I recently had a person tell me that he stayed from newspaper advertising because “This indicates newspapers are on a downward slide and don’t get viewed like they used too.” Ouch!

As someone in the commercial, that was tough to hear. Luckily, my friends, that isn’t a precise assessment. Newspapers remain a power house in advertising. Not to imply that internet marketing and other technologically driven marketing has not changed the way in which we spend our advertising budget. However, many marketing plans are seriously lacking by leaving out newspaper advertising all together.

With a huge selection of television channels, tens and thousands of magazines and an incredible number of web sites, channel proliferation has definitely changed the way in which advertisements are presented. With the endless level of “opt-out” solutions to viewers, including, DVRs, commercial-free satellite radio, pool result  national “do not call” lists, web firewalls and blockers, etc., having your advertisements viewed has changed into a bigger challenge than ever before. Newspapers however remain an “opt in” medium, a location where consumers actively search for advertisements as opposed to avoid them. Newspaper advertising remains a destination not a distraction. Actually, newspapers were the past place consumers would choose to get rid of advertising, according to Yankelovich Research, 2004.

Based on NAA’s (Newspaper Associate of America) Business Analysis & Research Department, 48% of adults read a newspaper on the average weekday. That number increases to 54% on the average Sunday. Actually in a MORI study of “How America Shops & Spends,” newspaper ads ranked highest as the type of ad that consumers enjoy reading. When is the past time you heard someone claim that in regards to a Pop-Up ad?

Not only do consumers actively look for and enjoy ads in the newspaper, they actually trust them more. Because of the established history of newspapers, people often trust newspapers a lot more than any advertising medium. Gaining the trust of a newspapers’ audience can produce awesome results, especially given the caliber of the audience.

No other media can deliver the prospects a newspaper can. Newspaper readership increases as both household income and education levels increase. Based on Scarborough Research, 2007 Release 2 (Top 50 Market Report), newspaper readership is greatest in occupations with more job responsibility, such as for example Management, Business, and Financial Operations.

Newspapers provide experience of consumers that advertisers want to attain; individuals with higher incomes, higher education and those that are ready to buy. Newspapers are constantly impacting buying decisions and product usage. They have proved to remain steady in a changing world, and have earned their status because the premier medium for advertisers.