While we do live in a digital age, there are still many people that read the newspaper daily and in some cities and areas newspaper readership is growing even more as people want to take time away from staring at screens to get the latest news while they have their morning coffee. The price of an ad in a local newspaper in Ottawa has declined compared to previous years however it is still pricey for most business owners and let’s face it if you can get a free ad in the paper why not take it!

So how do you get a free ad in the local newspaper in Ottawa, well this can be achieved with an editorial advert. If you are not sure of what that is no worries, as you have likely seen them several times. An editorial advertisement in a newspaper is a story about a business that is followed by an advertisement for that very same company.

Typically what happens is a newspaper will write a half page about your business or organization in exchange for you paying for a half page ad for the remaining space. This is a good deal as you are getting a full page of exposure however for many small businesses this expense may still be out of the budget so getting a free advertisement in your local newspaper is much more appealing in these circumstances.

The secret to getting the free advertising in the local newspaper in this situation is to sell off the other half of the advertising space. Within reason, the newspaper doesn’t really care what is in the other half of the page in terms of the company or offering so you can get the top half of the page written about your company and promoting your business or products and then you can organize the sale of the paid ad space to one or more local companies you work with or know about to cover the cost of the editorial publishing. This way you can get exposure for your business without paying a dime and you will even be helping other businesses out by getting them exposure as well.

To make this method even better it is a good idea to find complimentary businesses that work well with your products or services or even better ones that you make a commission on the sale of their products etc.

With a half page of space you will be able to divide the sale up among 2-3 companies or you can go after just one company to fill the entire half page ad space if they have the budget.

So there you have it, a great way to market your business for free in your local newspaper and this is something you can keep doing throughout the year to keep your business at the forefront of people’s eyeballs that read the newspaper without it costing you anything but some time to organize the sale of the ad space. If you focus on the right “partners” and arrange a yearly contract for four publications for example then you could end up with four editorials about your business throughout the year and the businesses will have ads running every quarter to promote their business.

This is some very effective marketing that any business owner can do and it won’t even cost a cent. Happy advertising and if you need some printed materials to go in the newspaper inserts, we print those as well and we can even ship your custom printed products directly to your local newspaper sorting facility.