These are some tips that I have learned over the years about building effective ads. Unfortunately very few people listen to this advice….. They all are awesome designers because they know their clients and they have Microsoft Publisher and once made a flyer for their mom’s knitting group. Yeah! Not really!
Their are really smart people out there that have researched this over many years and found that these next few things will increase the response rate of your ad. Why? Because they were professional advertising executives with years of experience. Why should they know better than the average person? Because they were asked to build really bad ads for years and found out that they didn’t work, also… they asked the readers. They went out into the general public and asked them why they chose one ad over another. If you look at these 8 sentences, you will see that it is really common sense and you may find yourself thinking of ads that you remember that follow these rules.
1. A good ad stimulates interest by touching on human emotions, desires, and needs, as well as creating desire by offering solutions to emotions or problems.
2. Your headline must PROMISE a BENEFIT. You have about one second of attention before the reader moves on. Your headline is 70% responsible for the success of your ad.
3. You want to show the benefit of your company. “Live the Carefree Lifestyle at The Breckstone Golf & Country Club” This is a benefit headline.
4. You need to bring out strong emotions from your customers, give them benefits of what you have, not features. Touch on the human desire to be comfortable and offer a solution through your company. “Lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks”
5. Twice as many readers will look at the graphics than will read the headline so show them the best photo you can. The prettier or evocative it is, the more it will catch their eye.
6. Call tracking numbers that show how many people called off your ad can be helpful in determining the response your ad is receiving. If you advertise in more than one place, have different numbers for each publication.
7. Make sure that your ad is large enough to accommodated all the information. An ad that is crammed into a little box will be ignored.
8. Make sure your ad is to the outside of the paper. If your ad is on the fold, your readership will be cut in half. Poor placement will cost you clients. Some papers charge 10-15% more for guaranteed placement, but it is usually worth it.
That wasn’t so bad. I think that clients more often than not clutter their ads with things that don’t do anything. This should be the basic ad:
Headline HUNGRY?
Deal-Image 99¢ Cheeseburgers – mouthwatering photo
Logo Bob’s Giant Carabou Burgers
addict. info 1234 Mainstreet – Anytown USA 555-555-5555 we accept MC and Visa
Website www.BGCB.com
