Advertise in the right publication

MBOMBELA – If you have a limited advertising budget, choose the right medium to spread your message. The media industry, like any other, is going through tough times. Worldwide the move into the digital era has altered the game plan and the financial model of the publishing industry.
While daily newspapers in South Africa have already suffered major losses in circulation and advertising revenue, the community newspaper industry has been able to maintain its market share. Lowveld Media’s digital presence has more than doubled in the past six months with visitors to our group of title sites now recording more than 300 000 page views per month. Even in a national context this readership will be viewed as extensive. Yet, notwithstanding this growth into a new market, we have been able to maintain our publications’ circulation figures.

Community newspapers offer unique content you can only find in your local publication. Where else can you get extensive coverage of school news, events, entertainment offerings, loads of galleries, hard news, investigative pieces on local issues, than in your own newspaper and its title site?
The great advantage of online presence is that one can never run out of space! Whatever you can’t accommodate in the newspapers, is posted online. In the print publication one can sometimes only use a few pictures, but online we make sure that we publish most of the photos we take at events for our readers to use and distribute to family and friends.
Online you will also find extra, interesting reading material like a variety of blogs from excellent writers. Their pieces have a fresh approach on topics from living with disability, environmental issues and personal relationships to humorous takes on daily life. There is a section for DIY enthusiasts, national sport news and international news which is uploaded daily.
We have managed to create a symbiosis between our print and online versions to the advantage of readers and advertisers. Through our social-media presence on Facebook and Twitter we manage to offer readers breaking news and the opportunity to engage with one another.

It takes investment and vision from any company to embrace change, and in the digital space Lowveld Media has appointed three full-time staff members to focus on this area. We now have an in-house production team to produce videos and graphics to remain relevant and visually engaging. Content management is discussed twice daily at planning sessions which help keep our sites fresh and up to date.

To know exactly how to pitch and present a publication, requires extensive research. An independent research project, ROOTS, has been conducted every three years since 2001 by Caxton (Lowveld Media’s holding company). At a cost of more than R10 million the research allows for trending of data and the opportunity to analyse the changes in the marketplace.

ROOTS is South Africa’s largest urban, community-level quantitative survey. The data provides marketers, advertisers, media and creative agencies with the demographic information as well as intelligence and insights into buyers’ behaviour in various categories such as: readership, food and groceries, banking and insurance and digital lifestyle. The greatest benefit is that a deeper understanding of the market is achieved by zooming down to local micro-communities, and the ability to analyse many markets at local level.

It takes investment and vision from any company to embrace change, and in the digital space Lowveld Media has appointed three full-time staff members to focus on this area. We now have an in-house production team to produce videos and graphics to remain relevant and visually engaging. Content management is discussed twice daily at planning sessions which help keep our sites fresh and up to date.
To know exactly how to pitch and present a publication, requires extensive research. An independent research project, ROOTS, has been conducted every three years since 2001 by Caxton (Lowveld Media’s holding company). At a cost of more than R10 million the research allows for trending of data and the opportunity to analyse the changes in the marketplace.

ROOTS is South Africa’s largest urban, community-level quantitative survey. The data provides marketers, advertisers, media and creative agencies with the demographic information as well as intelligence and insights into buyers’ behaviour in various categories such as: readership, food and groceries, banking and insurance and digital lifestyle. The greatest benefit is that a deeper understanding of the market is achieved by zooming down to local micro-communities, and the ability to analyse many markets at local level.
Burgersfort make us the best represented media house in the province. If the story breaks, we are only minutes away.

Lowveld Media is one of only a few country newspaper groups with a printing press on site. This enables us not only to control the standard of our printing, but also to be flexible when a major event occurs and breaking news takes place. Various smaller publications in the province, as well as a few Mozambican and Swaziland newspapers are printed here. A variety of advertising material inserted into our own, is also printed on site.

Read more about the press here.

When the papers have been produced and printed, it is of utmost importance that they reach their destinations. Circulation can make or break any publication. Lowveld Media is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation, an independent body that regulates and audits reputable publications’ distribution. Advertisers can spend as much money on a product as they wish, but if it never reaches the target audience, it is money wasted.
New products mushroom in the market all the time and advertisers need to make sure when they part with their advertising budget, that it will benefit them optimally.
A few rand cheaper may cost them dearly at a later stage.

The Lowveld Media team offers specialists with many years’ experience. To be a player in the media industry and remain sustainable, is difficult. Being part of a media group such as Caxton, makes it possible to invest regularly in new equipment, be exposed to the international media market and regularly train staff at the Caxton Academy. Trust the brand that has been around for many years. We are here to stay and remain committed to offer advertising and publishing solutions.