Q: What is the audience of the Augusta Medical Examiner, and how are copies distributed?
A: The Augusta Medical Examiner is a free publication issued on the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month (with occasional exceptions) with healthful information for Augusta’s entire medical community, 25,000 strong, and for the hundreds of thousands of patients seen in Augusta area healthcare facilities large and small every year. The editorial focus is to cover news about anything connected to health topics under the broad umbrella of three words: health, wellness and medicine. The paper is distributed through a network of newsstands located throughout the area, and is also delivered in smaller quantities to more than 900 private practice physicians offices for staff and patients alike

Q: What is the format of the Augusta Medical Examiner?
A: The Augusta Medical Examiner is a 5-column format tabloid-sized newspaper. Its content is a balance of editorial and advertising, and includes color ads and photography, a classified section, word puzzles that are custom to the Augusta area and the medical market in particular, including a crossword puzzle, a medical-themed cartoon, reader contests, and other regular features. Publication of the Augusta Medical Examiner is entirely supported by advertising revenue, so advertisers are always welcome.

Q: How long has the Medical Examiner been in publication?
A: The Augusta Medical Examiner began publication in July 2006, and has since passed its 16-year anniversary. As of early 2023, more than 400 issues of the Examiner have been published. The Examiner’s publisher previously produced the campus newspaper of the Medical College of Georgia from June 1990 through June 2006. Graphic Advertising, the company which published both the Beeper (MCG’s paper) and the Augusta Medical Examiner, has more than three decades of experience publishing for Augusta’s medical community.

Q: Is advertising in the Augusta Medical Examiner affordable?
A: Very. If your business wants to reach the medical market, you can afford it – guaranteed. There is no advertising budget that cannot make room for a presence in the Augusta Medical Examiner. After all, our smallest display ads can be as low as $19 an issue. Discounts of up to 30% off base rates are offered for long-term advertising. Visit the “ad rates” page for ad prices of an assortment of sample sizes.

Q: I already recruit nurses and other medical professionals through the Augusta Chronicle.  Why should I also advertise in the Augusta Medical Examiner?
A: The daily newspaper is a great vehicle for reaching the broadest possible audience. Its weekend circulation alone, once as high as 100,000 copies per issue, far exceeds the Augusta Medical Examiner’s. Of course, that means any advertiser aiming for medical personnel is paying to reach 100,000 people, even though Augusta’s entire medical community consists of only 25,000 people. Why pay to reach 75,000 people who will not be interested in your message? Our suggestion to medical advertisers would be to advertise in the Augusta Medical Examiner instead of any mass market, general audience publication.

Q: My business has nothing to do with medicine. Why should I advertise in the Augusta Medical Examiner?
A: Augusta’s 25,000 healthcare professionals are also 25,000 car buyers, 25,000 homeowners, 25,000 people who enjoy dining out with friends and family, and 25,000 people who also buy books, boats, shoes, groceries, clothing, motorcycles and ATVs, jewelry, pest control, lawn care, and a thousand other goods and services. In short, they are consumers just like those who aren’t in the medical field. Even more readers number among healthcare consumers, a demographic that, at some point, includes everyone.

Q: Do I have to sign a long-term contract to get the best deal?
A: The Augusta Medical Examiner is published 24 times per year, and our biggest discounts are for long-term advertisers, which means agreeing to advertise in at least 14 Augusta Medical Examiner issues each year. An advertiser may cancel his advertising at any time, however, even with a long-term agreement. Details are spelled out on the “ad rates” page under the heading “Frequency Discounts.”

Q: Can I try the Augusta Medical Examiner for one or two issues before deciding whether to stay in long-term?
A: You could, but that isn’t recommended for advertising in any medium. A run of one or two appearances — in any publication or any format — will usually produce little if any results. To illustrate, running a TV or radio ad once, perhaps twice, or displaying a billboard ad for just one or two days, would be recognized by most as a waste of advertising dollars. Careful studies in all advertising formats have shown that results are produced by consistently repeating a message — not by publicizing it once or twice. Long-term advertising always is the least expensive (in terms of rates) and the most productive (in terms of response).

Q: Does that mean I’m stuck with a huge advertising bill – even if my ads don’t produce results?
A: As mentioned above, Augusta Medical Examiner advertisers may cancel their ads at any time, but a better option than complete cancellation — thereby making your business invisible to the medical market or our readers — is to alter your game plan. If your original intention was to run a quarter-page ad in every issue, consider doubling your budget by changing to every other issue. Or you could choose to stay in every issue but reduce the size of the ad from a quarter-page to a one-eighth page or smaller ad, for example. Your options for making the Augusta Medical Examiner fit your advertising budget are many, and complete cancellation should usually be the last option.

