Patrick, just read your post and would recommend a website that lists virtually every newspaper in the world. It is comprehensive and has links. You can e-mail me for the address. Also, I work as a newspaper ad executive and can tell you some basics about the advertising in the paper. Most papers charge a flat rate for ad’s in the classified section based on size of the ad, photos included etc. My paper has a circulation of about 7500 and our rate for most classified properties with photo is about $65 per week. Shoppers and Thrifty Nickels are ok but most are direct mail and while the distribution looks nice, most are thrown out as junk mail. The benefit of the newspaper is that it is a product that people are paying for and therefore are more likely to use. Let me know if I can do anything else for you and good luck!
This post is similar to another recent post of mine entitled, “Where to
advertise for city dweller?” But now I need to ask another more
general question and rephrase my original question in light of new research.
First, is there anyone doing “Lonnie Deals” in Maryland? I have located MHPs
in five counties in MD and I will begin visiting park managers to introduce
myself next week. Easy enough. But I am a little overwhelmed about what
papers to use for advertising. My research has shown that there is basically
no advertising for MHs in the local big city papers, namely The Washington
Post and The Baltimore Sun. Also, the commonly suggested Thrifty Nickel
and Penny Saver publications do not have a very strong presence or wide
distribution – if any – in my state as far as I can tell. And I called their
office to confirm this. There are many smaller newspapers that serve the
areas/counties that I plan to market, but I am not familiar with all of these
areas and newspapers since some are 50 miles away from me. (I live in
suburban Kensington, in Montgomery County).
My second and rephrased question is as follows: does anyone in MD know
which papers might be best for advertising MHs – buying, selling, and
financing? I have enough capital to spend on advertising, but I would prefer
to get some idea of which papers would produce calls before I start spending
some of my advertising budget. I plan to ask park managers this same
question, however, I wanted to ask it here first.