the echo might be worth a shot if your on a tight budget..

Milly33

just a thought aswell I know the adds can be quite pricey.Might be worth a shot seeing how much it is for leaflet distruibuits instead

MrFrisp

Milly33 wrote: »

I would read the free ones more as they are more local and more or less have the same information on them. Cork News, Cork Independant, Douglas Post all those ones..Pink pages in the echo might be worth a shot if your on a tight budget..

Pink Pages don't work out cheap for a business.

My Wife was going to advertise with them,,but they are more or less the same rates as they charge for the Evening Echo.

And that is not cheap.

To be honest,,from what We worked out,,no print advertising can be classed as "Cheap".

The 96FM Business Guide charges about €200 for the year..Not sure how much of a return you would get from that though.

There is also a new one out there....It's called Chooseme.ie .

Once again though,not sure of the cost,,or return for it.
.

Bannasidhe

OH has been fighting with her Dublin based boss over advertising in Cork for years - he insists on using the 'free' papers like the Cork Independent rather than the Echo. Two weeks ago she got him to agree to put an ad in the Echo and she says sales have doubled since.
I know that most of my family get the Echo every day but rarely pick up the freebies.

Have you considered radio OP?

MrFrisp

Bannasidhe wrote: »

OH has been fighting with her Dublin based boss over advertising in Cork for years - he insists on using the 'free' papers like the Cork Independent rather than the Echo. Two weeks ago she got him to agree to put an ad in the Echo and she says sales have doubled since.
I know that most of my family get the Echo every day but rarely pick up the freebies.

Have you considered radio OP?

Doubled? Wow...Well done on that. Hope it continues.
.

Bannasidhe

MrFrisp wrote: »

Doubled? Wow...Well done on that. Hope it continues.
.

Well, they were pretty dead - their main competitor advertises on Radio 1 during Liveline...:(

Hopefully her boss will finally get the message.

Balmed Out

I always find the rate of return for printed media to be very poor and would only ever use the echo if any. All depends on what business youre in but a good website and google adwords campaign is important. I dont even use the golden pages anymore.

blindsider

Balmed Out wrote: »

I always find the rate of return for printed media to be very poor and would only ever use the echo if any. All depends on what business youre in but a good website and google adwords campaign is important. I dont even use the golden pages anymore.

This!

Maybe consider 96FM also - if their rates are reasonable.

cate3may

Thanks for all those replies....
Not sure I have a budget for an ad agency...I do have a website and facebook page..
Must look into radio that's a good point...
Its a service for parents (afterschool), when I had a similar business abroad, I was aiming at the english speaking community and there were a number of organisations that parents used so that made advertising easier....

Any other thoughts are more than welcome!

Bannasidhe

cate3may wrote: »

Thanks for all those replies....
Not sure I have a budget for an ad agency...I do have a website and facebook page..
Must look into radio that's a good point...
Its a service for parents (afterschool), when I had a similar business abroad, I was aiming at the english speaking community and there were a number of organisations that parents used so that made advertising easier....

Any other thoughts are more than welcome!

Have you been in touch with Cork City Childcare Ltd? They are an advisory NGO and should be able to give you some pointers. They would certainly know your market and ways of targeting your advertising.

ssbob

cate3may wrote: »

Thanks for all those replies....
Not sure I have a budget for an ad agency...I do have a website and facebook page..
Must look into radio that's a good point...
Its a service for parents (afterschool), when I had a similar business abroad, I was aiming at the english speaking community and there were a number of organisations that parents used so that made advertising easier....

Any other thoughts are more than welcome!

You've really got to promote this, get on twitter, get as many followers as possible to get your name out there and the same on Facebook.

My mrs is forever on the net at home by day and listens to RED FM on the school drops. Let us know what you decide.

cate3may

ssbob wrote: »

You've really got to promote this, get on twitter, get as many followers as possible to get your name out there and the same on Facebook.

My mrs is forever on the net at home by day and listens to RED FM on the school drops. Let us know what you decide.

Thanks for all those replies.
I have updated the website and am setting up a twitter account, I'm getting signs printed which will be mounted on the car and I'll be driving around Cork before we open.... was going to do some sort of promotion on twitter where if you can post a pic of yourself with the car we'll give a week's free attendance at the service....something like that....

After much research I've gone with a large ad in the Echo wow supplement the week before the Open days, we will open officially on the 28th of August but will open on the 26/27 on a trial basis for families.... 1euro/hour to check it out....

I'm going to put an ad in the Cork news who will be running a special supplement on After School Activities and Services at the end of August, again before we open.

The Cork Indo then also gave me a very good deal on a series of ads...

The Examiner was too expensive for a single ad and what day to you pick!?

Radio sounded good but it is expensive but I was considering it, then a friend pointed out that either people are in the car so can't take down the info if they hear it, or else they are at home when they hear it during the day and so are unlikely to need my service...... maybe I'm wrong...

Someone mentioned there about Cork City Chldcare, they have been great for advice about setting up and very helpful overall. Regarding advertising, they will list you on their site along with all the other services... so that's good as many parents go there to get their info.

I need to start pushing the site with google ads next, and get a handle on twitter!

Will let you know mid september if it all works!!

Thanks!
Cate

MrFrisp

Lot of work done..Well done Cate.

Best of luck with it,,and looking forward to the updates.
.

Ludo

Out of curiosity, what exactly is the service? Basic after school child care or something more?

cate3may

MrFrisp wrote: »

Lot of work done..Well done Cate.

Best of luck with it,,and looking forward to the updates.
.

Thanks! :-)

cate3may

Ludo wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what exactly is the service? Basic after school child care or something more?

Hi Ludo
Its going to be After School Service where we do the children's homework with them (I'm a qualified primary school teacher) then activities such as Drama, art and craft and science. We will also be teaching languages. Children will have homework time, snack and playtime and then choose from different activities on different days. You can sign up for a day a week or 2 days or a full week and if you do, there are discounts.

if you want to take a look at the website its www.bilingualconnection.ie and then click on Irish students...

Hope that answers your questions...feel free to ask if you have any others.

Cate

Loire

Hi Cate,

I think you could be onto a winner with that idea. As a parent of a school-going child with both parents working this would certainly be something we would consider ourselves. Can I just make a suggestion though - I would go with a new website just for this rather that using your current one..your current site probably won't show up in Google searches for childcare as the content is more for french students etc - there's a web design forum on boards and they may be able to help you better than I can .For a few hundred euro (maybe 600?) you should get a really nice-looking Wordpress site. I don't work in this area myself but can pass on the details of someone I used in Cork recently if that's any good.

If the budget doesn't suit then I would rename the current link on your site "Irish Students Details Here!" to "After School Service" as the current link (to me anyway) looks like something for Irish students wishing to travel to France!

Again, great idea & best of luck!

Loire

cate3may

Hi Loire
Thanks for that, always appreciate parents with suggestions! :-)

I just changed that title there now and you're right that's clearer. as I had the site up and running for the last 2 years with the french aspect I thought it would be easier to keep the same site (and wanted to spend the money on advertising), I've been trying to reorganise the layout of the site which is a bit messy at the moment to be honest, its a friend in France doing it so its harder to get the changes done. But I think maybe a new separate site would be better.....

If you do have a contact that would be great.

Thanks!
Cate

Loire

Hi Cate,

Just sent you a PM.

Loire.

cate3may

Thanks Loire!

got the pm and the message through the website!
i'll check those guys out tomorrow

I've also sent my guy a mail to see about separating the sites...

Maybe see you for the open days! :-)

Cate