Syndicated Ad Features

GIVE THEM THE INFORMATION THEY WANT! by David Margolis, President Syndicated Ad Features

2019-04-07T16:52:00.001-04:00

Since the 1970’s, technical advances in computer microminiaturization and the proliferation of the Internet have given birth to the “information age”. As energy and interest shift away from making widgets and toward the dissemination of information, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the written word remains king. After all, what are we using these digital devices for? We Google for consumer information and Bing for travel facts. We want to know how much calcium we should be getting in our diets and how long a hip implant can be expected to last. Is acetaminophen toxic in large doses? If so, how large of a dose poses a risk? What is the single most common cause of low-back pain? What exactly is a cataract? What does LASIK entail? What is the most common wood used for kitchen cabinets? How much life insurance should I have? How many years will a face-lift erase? Can a physical therapist recommend effective prevention and treatment for heel pain?

Readers of our advertising copy know the answers to these questions and thousands of

others that they haven’t yet asked. This certainly is a source of pride for our clients, whom readers regard as experts in their fields. The fact is that Syndicated Ad Features provides its clients with well-researched content related to their specific businesses and professional endeavors, which they then run as their own weekly columns in newspapers. We provide information that readers want. The columns can also be run on our clients’ Internet websites. The media may differ, but all require worthwhile information to keep readers engaged. Much may have changed, since the invention of the printing press, but the need for quality content has remained constant.

HOW DID YOU GET HERE? by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2019-03-25T18:13:00.002-04:00

The Internet is a vast universe that must be knowledgably navigated. Otherwise, it is possible to arrive at a destination by surfing the ‘net and relying on chance. So, unless you can guide someone directly to your business’ website, you are relying on potential customers/patients/clients ability to type just the right search words into their search engines. Your business or profession is too important to leave your Internet advertising to chance.

The key to unlocking your Internet website can be found in your local newspaper. That is where the weekly column provided by Syndicated Ad Features can direct readers to your website.

Does it seem odd that a traditional medium can prove so effective in wringing the most potential from one of the newest? Odd or not, local newspapers draw readers that advertisers value most- local readers, who want goods and services in close proximity.

Local newspaper advertising is also cost effective. It only takes the money needed to purchase a few inches of space to attract reader attention and direct it to the Internet where advertisers are free to provide as much information as they choose. Syndicated Ad Features does its part by putting their clients’ faces and names before readers’ eyes and keeping their attention with timely and interesting copy. If readers want more, advertisers need only direct them to the associated website.

This way, our clients have their cake and eat it, too. For relatively little cost, they attract the readers they want and give them all the information they need.

BIG SPLASH OR CONTINUOUS FLOW? by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2019-03-10T16:38:00.001-04:00

Business owners and professionals should not make the mistake of committing their entire advertising budgets to a few big, splashy ads. Oversized ads may look impressive but, unless they are being used to promote a one-day sale or event, the money may be more effectively spent on smaller ads that run with greater frequency. The goal is to reach the greatest number of people over the longest period of time. This can best be accomplished by regularly placing smaller, eye-catching ads in local papers over an extended period of time. Readers may not respond to even the greatest offer made in a large, splashy ad. The timing may not be right for any of a number of reasons. On the other hand, smaller ads, placed with greater regularity, ensure visibility whenever the reader decides that he or she is ready buy what the advertiser is selling.

What constitutes an eye-catching ad? Few images are more compelling than the picture of

a face. That is why each advertisement placed by our clients features his or her face and name. Next, we provide our clients with a bold headline that introduces interesting and succinct advertising copy related to his or her business, profession or service that changes weekly. In this respect, our clients assume an editorial status that puts them in a category that readers identify with other widely-read syndicated columnists. As such, readers know who our clients are and look forward to reading what they have to say. Isn’t that effective advertising?

