How much does local advertising cost?

Anyone who quotes you a local advertising price without asking questions is guessing. The honest answer is that the cost is set by a small number of variables, and once you understand them you can budget a campaign in your head before requesting a quote. Here they are, in the order they matter.

1. How many locations

The biggest lever. One store beside your business is the cheapest possible campaign; every store in a neighbourhood costs more and reaches proportionally more; the whole network reaches a region. Most networks, including Sav, price additional locations at a lower rate than the first — a multi-location campaign is one booking, one set of creative and one report, so the overhead doesn't multiply.

2. Which placements

Surfaces are priced by prominence and production. A window poster or an exclusive counter position costs more than a slot in a screen loop; a bag insert is priced per store per flight. Combining two or three surfaces in the same store costs less than three separate bookings, because a package is planned and installed as one job. The placements page describes each format; this guide explains how they combine.

3. Duration

Physical media is sold by the flight — two weeks, four weeks, a season — and longer terms earn lower monthly rates because the creative stays up and nothing has to be re-installed. Ongoing presence plans are the most economical way to be seen continuously. Exclusive category sponsorships are sold on six- or twelve-month terms.

4. Creative

If you supply print-ready artwork to spec, there's no design cost. If you want the creative designed, that's a flat fee per campaign. A landing page for the campaign to point to is a separate project — Sav's website partner scopes those individually.

5. Production and installation

Posters, clings, counter cards and bag inserts are physical objects; printing and installation are part of the price and scale with the number of stores. Screen placements have no production cost beyond the creative file.

6. Exclusivity

Being the only business in your category in a store or across the network — 'Official Local Realtor', 'Featured Restaurant' — commands a premium, because it locks competitors out for the term. It's the most expensive option per store and the most valuable for a business whose competitors are on the same street.

How to budget before you ask

Decide the radius first (which stores), then the job (which surfaces), then how long recognition needs to build (how many weeks). That gives you a shape; the quote gives you the number. Sav's packages show ready-made shapes — a single-store starter, a standing community presence, a multi-location buy — with everything they include, and every campaign is quoted in writing with exact pricing within two business days. We don't publish a rate card because two campaigns with the same budget rarely look alike.

What to compare it against

Judge cost by the radius it fills, not the headline. A city-wide medium is cheap per impression and expensive per *useful* impression when your customers live on six streets. Search ads are priced by auction and rise as competitors bid. In-store media is priced by store and flight, so the cost of being seen repeatedly by one neighbourhood is fixed and knowable. Digital vs physical, compared honestly →