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Magazines used to be out of reach for many marketers. Too broad an audience. Too expensive. Too difficult to segment. Well, not anymore. It seems as if there is a magazine for every niche audience we can imagine these days. With the changes in printing, zoned ads are commonplace. And much more affordable. So now that magazines are not out of our reach, how do we use them effectively?

We’d better start by understanding why people are driven to read magazines and what they get out of the experience. Northwestern University did a study a couple of years ago and asked about that. The results were quite intriguing and remain very relevant today.

One of the top reasons people are drawn to magazines is that reading a magazine is their “personal time out.” The readers talked about two aspects of this: getting away from it all and having “my” time.

But because magazines are perceived to take relatively little time to consume, they also appeal to the readers’ time pressures.

How could you use these insights to craft your magazine ad message? If the readers are already predisposed to the notion of getting away from it all and finding personal time, you could build your ads around the same themes. Your ads might spotlight personal reflection or talk about how your product or service reduces stress or is a small indulgence.

Magazines, by their nature, allow you to really target your audience. Knowing the core reasons that draw readers to the publication is an insight that will let you craft your message so that it resonates even more effectively.

Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group and blogs at www.drewsmarketingminute.com. He can be reached at Drew@MclellanMarketing.com. © 2008 Drew McLellan