Making Space Ads Work

Over the years, catalogers have been dependent on rented lists to acquire new buyers and to grow their housefiles. The technique works, but its potential is limited to previous buyers from other catalogs.

There is another cost-effective customer acquisition method to consider: space advertising. With space ads, even fractional page ads, you can tap into new market segments. You’ll increase your prospecting universe by going beyond the typical rented lists of proven mail order buyers.

Making space advertising work is difficult. Ad space is expensive, “catalog corners” don’t always deliver, and black and white ads are often overlooked. While this method of prospecting has changed drastically over the past 10 years, there are still plenty of opportunities to make space advertising work for you.

Sell the Product or Sell the Catalog?

There are two types of space ads: “selling” ads and inquiry-generating ads. A selling ad features one or more items that can be ordered directly. An inquiry ad is designed to generate inquiries for your catalog—commonly called the “two step” approach to customer acquisition.

I believe selling ads have their downside if you have a full line of products to offer for sale. First of all, it’s impossible to select one or two items that are typical of your entire merchandise selection. What’s more, it’s dangerous to advertise only one product, especially where readers represent a wide variety of interests. From my experience, you are much better off using the two-step approach. Broaden the appeal by advertising your catalog in your ads and the inquiries will flow! Product ads are generally more expensive since they require more space than catalog-request ads, which typically can be just one-twelfth to one-sixth of a page in size to be effective.

While product ads can help qualify the leads, they may also reduce the number of inquiries you receive.