The Basic Anatomy of an Effective Ad

 
The Headline has to have some personal importance
If you have one dollar to spend on copywriting your ad, spend .80¢ on the headline! This is what most people are going to read. Headlines are grabbers. They grab the readers’ attention and draw them towards your company product or service.

When writing a headline, go for the jugular. You want your potential customers to know you understand their needs, desires, greed etcŠ Start by trying to focus on the benefits you have to offer. Selling security systems? Instead of “Secure Your Home”, try “How to Loose Everything You Own in 10 Minutes.” Grab their attention with something out of the ordinary. People will question the headline, and will then be drawn to find out what this crackpot is trying to prove. Once they are drawn to the ad, they read more to find interesting statistics on home security and realize they probably aren’t as safe as they thought. They might just pick up that phone!

A Call to Action
Tell people what you want them to do. You want them to call or visit your store and purchase your products or services. You might be surprised to find how much more effective your advertising is when you tell people what to do. I like to think of myself as an independant person who doesn’t need to be told what to do, but the fact is, I, like everyone else, need a little prompting from time to time.

Your logo & contact information are least important
The biggest and most common mistake made by advertisers is how they display their logo. Most want to place their logo top and centre or their ad, as big as can be. Big, big no no. Don’t forget what the objective of advertising is: to gain new customers who are unaware of your business. New customers don’t really care how pretty your logo is. They may already go to another jeweller or hairdresser and think they’re happy with their present services. Start with your well thought out headline. Use that to grab their attention, not your logo - it just won’t work.

Your logo is still important. It does need to be the same everywhere you advertise in order to gain a strong company image. It should stand out in your ad, it just doesn’t need to be the main highlight.

What are the biggest mistakes made in advertising?

• Your business card is not an ad. It’s a networking tool.
• Inconsistent use of company image. If a logo was developed, it must be used everywhere you advertise.
• Too many words = big turn off. People are lead full lives and will not spend their time reading a lengthy advertisement.
• An ad is not going to sell the product. You are. The ad should be developed to point people in your direction. People buy from people, not businesses.

The very biggest mistake ever, is not advertising at all. Just because you opened the doors to your new business, doesn’t mean people will coming flocking in. You should make sure you’ve got money left over for an effective marketing plan. There are free, but time consuming ways to advertise too, don’t forget! Budget some time and money. 

Linda Laforge-Koebel is an advertising professional dedicated to the business success of her clients. To see her portfolio and find more resources visit her at: http://www.CreativeEngineer.com or contact her by email at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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