TIMING IS EVERYTHING, by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2019-02-24T21:04:00.000-05:00

It is often said that “timing is everything,” and, indeed, it is sometimes the case that chance, desire, and opportunity converge in a single moment. However, it is more often the case that “persistence pays off.” This quote linking success to steadfast effort is likely to have more resonance with professionals and business people because it reflects the reality they know to be true. Sure, it is possible that the driver of a car with an overheating engine will spot a billboard for an auto mechanic at the next exit. But, it is far more probable that vehicle owner will already have an ongoing relationship with an auto technician locally, based upon the technician having established a reputable business and advertising it consistently.

According to the report “How America Shops and Spends,” very few consumers have a need for a particular piece of merchandise (or service) on any given day. Thus, the likelihood that an advertiser is going to appeal to their needs with spot advertisements is very low. Advertising needs to be regular and consistent so that it directly appeals to consumers when they are ready to buy, not just when advertisers are ready to sell. With this in mind, Syndicated Ad Features enlists clients to participate in weekly advertising in local newspapers in a format that is designed to promote trust and familiarity. That way, consumers, patients, and those in need of specific services know where to turn when their needs arise.

A BLACK-AND-WHITE MATTER, by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2019-02-10T20:33:00.001-05:00

Are you old enough to remember when 8-track tapes were all the rage, and you spent more time in your car listening to tapes than sitting in your room enjoying your vinyl records? If not, maybe you are old enough to remember when compact discs were the must-have new technology. These sleek disc, filled with digitalized information unleashed by laser technology, were so cool that they made vinyl records and a scratchy stylus look like antiques! That is, CDs were all the rage until MP3 players came along. Now, no one would be caught dead without an iPod feeding music into their ears and MP3 connectivity in their cars. What’s next? Here’s a hint: I hope you didn’t give all your vinyl records away.

It seems that a growing number of stereophiles prefer a turntable, vinyl records, and tube amplifiers over the newest technology. They make a good case for the fact that vinyl contains more information than digital music and that old amplifiers produce a “warmer” sound that newer technology can’t duplicate. Are they right? Well, try telling that to the average ten- or twenty-year-old. On the other hand, educated music-lovers of all ages are falling all over themselves to get their hands on vinyl.

The point is, the Internet is great. But does that necessarily mean that newspapers are dead? Hardly! Each medium not only has its place in the world of information dissemination and advertising, each can co-exist and supplement, complement, and enhance the other. This “battle of the media” is not necessarily a winner-takes-all matter. In fact, it isn’t even a battle.

Savvy advertisers understand that the best way to reach readers is a multi-pronged strategy that captures eyes every way possible and directs them to where the advertisers want them to go. Whether that means newspaper advertising directs readers to a website or a website points readers to another platform, there are many ways to garner readership and interest.

Syndicated Ad Features supplies its clients with copy worth reading. Where our clients choose to place our content is not necessarily a black-and-white matter as long as it ultimately gets read.

DON’T GET BLOGGED DOWN! by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2019-01-27T20:39:00.001-05:00

Blogs are immediate, fun, and interesting to read. Keeping a running web journal of thoughts, ideas, and information pertaining to your business or profession also invites reader scrutiny and comment, which helps build a bigger consumer/client/patient base. These digital forums are not only cost-effective and easily accessible, but they also help build credibility in the public’s eye. On the other hand, they can be difficult to compose.

Not every business owner or professional has the time, energy, and/or inclination to write and edit a carefully researched piece of interesting copy. It can also be argued that, if you are conducting your business successfully, you should keep doing what you do best and allow others to attend to the advertising, bookkeeping, etc.

That’s where Syndicated Ad Features comes into play. We dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s” on timely and interesting blog content that is carefully selected to be appropriate to your business and appealing to your audience. It is designed to inform readers about your product, service, or field of expertise and increase their awareness about products, ideas, techniques, and procedures pertaining to your line of work.

