No offense, but I think this is pretty stupid. More and more companies are increasing their internet advertising budget to nearly 25% of their overall advertising plan... why? Because it WORKS. Traditional media such as print and broadcast often DON'T work.
When it DOES work it works best for local companies who are trying to build a "brand", offering an incredible deal or promoting an event. National companies that can afford newspaper advertising and radio advertising in every major market are a different breed. Point being, you can EASILY go through $10,000 of print/broadcast advertising without coming close to recouping those costs. Don't forget, you're competing with dozens and dozens of OTHER local companies with BIGGER budgets who have already built a reputation and brand name in that local market.
If you have a small newspaper advertisement in a newspaper that reaches 100,000 people you have to think: 50% probably read the paper that day. That's 50,000. Another 50% probably read the actual "section" you're advertising in. That's 25,000 people. Then how many people turn to your page in this section? How many notice your ad? And how many of these have a need for the product/service you're advertising? Even further, how many will respond to your ad?
That's the key, getting people to respond to you're ad. With PPC advertising and other internet endeavors, you're paying for traffic that is already highly targeted... and then only those that actually show interest in your offer by clicking.
Traditional media CAN work. But, just as with Internet Advertising, it's all about crafting and refining a strategy through trial and error. I'd say the odds are you'll run through your traditional ad budget MUCH quicker than your PPC budget with less to show for it.
I would say traditional advertising works best in 2 scenarios (1) you are a brick and mortar retailer/service provider, (2) you have a ridiculous budget.
The success of traditional advertising relies on 2 key elements: reach and frequency. Reaching great numbers of people multiple times each. Otherwise you're taking a shot in the dark.
If you really want to test this "offline" advertising in traditional media, I would suggest going with either cable TV or a mid-level radio. Then, probably running a high frequency ad schedule in off-peak hours. Saturate a couple hours each night, every night, on the same station and see if you get any results. Unless of course, you don't mind blowing the $10k and getting no results.
Just to put this in perspective, a full-page newspaper ad in a top 20 market will probably cost you no less than $100k. Of course, all those auto and cellular companies are buying in volume and paying much less.
Goodluck with whatever you decide. My background is in traditional advertising so feel free to pick my brain.
EDIT: PS - if you're going to advertise in print, research shows that bigger ads don't always correllate to bigger results. A smaller ad that is in COLOR will work best.
