Many people in business lay-out (design) their ownads. That old adage "If It Is To Be It Is Up ToMe" prevails. Do it yourself and you may get whatyou want. Many newspaper salespeople are poor atconveying customer wants to the design department,and slow are retunring proofs. The result is an adwith errors, not approved by the cusotmer.

If your expenditures will be moderate, you mightbe able to afford a graphic designer oradvertising agency. It costs nothing to find out,call a few ad agencies in the phone book and askfor an account rep. Explain you may be in themarket for an agency and let them ask thequestions. A quick determination will not be longin coming.

There is a lot to be said for finding a way forsomeone else to do your ads so you can use yourtalents for what you do best, running yourbusiness. Designing your own ads (a furniturestore I visited had a complete drafting table,magnifying light and glue pot in the corner) isabout the same as fixing your own leaks and askingthe plumber to come by and inspect it.

Your ad will have less than eight tenths of asecond to get a readers attention. You must stopthe reader's eye in less than a second, and holdit for at least three seconds to make animpression. Think about the ads you pass when youread the paper, You fly by some of them fasterthan you can say "one-Mississippi" (a half asecond).

Collect a folder of ads thet grab your attention.Gather a list of hot words. There are articles andlists throughout the internet of "selling" words.Type "Words that Sell" in any search engine.

Always Stress the BenefitsA feature is what something is. A benefit is whatit does. Advertise the benefits of your product orservice, not the features. People don't buysomething to get a feature, instead they alwaysbuy to get the benefit produced by the feature.

The jury is still out on the effectiveness ofcolor vs the cost of color. Look at the big boys,most dont use color in display ads (only the cardealers, for some inexplicable reason).

There are Already Enough EgosLook through any paper and count the mug shots ofthe owner, pics of the kids or staff. Not tomention the photos of the business building oraward. Ego is easy to sell to the advertisers, butit doesn't sell the customer. The paper uses egoall the time to sell you more ads. The billboardpeople are especially notorious for this practice.Focus on the benefits and forget your smiling headand shoulders shot.

Put it on the shelfAfter you put an ad together, put it on the shelf,in a drwaer or file it in your computer for a day.Don't look at it or think about it. Wait at least24 hours to take a fresh look. Can you remove atkleast 5 words? It will sell harder with lesswords. You don't read jumbled ads, they don'teither. Does it have to be that big? Cut it by athird and you can buy more for the same money.

Sell the benefits with class and your advertisingcan be very effective.

For more about advertising, get my article"Your Billboard is Showing"
MailTo:Billboards@BigIdeasGroup.com

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