In essence, look at your free report as a r sum . Lead generation should be regarded in the same way. Your free offer must be small, contain a concise message, stress an immediate benefit, and cause the prospect to come forward. If you're giving something away, you'll realize that what you're really doing is generating better leads. General publications won't do that and they certainly cost a lot of money.
Many people have their ads published in large, high-circulation, general newspapers or magazines.
On the other hand, specialized publications have the distinction of appealing to specific, targeted audiences, which increases the chances of your ad being read by higher quality leads. In other words, rather than fishing for minnows in the middle of the ocean, you'll be catching whales in a small pond. Think of the specialized publication as a sonar that will help you to find the kind of fish you really want. This is due to the fact that not only will the readership match your demographics but also people who buy specialized publications have a tendency to read them from cover to cover. If you advertise a free offer to a specific target market, your per capita hit-ratio will dramatically increase than if you would have advertised your product or service directly in a major publication that's too general or too vague.