Let’s face it. Blogs are entertaining to read, but writing quality pieces on a consistent basis can seem a bit more like doing homework than conducting a fun conversation with the cyber audience. Blogs are work. Don’t you have enough to do in your business, practice, or profession without having to write your own advertising? If so, let us do the work for you. If not, you need us more than you might realize.

APPOINTMENT PREFERRED, by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2019-01-13T17:07:00.002-05:00

There is a term in television circles known as "appointment TV." This refers to a viewer's commitment to tune in at the same time (every day or week) to watch a favorite TV show that they would not think of missing. If one does not attach such loyalty to a television show, the term can be widened to encompass other forms of entertainment and pursuits. For instance, many people can't wait to read their favorite newspaper columnist or indulge themselves with the weekly special at a local restaurant. In each case, the public is engaged enough with a particular provider that (s)he wouldn't think of missing the next episode, column, or serving. As an advertiser, what wouldn't you give for such a loyal following?

We at Syndicated Ad Features view our role as something of "star makers" as well. Our goal is to make our clients both instantly recognizable and worthy of reader interest and devotion. By taking our clients' images and pairing them with interesting and informational copy that appears weekly in the local newspaper (and Internet), we create an appealing image and attention-grabbing content that most readers find worthy of their time and interest. As people read our columns week after week, they find themselves learning a great deal about many aspects of our advertisers' services and goods. As a result, our clients often hear that the information in their columns motivated readers to schedule an appointment or to simply "drop by".

NEWS YOU CAN USE by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-12-30T17:20:00.000-05:00

As an advertiser, your credibility and reputation are largely tied to the status of the media in which you choose to make your appeal to the public. As a result, it pays to make your advertising choices thoughtfully. As a local professional and business person, where do you think your investment in time and advertising dollars will best be spent? According to one survey of over 1,100 users of Internet news sites, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they trust community news sites more than mainstream media. It seems that the pages of local weeklies and other community publications are the places to be if you want to be taken seriously.

Another significant benefit of concentrating your advertising in local newspapers is that it attracts the very people to whom you wish to speak. As a general matter, readers of local newspapers are better educated, have higher incomes and have more money to spend. All of these characteristics that retailers and service professionals find so desirable may be attributed to the notion that people in this demographic simply like to read. If so, our clients may take advantage of proper media positioning and readers' thirst for interesting and useful information by putting them in the right place and providing them with the content they believe they need to succeed.

WHO GETS IT RIGHT?, by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-12-16T20:03:00.001-05:00

When a local news story breaks, Internet tweeters may beat traditional print reporters to the punch, but how reliable is their information? The fact is that many of the breaking stories posted by amateur reporters would never get beyond the editor's desk of a local newspaper. Without access to local official channels, amateur Internet providers often rely on unconfirmed reports, unidentified sources and their own ability to piece the story together. On the other hand, local newspapers must adhere to strict journalistic rules when it comes to investigating a story. As a result, the local newspaper and its website are far more likely to get the story right. Which one therefore is more trustworthy?

There is little question that various media battle one another "to get the story first." However, accuracy should not be sacrificed in the name of speed. In this very important respect, local newspapers wait until they can confirm a news story from its source or through official channels before being put out for consumption. As a result, readers know where to turn for verifiable information. This is why it is so important for advertisers to associate with local print media. Syndicated Ad Features works with its clients to place their advertising where it will be noticed, read, and trusted—in the local newspaper, along with all the other news and information that is too important to get wrong.

WHAT MAKES YOU THE EXPERT? by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-12-02T16:07:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, as I watch the myriad of talking heads populating the TV screen from the studios of various news media, I wonder just who these people are. It seems that their mere appearance on television programs with ambiguous titles posted beneath their shoulders provides them with instant credibility. The fact is, viewers are all too willing to unquestioningly believe what they see and hear. As far as I (and many others) am concerned, they best be able to back up what they say.

