Know-How Exchange : Other

I'm not sure I understand the question. What kind of rates? Where/what country? Is your target audience local or national? B2B or B2C? Print, broadcast, online? Etc.

If you can explain the situation in more detail, we can almost certainly help you. Otherwise the question you're asking doesn't contain enough information to allow for a cogent response.

Start by identifying the publications that your target audience reads. Ask each of them for a current rate card, or seek it out online. Talk with the advertising sales reps and see what they recommend, given your needs, goals and budget.

Since you haven't shared much with us, that's about as much as I can suggest. Either you need to give us specifics or hire someone to guide you through the advertising process.

Are you trying to gain awareness of national retailers, or actually reach consumers on a national basis?

It sounds like you are the publication, not an advertiser who places an ad in the publication?

The rates are all related to how many people are reading the publication (what is called CPM, or cost per thousand). And not just anyone, but advertisers want to know how many people they want to reach are reading it.

I went through this process for a regional magazine I had started, and wrote about the pricing process in a blog post. Might be interesting for you to read:
https://expandabroad.blogspot.com/2011/06/ads-in-new-publication.html

Keep in mind - the tighter you can target a certain target market, the more you can charge per person. So a very targeted publication can get a high CPM. As you broaden the reach, even just geographically, you often get a lower CPM. So if you double the circulation, you may only get 1.8x the overall money.

Rates alone won't capture accounts, national or otherwise. What kind of exposure can you offer? What kind of design help do you provide? What have you done for similar clients?