PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT The purpose of this document is to try to answer the most common questions we have been asked in the past before you ask them! Its format is free-form and its content informal - a quick perusal of the content should provide you with most of the background information you need. If you still have questions afterwards please do drop us a line at advertising@holytrinitywestcott.org.uk; Topics are not ordered in any particular way. INDEX OF FAQs Purpose Of This Document The Purpose Of This Document Is To Try To Answer The Most Common Questions We Have Been Asked In The Past Before You Ask Them! Index Of Faqs How Do Get An Advert In The Magazine? What Does It Cost? What Size Adverts Are Available? How Do I Pay? Do The Prices Go Up? What File Formats Are Acceptable? How Long Can I Advertise For? Can I Have An Invoice? Can I Have A Receipt? Is The Church Vat Registered? Is There Anything I Cannot Advertise For? Can My Advert Be Removed? Is There A Contract To Sign? What Information Do I Need To Supply? Do I Get A Reminder When It s Time To Review? How Is The Magazine Printed? Are There Deadlines? Points To Note How Are My Details Stored? Are There Any Longer Term Plans For The Magazine And Its Advertising? Will My Business Details Be Released To Others? What If I Have Further Questions Not Covered Here? HOW DO GET AN ADVERT IN THE MAGAZINE? Very easily: email your advert, sized appropriately (give or take the editors can/will generally fine tune the sizing), to advertising@holytrinitywestcott.org.uk. You ll be notified by email if your advert can be run and invoiced accordingly (note that the initial invoice may simply be a request for payment via email which will be followed up with a formal invoice document). Once payment is received your advert will be published as required. We are trying to move to a more web based self service system in time. PAGE 1 OF 5
Note that the advertising team/the editors will not perform a graphical design service for you! Minor size/aspect ratio adjustments alone can be expected it is the responsibility of the advertiser to supply advertisement material in the appropriate format and keep it up to date as appropriate. WHAT DOES IT COST? There is a comprehensive pricing structure this is both viewable and available as a download, on the village website and prices reflect size of advert and the length of time it s run. Prices are published annually on 1 January. A price list can also be supplied (in PDF format) via email: send any requests to advertising@holytrinitywestcott.org.uk. WHAT SIZE ADVERTS ARE AVAILABLE? Sizes are quoted as fractions of a page. The parish magazine s pages are effectively A5 and so advert sizes readily correspond to ISO A series paper sizes. Adverts are :- Full Page (~A5); Half Page (~A6); Quarter Page (~A7); Eighth Page (~A8). No custom sizes are provided. The ISO A series page sizes are available on the Internet and can be found with a suitable Google search. HOW DO I PAY? We require money up front. Your advert will not be run until we have received payment for the desired period. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this. We require a cheque (personal or corporate) or postal order drawn in favour of Westcott Church Funds. BACS payments can be processed but payment via cheque is far easier to track and thus preferred. WE CANNOT AND WILL NOT DEAL IN CASH. DO THE PRICES GO UP? Sadly they do. Annually on 1 January by application of the previous year s RPI or thereabouts. Westcott Parish Magazine reserves the right to change the pricing or pricing model as/when desired without notice. WHAT FILE FORMATS ARE ACCEPTABLE? Ideally MS Word format (that s a.doc. and not a.docx ). Graphics files are usually OK please make sure they re sized accordingly provided they are in a mainstream format: JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG etc.. Your graphics can easily be dropped into MS Word so please do this if possible. If you send in a file that is in an incompatible file format, or of the wrong size, there is every chance your advert s publication will be delayed. PAGE 2 OF 5
Bear in mind that the latest release available to the magazine staff is MS Word 2003. Please DO NOT send files in WPS (Microsoft Works) as we do not have software to reads these files; you can convert WPS files to MS Word files at www.zamzar.com please do not expect us to do this for you. PDF documents are also acceptable. Again, if you are using other software such as OpenOffice (a freeware MS Office compatible suite from Sun Microsystems) please ensure that your documents are saved in MS Office format (possible with OpenOffice), we kindly ask that you do not send us documents in native OpenOffice format. HOW LONG CAN I ADVERTISE FOR? Essentially as long as you like. The minimum term is 1 month, the maximum sign up 1 year although the yearly period may be simply renewed. CAN I HAVE AN INVOICE? Yes. Supplied in PDF format. We ask that all invoices are remitted within 30 days