The same may be said for the type of newspaper advertising we offer. Our advertising is designed with our clients' pictures and bylines to appear as though they are guest

columnists in their local newspapers. As such, readers accept them at face value (pun intended) to be experts in their particular fields. On this basis, they garner reader interest and trust with the goal of cultivating future business. We also back our clients by providing them with verifiable content that assures them that they can be taken at their word.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF? by David Margolis, President

2018-11-18T17:04:00.002-05:00

Now that you are committed to advertising your business or practice, what are you going to say that will attract attention and maintain reader interest? Running the same ad over and over will only lead to reader boredom and a dismissive attitude, and blaring prices may only attract the interest of bargain shoppers who, even if they buy, may not be likely to return. Advertising copy with big block letters amounts to shouting, which readers quickly shut out. So, what is it that you want to say and how do you want to say it? To begin with, you want advertising that gets attention and conveys its message simply, honestly, and believably. Successful advertising promotes business owners and professionals and their business/practice/service and sells their benefits, not their features. In short, you want to speak directly to the specific group you have in mind by providing all the facts that the reader needs. Advertising should be timely. Syndicated Ad Features incorporates each and every one of these qualities into its advertising program.

Each of our ads showcases the advertiser’s picture and byline to promote familiarity, followed by a headline in bold letters against a white background. This invitation to read a short paragraph of informational copy related to the advertiser’s particular business/practice/service remains constant while the content changes weekly. Each advertisement ends with a short customized paragraph providing contact information, hours, and particulars about special services or areas of expertise, followed by a helpful hint.

We do our work expertly so that you can successfully attend to your business.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-11-04T17:06:00.003-05:00

consumers when they are ready to buy, not just when advertisers are ready to sell. With this in mind, Syndicated Ad Features enlists clients to participate in weekly advertising in local newspapers in a format that is designed to promote trust and familiarity. That way, consumers, patients, and those in need of specific services know where to turn when their needs arise.

RECYCLED PAPER by David Margolis, President Syndicated Ad Features

2018-10-21T21:02:00.002-04:00

With a click of the mouse or a touch of the screen, you can instantly summon up Internet images and words that satisfy your need for information and entertainment. Then, with another click, you will probably go on to something else. Are you likely to return to what you saw or read, or will you simply forget it? Either way, an advertiser has just an instant to capture reader interest and arrest it and/or redirect it. It all comes down to content. If unable to present readers with something timely, enlightening, and entertaining, advertisers cannot hope to engage them and provide them with an incentive to purchase their goods and/or use their services.

At Syndicated Ad Features, we provide our clients with the wherewithal to attract and retain readership by placing them in an advertising format that cultivates familiarity and promotes education. We think it is an unbeatable combination. Few things attract attention like the human face, which is why our clients’ pictures appear with each of their columns. In addition, reader attention is further drawn with an eye-catching headline that leads into text designed to educate, entertain, and hold reader interest. Topics and copy change with each ad, which draws readers back each week.

While our form of advertising lends itself to use on the Internet, newspaper advertising has a unique advantage. Most people hold onto their local weeklies until the next edition appears at their door. In the meantime, the newspaper gets read and reread. Papers lie on tabletops and desks opened to pages of interest, exposing subscribers to images that do not fade or disappear in a click. Where is that yard sale this weekend? The answer can be found in the newspaper, along with other news and advertising of local interest. The information continuously gets recycled until the next paper appears. Each time readers pick up the weeklies in their homes, advertisers have the chance to emblazon their images and messages in readers’ minds. That’s paper recycling of a sort we heartily promote.

A BLACK-AND-WHITE MATTER by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-10-07T20:26:00.002-04:00

MAKING A LASTING IMPRESSION by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-09-23T15:26:00.000-04:00

While there is certainly something very romantic about “love at first sight,” we all know that lasting relationships are based on more than mere first impressions. Ask any knowledgeable person in the advertising world about the most important aspect of successful advertising, and he or she is likely to mention “continuity.” When consumers see an advertiser’s face and message on a continual basis, it creates an image in the consumer’s mind and fosters trust.