Q: I already reach all these same people with my ads in bigger papers.  Why should I pay to reach the same people again?
A: Some advertisers mistakenly assume that newspapers with larger circulations saturate the market with their message. In truth, smaller newspapers can sometimes accomplish that task much more effectively. An ad in a 16- or 20-page newspaper is much more likely to be seen than the same ad lost somewhere in a 5-section, 60-page newspaper. In addition, a newspaper like the Augusta Medical Examiner can effectively and accurately target your chosen audience. Are you interested in reaching the medical community? A downtown audience? Female readers? (80% of MCG Health Inc’s employees, for example, are women.) Well-educated customers? Higher-income customers? The Augusta Medical Examiner can reach all these demographics less expensively than our mass-market competitors. If your target audience is medical professionals, people with above average income or future income potential, or simply people who care about health-related issues, every single copy of the Augusta Medical Examiner delivers the audience you seek. What percentage of the readers of other area publications fit the same profile? You may well be paying for delivery of 100,000 copies of an ad that delivers fewer potential customers or readers than does the Augusta Medical Examiner.

Q: I already have all the medical business I can handle. Why should I advertise in the Augusta Medical Examiner?
A: Congratulations on your business success. If your livelihood is provided to a significant degree by Augusta’s medical community, throw a little back to support the Augusta Medical Examiner! Its readers and area hospitals will appreciate your reciprocal support.

Q: How often can I change the size or content of my ad?
A: As often as you wish. We have some long-term advertisers who never run the same ad twice, and others who feel their interests are best served by consistently repeating the same ad many times over. Still others run several different ads in rotation, changing both the size and the content according to financial, seasonal or other considerations. Marketing research shows consistent presence is the name of the game in successful advertising, and that consistent presence can be accomplished with different messages and different ad sizes.

Q: How are ad sizes defined? What is a “column inch?”
A: The ad sizes as defined on the Augusta Medical Examiner rate sheet are measured in column inches. One column inch is a space one column wide and one inch high. Ad size is determined by the number of inches in height multiplied by width in columns (an ad 6” high and two cols. wide measures 12 column inches; 6×2=12). A one-eighth page ad, for example, measures 9 col. inches. Eighth-page advertisers can configure their space in several ways: a single-column ad that is nine inches tall; an ad two columns wide by 4 1/2” tall; or an ad three columns wide and three inches tall. A quarter-page (18 col. inches) might be configured as 9” x 2 columns, 6” by 3 columns, or some other combination of 18 column inches. Standard column widths are as follows:

*    1 col: 1-7/8 in.
*    2 col: 3-7/8 in.
*    3 col: 5-7/8 in.
*    4 col: 7-7/8 in.
*    5 col: 9-7/8 in.

Q: What if the ad size I want isn’t shown on the rate sheet?
A: An ad can be any number of column inches, including sizes that fall in between standard ad sizes listed on the Augusta Medical Examiner rate sheet. Ads smaller than the smallest size example shown on the rate sheet (one-eighth page) are also welcome.

Q: Does the Augusta Medical Examiner accept advertising inserts?
A: Yes. Let us know what you have in mind or send us a sample and we’ll provide you with a price quote.

Q: Who does the layout and design for Augusta Medical Examiner ads? How much does that cost?
A: Ad rates for the Augusta Medical Examiner usually include design and layout based on information provided by advertisers. Additional charge beyond the quoted prices on our current rate sheet – if any (ad photography, for example) – will be disclosed and agreed to before the ad is created. The Augusta Medical Examiner will supply a proof copy of any new or changed ad for client approval before the ad runs (in person or via e-mail). Clients are welcome to create their own ads for the Augusta Medical Examiner or to have them supplied by an ad agency. PDF files can be sent to info@AugustaRx.com or GraphicAdv@knology.net. Colors should be built in CMYK format. See “Schedule & Deadlines” for publication and deadline dates.

Q: How are Augusta Medical Examiner ads billed and paid for?
A: New advertisers are generally billed prior to publication upon approval of the ad proof. Subsequent advertising is billed once each month. Advertisers receive electronic invoices, but have the option of mailing payment by check or paying electronically via credit or debit cards or via PayPal.

Q: Can I get a newsstand located at my business?
A: Let us know where you’re located (Click “Contact us” at www.AugustaRx.com), and if a newsstand is available we’ll try to accommodate your request.