please; if this is missed you will get chased up! Do bear in mind that those doing the invoicing and those chasing them up do so in their spare time and do not get paid chasing invoices is a bind and we politely ask for prompt payment please. CAN I HAVE A RECEIPT? Yes. Supplied in PDF format. IS THE CHURCH VAT REGISTERED? No. IS THERE ANYTHING I CANNOT ADVERTISE FOR? Yes, we need to be careful here. We cannot run adverts for :- babysitters or child minders ; Anything that is considered to run against the moral grain of the church; Advertisements with an associated political cause the church is an apolitical organisation and therefore any advert which is in any way politically polarised cannot be accepted; Anything that s illegal; We reserve the right to refuse any advert; Previously bad debtors and their associates will also be refused. CAN MY ADVERT BE REMOVED? It will be if you fall behind on payments. We would normally remind you and typically you d get a month s grace. While the Church does not endorse any advert placed in the magazine in any way, if we receive a large number of complaints regarding services or products supplied form a business that has current advertising in the magazine, we may PAGE 3 OF 5
chose, and wholly reserve the right, to remove the advert. refund would be made, pro rata, on the remaining time. In such cases a IS THERE A CONTRACT TO SIGN? No. WHAT INFORMATION DO I NEED TO SUPPLY? We ll need :- Contact telephone numbers; Mobile and landline; An email address; A business/home address; We no longer accept new advertisements where electronic contact and management is unavailable. DO I GET A REMINDER WHEN IT S TIME TO REVIEW? We used to run an automatic reminder service and in time it will be reinstated the Parish website has been recently revamped and moved from the old domain. The advertising records will remain separate from the new site. Reminders are automatically generated by a web server where the advertising data lives. In the normal case, you would get a reminder by email running for thee months before the expiry date. HOW IS THE MAGAZINE PRINTED? Sadly the magazine is not a monthly glossy with a circulation of hundreds of thousands! It s printed locally in monochrome and therefore all content is best supplied as such. Detailed graphics and photographs will reproduce but any detail is best kept simple. Take a look at a current magazine to get a feel for the quality of the reproduction if required. ARE THERE DEADLINES? Of sorts. If you want an advert to hit a specific issue then we really need your content by the end of the first week of the previous month. Sometimes these timeframes do get compressed (viz Christmas) so do check if it s critical. Thus if you want an ad for March, we d typically need the detail before February the 7th. Essentially the earlier we get material the better adverts can be submitted and queued for later publication. Please DO NOT rely on the system if things are critical while we try our best we re (otherwise very busy) volunteers and there are many possible single points of failure. Please do not expect Fleet Street service from a front running media organisation because we re neither. If things are important, please tell us and maintain tight contact/communication. POINTS TO NOTE Some noteworthy points:- Advertisements become proportionately cheaper the longer you run them; Smaller advertisements are cheaper per unit area than larger ones; We do not send magazines to advertisers; PAGE 4 OF 5
You can request a PDF copy as proof of publication. HOW ARE MY DETAILS STORED? The data you supply to us is held on a database; there is no third-party access to it and your details will not be shared. ARE THERE ANY LONGER TERM PLANS FOR THE MAGAZINE AND ITS ADVERTISING? Essentially the Westcott Parish Magazine will remain as it is. It is a local guide which includes adverts for local services, trades and businesses. There is a background plan afoot where adverts will also be made available on the village website and plans are also in place to make the advertising piece a little bid more Internet and/or self service based. As with all such plans bringing them to fruition requires time are fairly rare commodity in the voluntary sector! An electronic version is available online at www.holytrinitywestcott.org.uk and can be downloaded free of charge. WILL MY BUSINESS DETAILS BE RELEASED TO OTHERS? No. The church will not release your details but may use them for its own purposes this would typically involve internal data processing or any seasonal promotions the church does with its advertisers, such as the Christmas Champagne raffle. WHAT IF I HAVE FURTHER QUESTIONS NOT COVERED HERE? Try these :- Send an email to advertising@holytrinitywestcott.org.uk; Check a parish magazine and telephone the advertising contact. Please read this document carefully to ensure the question is not covered first. Remember those involved with running the magazine give up their spare time and are not paid staff. Version 5v0; JHRS May 2011 PAGE 5 OF 5