At the same time, no one wants to see and hear the same thing over and over again.

Continuity should never be confused with repetition. While it certainly can’t hurt an advertiser to place the same exact ad continuously, it helps immeasurably to change the message. Otherwise, consumers’ familiarity may turn to contempt. With this in mind, in addition to presenting our clients with an advertising program that runs weekly for a year or longer, we provide fresh advertising copy for each of our ghost-written columns.

Of course, it would be an easy matter for us to supply content that essentially says the same thing in a different way each week. As clever as that might be, we go about the difficult tasks of researching, writing, and editing a variety of new and different topics for each of our clients’ columns. The shared goal is to present readers with fact-based, non-controversial information that enlightens, educates, and entertains. The better we are able to help our clients inform potential consumers about their products and services, the more successful our combined efforts are likely to be. Continuity combined with a well-tailored message helps ensure advertising success.

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AGAIN! by David Margolis, President Syndicated Ad Features

2018-09-09T13:32:00.002-04:00

Do you have a friend whom you look forward to speaking with on a regular basis? Sure you do. It’s very likely that this person has the ability to engage you with his or her happy disposition and stimulating, thought-provoking conversation. In fact, your interactions may even spur you to action of one sort or another. If all this sounds natural and familiar to you, it is even more so to us. Relationships such as these serve as the basis for our advertising model at Syndicated Ad Features.

Each week, our clients are provided with interesting copy that engages reader interest and adds to reader knowledge about our clients’ particular profession, business, and/or field of expertise. It is certainly no small matter that our clients’ eye-catching photos accompany their weekly columns, along with their bylines. This format ensures that readers know whom they are talking to, what they do, and what they look like. Everyone likes to put a face with a voice… er… printed words. In fact, local readers may become so familiar with our clients and what they have to say that they may stop them on the street and compliment them on their columns. That’s effective advertising!

Of course, reader interest quickly wanes when presented with repetitive content. That is why we supply our clients with new, informative, and interesting copy on a variety of subjects (in their field of choice) week after week. This continual stream of appealing text is what is ultimately responsible for familiarizing readers with our clients’ products and services, which builds an enduring relationship. Our clients become the friend whose face and words readers look forward to seeing on a regular basis—just like a friend should be.

SETTING YOUR SITE ON CONTENT, By David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-08-26T16:35:00.002-04:00

Now that you have set up a website for your business or practice congratulations! You are well on your way to taking full advantage of the greatest advertising medium since television. And, like TV, your website needs new and interesting content to attract readers and keep their interest. After all, we all may watch a TV rerun once in a while, but our attention is certainly going to wander if that is all we are presented with. Similarly, once readers see all the interesting pictures and graphics on your site and have read all the content, they will want something fresh the next time.

The content we provide is selected and designed to slake reader thirst for something new and interesting. Aside from giving readers thought-provoking content, our copy can help point the way to new avenues of approach to your services and products, as well as new reasons to seek you out. Once readers find that they have something new and different to learn by reading (y)our content, they will be more inclined to make it their business to return for more.

Ask anyone who runs a television or radio station, and he or she will tell you that Content is King! As long as it grabs attention and remains relevant, it has the power to steer consumers, clients, and patients toward products and services that will benefit them. The price we pay for this power is finding ways to feed the monster. Syndicated Ad Features offers its clients an endless supply of advertising content at reasonable cost. When utilized wisely and consistently, it will more than pay for itself many times over.

DON’T GET BLOGGED DOWN! by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-08-12T15:18:00.002-04:00

WE KNOW WHERE TO FIND YOU! by David Margolis, President Syndicated Ad Features

2018-07-29T17:09:00.001-04:00

The Internet is relatively new and exciting, but does it deliver the goods to advertisers? That's the question advertisers must ask themselves when they commit to advertising on an Internet site other than their own. The commercial site often cannot guarantee how many eyeballs it will attract until after the fact. On top of that, Internet sites cannot define their audiences to the degree that most advertisers find necessary. Also, there is always the problem that ads on the Internet sites rotate, which makes it difficult to say when a particular ad will appear before the target audience.

