10 Effective Advertising Tips!
80% Of All Advertising Is Wasted Due To This Common Mistake.
29 Advertising Tips
10 Effective Advertising Tips!
Writing a classified ad to sell your product isn't as hard as you might think, if you spend time researching effective copy writing strategies.
Here are a few to try NOW!
1. Never try to sell expensive items from a small classified ad. Use the two step method. Request the reader visit your website for free information or email an auto responder address for more details where you will respond with longer ad copy to effectively sell your product.
2. Study how other marketers write their sales copy. This is a no brainer. Simply study the ads in newsletters you are subscribed to.
Or surf to a few of the free classified ad sites on the Internet and study the ads placed there. Don't copy their ads word for word but use them as an effective design to write your own adverts. Choose the ads that catch your eye, that stand out the most to you and the ones that spark your interest. Take the most powerful words from each ad and them use them to create your own powerful ad.
3. Advertise in the right publication. That's right. This is basic stuff. Don't place your ad for cooking lessons in a Sports publication. Or High Tech EBooks on Java-Scripting in a publication all about dating..
Yes, it sounds obvious but far to many business owners make this mistake, time and time again.
4. Target several appropriate publications. Subscribe to the publications and study their classified ads for several editions
before placing your ads. Practice writing adverts following their basic ad writing guidelines.
5. Advertise in more than one publication at a time. Why? You want to pull in as many interested readers as possible in
order to make sales.
6. Change your ad copy if it's not working. If people read the same old ad copy in the publication every month they will get bored and probably ignore your copy. It's human nature to do this. Freshen up your copy with new headlines, different lengths, new wording, power words, appropriate humour, details, interesting facts, testimonials.
7. Key your ads to find out which ones are working. Or simply have several email addresses or auto responders and calculate which email address receives the most response to your ads.
Keying your ads is simple. For example: Let's say you were running 4 ads at the same time. You would want to know which ads were working for you and which ads were not working. So, the easiest way to do this is to key your adverts individually. You can achieve this by putting a reference code on each advert and then asking customers to quote the reference. For example:
If you had an advert in the paper, one in a shop window, one on the Internet and one in a magazine, all you would need to do is key each advert as follows:
Ad in Paper - PAP1
Ad in Shop Window - SW1
Ad on the Internet - Int1
Ad in Magazine - MAG1
If a customer quotes reference SW1, you will know that they have seen your advert in the shop window, if they quote MAG1, you will know they have seen your advert in the magazine and so on.......
This is the easiest way to key your advertising and it will allow you to key a track on which are adverts are working and which adverts are losing you money. Adopting this method will save you a lot of time, stress and money in the long run.
8. Keep records of everyone who responds to your ads. Follow up with appropriate messages about your product. Of course, give them the option to opt out of receiving further correspondence.
9. Free Classified Ad Sites are a great way to test your adwriting skills before placing paid ads in publications online or offline. Study how other marketers at these sites write their ads. Respond to their ads to see how they further market their product. Don't forget to set up a free email account especially to handle your request.
10. Study offline publications and advertisements you receive by snail-mail to see how they put it all together. This will help to build your ad writing skills and confidence in your copy writing abilities.
80% of All Advertising Is Wasted Due To This Common Mistake
Imagine you’re flipping through a publication as you wait for your coffee, when suddenly you decide to stop and read an ad. What made you stop? I’ll bet it was an attention grabbing headline.
It is a scientifically proven fact that 5 times as many people read headlines as read the body copy of an ad. So with the headline, an advertiser has spent about 80% of their advertising pound. It doesn’t take a genius to realise then that the headline is the most important part of any ad.
Yet, most small business advertising is wasted for lack of an effective headline or worse yet, no headline at all. Don’t make this same mistake.
The headline is the first thing that your reader or prospect sees when they open your letter, browse a magazine or flip your postcard/flyer. In that moment, (about 3 seconds) your reader decides whether or not to read any further.
So first and foremost, any advertisement you produce must have a headline and your headline must grab your reader's attention immediately. If you don't grab them by the throat and hold them right away, you never will.
Writing powerful headlines takes some hard work but it can be done if you follow some simple guidelines.
1. Your headline should give the reader a reason to stop and read now instead of later – a carefully chosen word or two can create urgency
2. Your headline should communicate something the reader considers valuable – they need to be able to justify the time spent reading your ad
3. Your headline should scream how you might offer something that is unique and something that will help the person reading your ad or to which they will at least find interesting
4. Your headline should point to something very specific for the reader – use facts and how to’s
Using these points as a guide to create your headlines, allows you to create headlines that hook your reader quickly, offers them a benefit they want and gives them a reason to read on.
Never use boring, conventional or overused statements and never use a headline to trick your reader into looking.
Attention Getting Power Words For Your Headlines:
Look at powerful headlines and you will see that many contain one or more of the following words that sell.
Discover - Easy - Free - New - Proven - Save - Results - Introducing - At Last - Guarantee - Bargain - Quick - Sale - Why - How To - Just Arrived - Now Announcing
Start of by writing some headlines that clearly communicate your promise, benefit or USP (Unique Selling Point). Then look for ways to make them even more powerful by adding a power word or two and checking if they contain at least 3 of the guidelines provided above.
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29 Advertising Tips
1. Tell your audience what kind of support they'll get after they buy. It could be free consulting, technical support, free servicing, etc. This may also answer some of their buying questions ahead of time. People don't want to buy products/services without knowing you will be there to help if they have problems, eliminate any doubt in their minds.
2. Ask people at the end of your copy why they decided not to buy. This will give you new ideas on how to produce ad copy that’s more profitable. Have a web form or e-mail link in place so they can answer you. You may find out they don't like your guarantee or graphics. It could be anything!
