Hello everyone. I had a cold call from a lady wanting me to advertise in the Just for Her military magazine today. She sounded lovely, but I didn’t sign up as I wanted to check out the company before I did. I have left it open - just in case I do decide it is for me.
Do any of you advertise in this publication and if so, how do you find it works for you? I would love to hear your experiences.
Jacqueline x
I’ve been approached to advertise in a similar magazine for retired police in the North West but turned them down as the fee was very high.
Do they have a track record? Can you read a previous edition and maybe call some of the advertisers to see how it went for them?
I’ve never heard of that particular publication myself.
Can you do a google search on them?
EDIT I this http://www.forcespublishing.co.uk/pages/tri_service_pages/justforher.html
I have searched them out on line and they seem genuine. They do want £135 + VAT for 3 months advertising with only a 1/8th of a page sized advert. The page looks as if it is a A4 Size. Quite a lot of money. I have family who are in the forces, so I think I might see what they think of the publication - also MUST discuss with OH. However, they do seem to have a lot of jewellery adverts in the on-line publication I have seen.
Goodness, that is a lot of money. And there was me thinking I was really pushing the boat out with 2 weeks with Dottie!
They approached you asking you to pay those high fees so you can advertise in their magazine? That’s odd as far as I’m concerned.
It’s not particularly odd : ) It’s just a company cold calling to ask you to advertise with them.
I get emails like that from different companies every now and again.
I’d just do exactly what you are going to do Jacqueline and ask your family members.
Helen.
x
Yes, I thought so too. I queried how I would know whether the ad had been published and they said they send out a copy of the publication to all customers. I did say that they could just send me a copy of ‘a publication’ printed for my benefit so I would believe them they were genuine (I didn’t say it quite like that, but it was that sort of gist) She re-iterated that they don’t ask for any payment or account details at this stage, so can’t be ‘iffy’. Mmmmm - I am just suspicious I suppose. I did ask how they has heard of me. She said that another colleague had seen my work on line. She had all my Folksy details and was looking at my shop on here as we spoke. Still seems a bit odd, don’t you think?
If I were you I wouldn’t bother, it sounds expensive for what it is we paid about the same for a nationally circulated magazines and got very little or no response, We have advertised in trade magazines and had some response but would not choose method of advertising again. The advertisers always tells you it will bring business but in reality it doesn’t. Direct advertising will get a better response for the same investment, how many business cards or leaflets can you get for £180? and hand them out for free.
I had a really nasty experience with some hard nosed cold call advertising sellers , the publication looked great on line , but I later found out that it barely existed as a printed magazine, also the company sold peoples details to scammers .
I wouldn’t commit at the time of the call, despite them telling me it was a really short deadline, as I wanted to research them, and they called twice more getting aggressive , telling me I had made a verbal commitment - it was horrible.
It’s that time of year when these mags starting doing a lot of cold calling to sell advertising space in their mags. I don’t really know of anyone who’s put out that kind of money for an advert them come to the forums and say it bought in loads of sales I made my money back plus a good profit.
I’ve never heard of it. Going by the title I think it sounds like it probably doesn’t have a very big readership. Did they give you those numbers? If you’ve never heard of the magazine then you’d probably need to see it to make a decision, otherwise how would you know if their readers are likely to be interested in what you sell?
My gut feeling is that if you truly sold things that would appeal to their readership then they would have been contacting you to show off your items for free rather than offering ad space for sale.
If you have that sort of money to spend on advertising then you can probably put it to better use elsewhere. Have you heard of Project Wonderful (https://www.projectwonderful.com/)?
Thanks so much everyone for giving you time and knowledge to help and advise me. It really is very much appreciated. I had never heard of them before and as I am not in the forces have never come across the magazine personally. Like you say @EileensCraftStudio, I have never heard of a good return from one of these ads before now. I have never been approached before though, so it took me by surprise really.
Sorry your experience was less than good @leathermeister You are right of course, how many cards could I buy and give out for that sort of money? Also, I could put that money towards paying for decent craft fairs where you are much more likely to get a sale.
Oh my, how horrible @DeborahJonesJewellery. They sound like scammers to me. I would hate to have that sort of experience. How did you get rid of them in the end?
Melanie @Beledien, I have to agree that when I first the title of the magazine, I thought it might be pitched toward older ladies and my work may or may not be right for the publication. I was given the costs on the phone and the phone number was given for me to call back when I decide to go with them. When thay called, the number was withheld so I almost didn’t answer as we have so many cold calls everyday. I think the publication is available for free to the military - so probably posted through their letterboxes and generally filed (in the bin) by most. Thank you for the link to Project Wonderful - not heard of that before, so off to have a look now.
Thank you, everyone again for your feedback and comments. It is so lovely to be part of such a supportive group as Folksy.
Right, off to look at this link
Jacqueline x
@JAustenJewelleryDesign Hi Jacqueline - just to add as an ex military serving woman and a now military wife that I have never seen this magazine anywhere before - the cover looks enticing so if I had seen it I definitely would have had a look through!
The best Royal Navy publication is the Navy News which is widely circulated monthly and has great support from ex serving members too. Pretty sure the other forces will have similar papers.
Dottie x
Thanks so much Dottie. That is interesting to know and get a military perspective, so to speak. I think that this time I will give it a miss as the costs are quite high, but perhaps a similar publication in the future would be a possibility.
Jacqueline x
Hi everyone,
I was drawn to this thread as just yesterday evening I had the exact same phone call. The lady was very nice on the phone, she said she’d seen my Folksy shop, loved my work etc wanting to buy something for herself. She did give the short deadline comments but then explained if I needed to think I could get a 2016 piece instead. She also name dropped to me, explaining that the “Military wives love different things, Kate Middleton also likes this kind of thing and she’s a military wife too”. At that point I did think it could possibly be someone just trying to get you feeling excited and positive about the thought of Royalty seeing your work, to then take your money!! I can be quite pessimistic and wary having had a couple of these before!!!
I told her although I might be interested I would like to be sent some details in email so I can have a look online for myself. She said that was fine and said goodbye before even asking me for my email address! Therefore I’m glad I didn’t take any action there and then as it obviously wasn’t that important to her to send me the email!
@JAustenJewelleryDesign interesting that you haven’t experienced the magazine before with your background! Think that speaks volumes about it!
Won’t be putting my details forward for it I’m afraid!
Fallon
That is really interesting to hear Fallon. She gave you an almost identical spiel to mine. Now you mentioned it, she also to me that princess Kate is a military wife too! So glad I didn’t take up the offer. I should also mention that I was on a course last week with several military wives and none of them had ever heard of or seen the publication.
Jacqueline x
I asked a military friend she’s a major in the army and she’s never heard of it either.
very interesting thanks all and beware!
Hi all
I’ve just had a call from Dedrie G and she’s given me a mobile number to call back on. I’m not going to advertise but was polite and said I’d check with my business partner and call back tomorrow. She said the space would be gone tomorrow and that she had 2 spaces left a 1/8 and a 1/4.
She did the Kate speel also I think i threw her as I said i live on an army base. I’ve texted my army friend just to ask.