Then, there are newspapers. Not only are local papers able to deliver an audience of loyal readers who subscribe to the publication, they are able to deliver a quantifiable audience of interested readers. Unlike the Internet, newspapers often place our clients' advertising in the same section, on request, week after week, so that advertisers can be reasonably assured that readers know where and how to find them. Newspapers are also delivered at predictable times, on a reliable basis, so that advertisers can be sure that their ads will appear with the frequency and predictability that assures consistent exposure. Ask any advertising sales person. The key to advertising success is consistency. Newspapers deliver! Use them to deliver readers to your website.

APPOINTMENT PREFERRED, by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-07-15T21:04:00.003-04:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE, by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-07-01T21:32:00.001-04:00

Another significant benefit of concentrating your advertising in local newspapers is that it attracts the very people to

whom you wish to speak. As a general matter, readers of local newspapers are better educated, have higher incomes and have more money to spend. All of these characteristics that retailers and service professionals find so desirable may be attributed to the notion that people in this demographic simply like to read. If so, our clients may take advantage of proper media positioning and readers' thirst for interesting and useful information by putting them in the right place and providing them with the content they believe they need to succeed.

WHO GETS IT RIGHT? by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-06-17T16:27:00.004-04:00

through official channels before being put out for consumption. As a result, readers know where to turn for verifiable information. This is why it is so important for advertisers to associate with local print media. Syndicated Ad Features works with its clients to place their advertising where it will be noticed, read, and trusted—in the local newspaper, along with all the other news and information that is too important to get wrong.

WHAT MAKES YOU THE EXPERT? by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-06-03T17:48:00.003-04:00

designed with our clients' pictures and bylines to appear as though they are guest columnists in their local newspapers. As such, readers accept them at face value (pun intended) to be experts in their particular fields. On this basis, they garner reader interest and trust with the goal of cultivating future business. We also back our clients by providing them with verifiable content that assures them that they can be taken at their word.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?, by David Margolis, President Syndicated Ad Features

2018-05-20T18:43:00.001-04:00

Advertisers have more ways to bring their names and services to the consuming public's attention than ever before. Aside from radio and newspaper media, there is the Internet, which makes its way to the public's eyes via mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and good old personal computers at home and in the office. So, now that you have a variety of media and information-delivering devices available to you, what do you have to say? Without words and ideas underlying your advertising strategy, everything comes to a screeching halt. Heck, even an airplane towing a banner will have little effect if there is no eye-catching phrase or message to display.

The fact is that most professionals have little time or inclination to develop advertising copy, much less the experience and knowledge needed to create it in a grammatically correct, properly punctuated, well-spelled, and entertaining form. That's where we come in. Syndicated Ad Features provides its clients with pertinent, verifiable, and interesting copy that readers look forward to seeing. It's advertising at its best.

DID YOU KNOW? by David Margolis, President, Syndicated Ad Features

2018-05-06T17:08:00.001-04:00

We live in the "information age", in which anyone can access information that may previously have been inaccessible or too obscure to find. The dilemma now becomes one of sifting through mountains and seas of (dis)information to find verifiable facts. This may not be a problem for the discriminating reader, but what about the person, who doesn't even know the correct question to ask, to get the answers (s)he never knew (s)he needed? To make things easier on themselves, many people turn to reliable sources to get information that they may not even have known they could benefit from. It's nice to know that you might learn something that you might not otherwise know by simply reading the newspaper.

People derive a certain satisfaction from tuning into a radio program or reading a newspaper column that informs them. This is why Syndicated Ad Features' program is constructed the way it is. Each week, readers look for what our client "columnists" have to say about issues and developments in their field of expertise. In time, this platform for dispersing information creates the interest and trust needed to attract business.