Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, rarely crosses over into the realm of real-live advertising. But a recent blog post had a great tip for leveraging your paid ads:

If you buy newspaper or magazine ads and you’re pleased with the results, let your advertising sales rep know and offer a testimonial on what results you have seen from the ad. You might mention, for example, how much additional traffic or sales the ad brought to your website. That almost guarantees that if the publication uses your testimonial, it will include your URL. Newspapers love these testimonials and will often use them as “filler ads” that can be used if an advertiser pulls an ad at the last minute.

Although her post deals specifically with print, I can tell you that her approach will work with radio, too — if you’re a paying advertiser, many stations would be delighted to record your testimonial and use it when there’s unsold commercial inventory. If the ad is constructed carefully, it will act as an effective commercial for the station and your business.

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