3. Think of ways to get your web site or business in the the news. You could sponsor a fundraising event, break a world record, hold a major event, etc. Simply write a press release about what you’ve accomplished, then send it to media outlets that cater to your target audience.
4. Hold a contest on your web site. Give other web sites the option of offering it to their visitors. This will multiply your advertising all over the Internet. It would become a viral contest. Of course, the contest must either be ongoing or held regularly, so you could allow other online publishers to offer it to their visitors or subscribers.
5. Tell your potential customers that your ordering system is highly secure. Also, reassure them that you take every effort to protect them. People want to feel they are safe online. They want to know that you care about their well-being. Tell them all about what you currently do for them to make them feel more secure.
6. Carry business cards (
Vista Print - 250 FREE Business Cards
) with you wherever you go. Have your web site address printed on them. You can hand them out to anyone you meet. Just think of all the people you meet on a regular basis: Grocery store workers, Post Office workers, family members, friends, salesmen/women, etc.. You can even ask them to hand them out.
7. Contact national radio stations to ask them if they are looking for guest speakers. Tell them your area of expertise; maybe they'll book you for a show. Of course, you would want to contact targeted stations and shows which would want to know more about you and your area of expertise.
8. Join clubs related to your area of business (or join The Network FREE). You could trade leads with other businesses. Learn new ways to run your business and sell your products. You could also create your own online business club. You could provide private chat rooms, message boards, articles, etc.
9. Think of a domain name for your website that's easy to remember. It should be related to what your business does, sells or provides.
10. Position your web site at the top of pay-per-click search engines. You will only pay your set amount for each click-through you get to your web site. Just make sure your profits will pay for your advertising cost. If they won't, maybe you could share a web site with another related business and split the costs.
11. Allow your visitors or customers to increase your traffic or sales. Ask them how you can improve your business, website or product. You can ask them at your website, in your e-zine, on your message board, in your chat room, in your guest book, in your product packages, etc.
12. Team up with other e-zines that have the same target audience. Combine subscriber bases and then publish one e-zine together to increase subscribers. You could all include your ads and announcements in the e-zine. You could also take turns for the top advertising space.
13. Swap endorsement advertisements with other web sites. Endorsement ads usually pull more sales and traffic than regular advertisements. People have taught themselves to ignore advertisements because they see hundreds of them every day. Endorsements usually don't look or sound like normal ads.
14. Outsource part of your workload to save time and money. You can spend more of your time and money promoting your business. You'll save money on employee costs, space costs, training costs, etc. Keep the work you enjoy doing to keep you motivated and ship out the work you don't like.
15. Include a signature file (Your Details) on all the e-mails you send out. Provide your business name, phone number, e-mail and web address, etc. Also include a brief blurb for your business or the product you're selling. For example: You could say, "How To Wash Your Car In Two Minutes or Less!"
16. Use pictures or graphics on your web site that support the product you're selling. They could give your visitors a clearer vision of your product, the benefits of the product, people's emotion when they own the product, etc. You could also use ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures.
17. Create a friendly, long-term relationship with all your customers. Practice good customer service and follow-up with them on a regular basis. You could follow-up with gifts, greeting cards, free things, coupons, special offers, reminders, your e-zine, helpful advice, etc.
18. Create strategic alliances with other web sites. You could exchange banner ads, sell each other's products as back-end products, cross-promote, etc. You could also create a web site together and promote it on your separate web sites. You would both just split the costs and profits.
19. Increase the perceived value of your product to skyrocket your sales. Add on free bonuses, after- sale services or an affiliate programme. Other factors that would help are: Your own domain name, a professional web design, a good-looking product graphic and persuasive ad copy.
20. Give customers a discount on their total order to increase sales. You could give them a discount for ordering over a set price or product amount. For example: You could say, "Buy over £39 worth of products and get a 20% discount on your order!" Another example, "Get a 15% discount if you order 3 or more products!"
21. Allow your visitors to reprint the content on your web site. Just ask them to include your resource box and a link to your site in exchange. This will turn your content into a traffic machine and the external links will help increase your ranking in some search engines.
22. Provide a free contest or sweepstake on your web site. It's a fact, people like to win things. If you can fulfil that need, people will visit. You can also attract them to revisit by holding one every week or month. You could also start an opt-in list for people who enter your contest or sweepstake so you can follow-up with them regularly.
23. Save time and money by using ad submitters. You will reach a larger part of your target audience far more quickly than by manually submitting your ad. You should manually submit your ad to the most popular web sites so you have a better chance of being listed or placed in a good position.
24. Create a good first impression. You will not be able to sell very many products if your visitors think your web site looks unprofessional. Use crisp graphics, attractive colour combinations, a readable text size, even spacing, even margins, bold headlines, indent benefits, etc.
25. Stop procrastinating and start finishing all your business tasks. Do one at a time. Don’t get caught up thinking that you can never get them all done. Make a list. Do the easiest or most crucial one first and move down the list. Cross off each task as you complete it.
26. Develop a relationship with all your visitors and customers. Tell them how much you appreciate them visiting your web site or buying your product. Invite them to online and offline events like free chat room classes, parties, dinner gatherings, business events, etc.
27. Stay away from being too comfortable with your income or life. You should always be making new goals for yourself and developing new sales ideas. The world keeps changing and if you pause too long, you might miss out. You only live once.
28. Make sure you don’t become a workaholic. Your mind needs time away from your business life. This will help your brain think clearly while working. The best time to get profitable ideas is when you’re not thinking about them. They just pop into your brain
29. Create and follow short/long-term goals for your business. The short-term goals can create early success and the long-term goals can create future success. Design each goal so they all add up to your ultimate goal. Don't make your goals too unrealistic otherwise depression and frustration could move you farther away from them.