Newspaper advertising · Marketing
A newspaper ad is bought by the edition and the day, not by the paper's name.
Most owners book a newspaper by its name. But a daily prints a separate edition for each city and district it covers, and the edition that lands in Rajajinagar is not the one that lands in Hubballi. The first decision is the edition.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Newspaper advertising is paid space in one edition of one title, on a chosen date, at a size quoted in column centimetres. GullySales picks the edition, the day and the page position against the buyer you want. Artwork goes in before the release deadline, and the advertisement carries a response route that traces back to the insertion.
The second is the day. A vacancy belongs on the morning that paper carries appointments, and a festival offer has to be in the reader's hand on Friday rather than Monday. The third is language, because an English daily and a Kannada daily on the same doorstep reach two different buyers.
None of this reports itself. A paper cannot tell you who read your advertisement, so the ad carries its own way back. That is a phone number printed nowhere else, a QR code, or a short web address opening a page about that one offer.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Builders launching a project who need a whole city to hear one date at one time
- Schools, colleges and coaching centres advertising in the weeks parents actually decide
- A hospital opening a new branch, a new department or a screening camp in one part of town
- Retailers running a festival or clearance offer that needs walk-ins on a fixed weekend
- Companies that must publish a tender, a public notice or a recruitment advertisement
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- Businesses that judge every rupee on cost per enquiry. Print will never report the way Google Ads does.
- A single small insertion on a tight budget. It is read once, on one morning, and then the paper is under the vegetables.
- Buyers who live on a phone all day. Search and WhatsApp reach them for less.
- Parties and candidates placing election advertising, which we do not handle for anybody
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“The ad ran, but in the wrong edition”
The booking was made against the title. The title printed six editions that morning, and yours went to a district where you have no showroom.
“We missed the date and the offer had already started”
Artwork reached the publication after the release deadline, so the insertion moved to whatever date was still open.
“Nobody can say what the advertisement brought in”
It carried the same landline as the signboard and the website, and no one at the counter asked where callers had seen the name.
“It ended up buried in the classified pages”
Display and classified display are sold as different things at different rates, and the cheaper one lands on a page people open only when they are already hunting.
What we do
Everything that is included.
Each deliverable, and what it gets you. Nothing here is an extra.
Edition and date plan
Which editions, which languages and which dates the ad runs in, set against the areas you actually sell in.
Size and position brief
The size in column centimetres, whether it runs as display or classified display, and which page position is worth the premium. A jacket wraps the whole paper, and a sky bus is the strip above the masthead on page one.
Lead time by position
Inside pages typically close seven to ten days before the date. Premium positions need fifteen to twenty, because the publication holds them for whoever commits first. Festival season stretches both to thirty or forty-five days, so a Diwali insertion is planned in September.
Artwork to the publication's specification
Built to the column width, colour profile and file format the paper accepts, finished before its material deadline.
Release schedule
Every insertion date with its own cut-off, worked backwards from the morning the ad has to appear.
Traceable response route
A phone or WhatsApp number, a QR code or a short web address used in this advertisement and nowhere else.
Booking coordination
The order placed with the publication or its agency, with the date, size, position and rate confirmed in writing.
Printed page check
A copy of the page as it ran, matched against what was booked and taken back to the publication when it does not match.
How the result is measured
- Calls to the number printed only in the advertisement
- Scans of the ad's QR code
- Form fills on the landing page the ad points to
- Cost per enquiry for each insertion
- Insertions that ran on the booked date, size and page
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
How it works
How the newspaper advertising work runs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Fix the date first
A launch, an admission window, an opening weekend or a notice. Everything else is planned backwards from that morning.
- 2
Choose edition, language and day
We match the edition to your catchment and the day to the section your buyer opens.
- 3
Decide size, position and the route back
Display or classified display, how many column centimetres, which page we request, and what the reader is told to call or scan.
- 4
Release the artwork early
The file goes to the publication ahead of its deadline, in the format it takes, with the position request on the order.
- 5
Verify what printed
We read the printed page against the booking and raise it if the ad ran small, late or in the wrong section.
- 6
Count what came back
Calls, scans and form fills on the traced route, reported against what that insertion cost.
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 1, prospecting and lead generation. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2 · you are here
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Does newspaper advertising still work?
How is newspaper space priced?
What happens if we miss the release deadline?
Should we advertise in English or in Kannada?
Can you get us the front page?
How do we know the ad produced anything?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
By industry
Newspaper advertising, written for your industry.
Related services
Often bought with this, or instead of it.
Read before you buy
- Newspaper advertising in Bengaluru: which paper reaches which cityTwo cities read two sets of papers here. The English dailies reach the corridor that arrived in the last decade, the Kannada dailies reach the settled one, and the insert by pincode reaches your own street.
- How to track newspaper advertisingResponse to a newspaper advertisement arrives in hours, not weeks, and one code across four editions tells you nothing. Measure the release date, edition by edition.
- How to design a newspaper advertisement people actually readA print advertisement is read once, at a table, in about four seconds, by a reader who will never come back to it. That single fact decides the type, the word count, and the route back to you.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.