Magazine Advertising with Attention-Grabbing Inserts, Tip-ons and Covermounts

On-the-page magazine advertising can be a very expensive way to publicize your products and services, particularly if you don’t buy your space wisely and end up in the “graveyard” which many readers simply pass over. It is vitally important that your magazine advertising captures the reader’s attention and amongst the best ways of doing this are with well-placed bound in inserts, tip-ons and covermounts. Better still if the inserts are attention-grabbing in their own right. However, for the uninitiated, perhaps we better explain what each term means and also describe some likely candidates. Let’s start with bound-in inserts.

Bound-In Inserts – easy to find magazine advertising

Bound-in inserts are, just as they sound, inserts that are bound into the magazine. They are fastened into the spine when the magazine is manufactured – either glued in when the magazine is perfect bound or fastened in with staples if the magazine is stitched. A bound-in insert is usually made of stiff card and one of the beauties of this, from an advertiser’s point of view, is that when someone flicks through the magazine it almost invariably opens at the bound-in insert. Female readers will know this as the ploy has been used for many years by manufacturers of cosmetics and perfumes who often use bound-in inserts in beauty magazines.

Eye-Catching Options as Bound-In Inserts

In B2B magazine advertising it is important to go one step further to make sure that your ad stands out above the rest and that is why we suggest pop-up cards and starburst products in this category. You will find much more information on the individual product pages which you can reach by clicking on the links.

Tip-ons Attract Attention within the Magazine

Tip-ons are another easily-found form of magazine advertising and they attract a lot more attention than an ordinary printed page – particularly if you are clever and inventive when designing your ad. The name “tip-ons” is borrowed from the print industry. If a magazine features a tip-on it means that an item is fastened to a page with a small amount of peelable adhesive.

Unlike a bound-in insert where the insert becomes the page or half-page, tip-ons are added to a printed page which you would buy just like an ordinary advert – only with an extra eye-catching piece added. One of the main reasons for using this method is when the tip-on is not only to catch attention but it is also a call-to-action. If the reader turns the page, the moment might be lost. However, if the reader removes your tip-on, they will come back to it when they have finished reading the magazine.

It is Important That Tip-Ons are Interesting and Reinforce your Message

Once the reader has removed your tip-on it is important that it is strong enough to regain his or her attention. It must be interesting and interactive. A postcard will bring meagre response – you need something much more innovative in B2B magazine advertising. Our suggestions as tip-ons are our dissolving picture product and the fascinating Interloop Mailer, details of which are featured on the individual product pages.

Covermounts need to stand out on the Magazine Cover

A covermount is another product that sounds exactly like its name – an advertising product that is mounted on the cover. You will have seen hundreds of these in the form of CDs and other free gifts and enticements attached to a magazine cover with a peelable adhesive. The idea is that you remove the covermount and it becomes your magazine advert – so it better carry a strong message and be something that the reader will retain for future reference.

Covermounts must have Built-In Reader-Retention

Obviously, it helps if a covermount stands out on a magazine cover but sometimes, production methods can restrict the size and bulk of a covermount and so we have suggested three compact products which are big enough to be noticed but not so big as to take over the entire cover! Also, our knowledge of our products tells us that handy pocket-sized products have a great record for reader-retention – you don’t want your promotion to be thrown away without ever having been read!

We describe each suggestion on its own product page so please click on the links for the Two Pop Box, the Foldilocks card and the Swatch Card to see why these products are so well-suited for use as magazine covermounts.

Loose Inserts really do need to be extra special

The popularity of loose inserts randomly inserted into magazines has been a roller coaster ride. Some advertisers swear by them whilst others have said that response has been poor. We think that like all other advertising – the good stuff works and the bad stuff doesn’t.

There are still magazine readers who tip all loose inserts into the bin and others who look at every single insert – just like there are readers who read all on-page ads whilst others overlook them completely. As most loose inserts seem to be A4 or A5 leaflets then it shouldn’t be hard to pick one of our interactive products to have much more impact.

Budget restrictions usually mean that loose inserts are simple and lightweight

However, loose inserts are usually subject to budget restrictions and the weight and cost of, say, a flicker card would be totally prohibitive whereas a quirky idea like a shaped item such as a door hanger might prove to be a very good and inexpensive idea indeed. Table talkers or Tall Tent cards might be another idea.