Most entrepreneurs find it worthwhile to explore the possibility of magazine advertising. The upside of magazine advertising can be summed up in one word: Image. While some advertising mediums (e.g. direct mail and newspapers) limit your ability to utilize high-quality images to sell your product, with magazines the sky is the limit.

Magazines allow for more complex layouts than newspapers and other more basic print alternatives. Even more, they provide you with the ability to showcase your product in a full-color, glossy format. This gives your product a more polished feel and boosts your company's credibility in the eyes of consumers.

Another frequently overlooked upside of magazine advertising is that unlike other advertising mediums, magazines make it easy for you to target specific market demographics. Most magazines have a very specific readership based on factors such as interests, age, and gender. By leveraging readership demographics, you instantly ensure that your message is being seen by the right people - the ones most likely to buy your product.

The biggest downside of magazine advertising is - you guessed it - cost. Magazine ads are significantly more expensive than print ads in newspapers. However, smaller businesses can control costs by specifying the size of the ad. Most magazines offer space ranging from a full-page ad down to a quarter-page ad or smaller. But even so, dollar for dollar your costs will be higher, primarily because it is more expensive to print in a full-color, glossy format.

Some other factors to consider are ad frequency and production lead time. The lead time to place an ad in your local newspaper is usually no more than a few days. Magazines, on the other hand, often require a lead time anywhere from 1-6 months. And once the ad is in place, it will only appear once a month compared to a newspaper where it can appear every single day.

You can save money if you know in advance how many times you want your ad to appear in a given magazine. The more ads you place, the less expensive each ad will be.

The decision to pursue magazine advertising should not be made without carefully analyzing the costs and benefits. However, if you do decide to advertise your product in a magazine, spend the extra money to hire a professional for the design work. Nothing is more disappointing than spending big bucks to place an ad in a magazine only to have it fail because it didn't catch the reader's eye. Professionals have the technology and the know-how to get your point across in a way that is eye-catching and effective.