To advertise or not to advertise, that is the question.

We're heading towards the end of the year, the kids are about to break up from school and I am starting to feel the usual rising panic.  Am I ready for the Christmas holidays?  There's so much to do - in the home and at work - it's the usual mix and muddle.  But hey ho, it all gets done in the end.  As it says on my mousemat: 'Keep Calm And Carry On.'

I've started planning next year's issues of Playground.  A big part of my time is spent persuading people to spend money on advertising.  It's well worth planning some advertising spend into the marketing budget, as advertising definitely still has it's place.  PR and the use of constantly evolving social media are all part of the picture too.

A simple, striking, well designed advert in a targeted magazine is a great way to grab attention and is even better when combined with some editorial about your business.  The most successful Playground advertisers keep up their presence. 'One Hit Wonder' adverts can work, but mostly they don't.  The client will have one go, with no or very little response and give up saying: 'Advertising simply doesn't work for me'.  It's also important to remember that it's up to you to convert the advertising response into a customer.  If you are going to advertise, it's worth sticking with it and building up a presence; enlist some help with design and writing copy and perhaps offer a giveaway for a competition.  Playground gets a good response to competitions and the response is is a useful way of ensuring that the magazine is being taken notice of.

How does Playground work?  10,000 copies are delivered to Primary Schools & Prep Schools in the area and most of these schools distribute the magazine through children's bookbags, some schools just have a pile sitting in the reception area.  Copies also go to local pre-schools, nursery schools, sports centres and indoor play centres.  Busy parents, grandparents and carers probably won't have time to read it straightaway, so once home, the magazine hangs around in the kitchen for a few weeks and will hopefully be flicked through and read before it ends up in the recycling bin.  Interesting pages and relevant adverts are ripped out and put aside or pinned to the kitchen notice board for future reference.

Increasing numbers of people are reading Playground online, so links to the online magazine posted to the website, Facebook page and Twitter offer yet more advertising exposure.

I think the answer to my question is another question: can you afford not to advertise?