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Have you ever heard someone say 'It must be true!I saw it in print!' Just one good article in a decent magazine can do more for the marketing destiny of your product than several back-to-back ad campaigns.

Why is this true? Because America loves magazines. Just look at the numbers. Oxford Communications said that in 2006 alone, there was 22,106 magazines in over 310 categories. That means there were 308 specific topics of interest that Americansactually, people all over the worldloved to read about last year.

Are We Overdosing on Ads?

Marsha Friedman, Chief Executive Officer of EMSI, a national public relations firm that specializes in obtaining media attention for their clients says, "In almost all of the 22,106 magazines mentioned above, there are both advertising space and article space available." It's true, many readers do respond to these ads, mainly because they relate to the content of the magazine. Butand here's the big problem with advertisingsince we're absolutely bombarded with ads every single day, it's just hard to focus on them. Here's what Fordham University found:

Advertising is the most pervasive element of the marketing mix: the average family in the United States of 4 is exposed to 1,500 advertising messages and a daily basis !'

Now that is quite a lot of advertising messages. Marsha Friedman says, "That boils down to something like 300 to 400 ads for each of us each day, whether we like it or not. The reason? Because our brains will toss it to the side so we can focus on more important items. Does that mean that they aren't there? Absolutely not! So although we may be exposed to 300 to 400 ads a day, we literally don't 'see' many of them at all."

Now articles are another matter altogether.

Marsha Friedman adds, "Subscribers to those 22,106 magazines are hungry for information on their favorite subjects, so the articles there (unlike all those ads) are actually welcome. In these cases the audience is more accepting as the magazine is an "old trusted friend." This definitely gives you the upper hand."

"Let me give you a good example of their sheer profit power" , says Friedman. "Early in my career, my position was as sales and marketing director for a money manager. My job was to generate leads and bring in new clients who had a minimum of $100K to invest."

"A journalist from The Robb Report contacted me one day about doing a show on money managers, like my boss. While talking with my boss, the reporter discovered that he lived in the 90210 Zip Code (this was during the height of that popular TV show) drove a brand new Mercedes and was married to a famous actress. The result was that there was a big old article in his magazine, with a picture of my boss featured on the cover!"

Friedman continues, "When the story ran, it was like a financial earthquake! I practically became an order takerthe phones literally rang off the hook with investors who wanted their money managed by the firm. It was amazing how we went from 20 to 50 million dollars in such an amazingly short time!"

How many ads would it have taken to get him from $20 million to $50 million? Maybe the better question is, could ads have even done the job?If you would like to learn more about gaining national or local media attention for your company, product or service, without the financial burden of monthly retainers, Marsha Friedman is here to help . Feel free to contact her directly at mfriedman@emsincorporated.com or visit her firm online at http://www.emsincorporated.com. As a public relations expert Marsha has the ability to get the media attention that you desire without breaking your budget with costly monthly retainers .

Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on public relations for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to receive her free Ebook "How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest" visit http://www.emsincorporated.com.