Recently selected as Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni’s launch of the year, Food Network Magazine has been generating buzz about its ballooning popularity with readers and advertisers alike. But the TV network’s magazine isn’t the only one doing things right. Many of its advertisers are breaking the traditional ad mold, improving the ads’ likely effectiveness.

Instead of simply showcasing their products, many of the advertisers are engaging readers. Although Food Network Magazine advertisers aren’t the only ones doing this, the magazine’s December 2009 issue is uncommonly full of examples of quality advertising, showcasing lessons marketers should note. Here are just a few of them.

Don’t assume that ads can’t contain content marketing.

Touted for its ability to engage readers with valuable info, content marketing is typically thought of as something you can practice through custom magazines, blogs, and other longer forms of advertising. (Note: Food Network Magazine itself is an example of effective content marketing. The entire magazine connects with readers, promotes the television network and its stars, and reinforces the brand’s authority.)

But that said, don’t rule out content marketing in a shorter form. You can practice it through an ad. You just have to determine what information will fit on a couple of pages while still being valuable to your customers.

Multiple advertisers in the magazine capture readers’ attention with helpful content, which most often takes the form of recipes. For example, an ad for Hillshire Farm has tear-out recipe cards featuring a few of the company’s products. With the cards, a Web site address sends people online for more recipes.

Through the valuable content (recipes), Hillshire Farm grabs readers’ attention and sends them to its site to look further into its products. With that extra attention earned, the company is more likely to make a sale.

Grab readers’ attention with something helpful they can use.

We all know that the most effective advertising doesn’t focus on you and your company. It focuses on the customer. If you can go a step further and actually help your current or potential customers, they’re more likely to pay attention to what you have to say and consider buying your product or service.

In this issue of Food Network Magazine, Hamilton Beach has a three-page ad. The first page showcases its slow cooker and how the locked lid allows cooks to “take their food everywhere without getting it anywhere” (showing readers how the product helps them).

The next page has tear-out recipe cards featuring dishes to make in a slow cooker. Each card has an appealing photo of the dish on one side with a recipe and the featured slow cooker info on the other side. The cards fit in a recipe box, making it easy for customers to actually use them. Another card lists the company’s Web site, inviting readers to visit to learn how to adapt their favorite recipes.

Not only does Hamilton Beach provide helpful information, the company also makes it easy for potential customers to use that info. Not losing sight of its ultimate goal (to sell), the company included product info and pictures on the cards. Now each time a reader uses one of the recipe cards, he or she will see Hamilton Beach slow cooker information. If they don’t need the product now, perhaps they’ll run across that info when they’re ready to buy.

Leave an impact.

Along those lines, include something with your ad that readers will keep. This literally leaves a lasting impression with potential customers, giving your marketing a longer shelf life.

For example, Viva paper towels by Kleenex has a two-page ad in this issue with a Food Network host as a spokeswoman. Between the two pages, the company includes a tear-out booklet with recipes for handheld party foods. (Handheld food equals dirty fingers, which equal a need for paper towels.)

Each recipe was contributed by a Viva towel user, which the company brands as a “Viva diva.” With each user’s recipe, it has her or his photo, name, and a quote about the recipe, which gives the recipe (and thereby the company) validity with the audience.

The booklet also includes helpful tips with around-the-house uses for the towels. On the corner of each right-hand page is a picture of the towels and instructions to visit a site for more recipes.

If a reader finds the booklet useful, he or she will tear it out, keeping the product’s information, whereas he or she would have trashed a typical ad. The more they see the marketing, the more likely they are to buy the product.

This same tactic can be adapted for a variety of other products. For example, Glidden paint had an ad in Real Simple magazine with tear-out paint cards. Readers can tape the cards to their walls to see how a color looks in a room, or they can use the cards for color matching. On the back of each card, a photo shows the color in a decorated room, and it offers coordinating color suggestions. Customers can use the cards to help decorate their homes, and they also can take the cards to their local hardware stores to buy the exact product and colors.

Provide value (literally).

Readers are more likely to take note of something if it benefits them—especially if the benefit is financial.
In this particular issue, Diamond Nuts has an ad with a coupon for its product. That’s good. Reddi Whip has recipe cards and drives readers to its site with a sweepstakes offer. That’s better. Daisy sour cream has tear-out recipe cards with a coupon in place of one of the cards. That’s best.

All three ads offer to save readers money, which gives the companies advantages over ordinary ads. However, Reddi Whip and Daisy have the upper hand. Reddi Whip offers value in the form of products (the sweepstakes) and content (the recipes). Daisy provides value through monetary savings and through content, improving the likeliness of generating sales from the ad.

Know your audience.

Even if you follow all the above steps, if you don’t know your audience, you’re wasting your money. You must know whom you want to target, and you must appeal directly to those peoples’ interests.

In the Food Network issue, Pillsbury, Smuckers, and Jiff have an ad with tear-out recipe cards that fold in half. A headline urges readers to use the cards for a holiday cookie swap party. On one side of a card there is a recipe. On the other side, a fold line and space for a name encourages readers to use the cards as place cards at the party.

On the opposite page, a photo shows a visual example of a table setting for the party, and a list of tips offers advice on planning the cookie swap. Of course, the companies’ logos and products are scattered throughout the ad.

Would this ad be effective in GQ? Obviously not. Its readers are men interested in style—not baking cookies and sharing them with friends.

Would it appeal to Saveur readers? Doubt it. Even though Saveur is a food magazine, its affluent audience and pithy content aren’t in line with a recipe/place card for “Funfetti” cookies.

But for Food Network Magazine readers—who are overwhelmingly women around the age of 40—the ad is a perfect fit. It’s right in line with the type of content the readers would watch on a Food Network TV show. Therefore, readers are more likely to take time to read the ad, consider its suggestions, and purchase the companies’ products.

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