We strongly recommend you do
advertise in your local newspaper as well as using our free ads.
Unfortunately the little old lady around the road who feeds
stray cats, may not use the internet, but hopefully she reads
the local paper! You need to cover all your bases.
Advertising lost pets is most effective in your local "courier"
type paper as it is delivered to every door in your
neighbourhood.
Use
the Lost and Found section in the classifieds section of your
local newspaper and/or adjoining papers if you live in a
"border" area. Some papers even give free "found" ads, but
you'll need to pay for "lost" ads.
Newspaper classifieds checklist
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State
LOST as your first word, or it can be ambiguous if your ad is for a
lost or found pet.
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State suburb
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Date
your pet went missing/was last seen.
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Species and breed ie) Siamese cat or Border Collie dog.
Most cats are no specific breed, in which case "cat" will
do.
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Coat length ie) Short, medium or long hair
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Colour/s
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Sex
of pet
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Your contact name and
phone number/s |
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Use
abbreviations to save ad space/cost ie) Ph for Phone. But try not to get too cryptic or no one but you will
understand your ad! |
A story in the paper
This is free and gives excellent exposure. Your story needs
an "angle" to make it newsworthy ideally. Examples include; A
pet missing that is well known in the community (ie the local
shop cat) or a pet that belongs to someone well known, or a pet
that is being missed by a child or person with a special
condition etc. A pet of a deserving volunteer (we used this
"angle" when our volunteers dog went missing).
Talk sincerely with the editor or journalist of your local paper
and try to make your story as interesting as possible (within
the bounds of truthfulness obviously). Maybe you will be in the
right place at the right time and maybe they will say yes. It's
worth trying and the resulting exposure is fantastic.
Display Ads
A large display ad such as
the real life example below will cost more but have much greater impact.
It's cheaper to put a display ad in the classifieds, than the
main body of the paper. And people will be looking for lost pet
ads more in the classifieds than the main body of the paper
anyway.
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