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5 Powerful Rules for Writing Advertising That Sells!
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As you begin to write your sales copy for your advertisement keep one thing in your mind. Everything you put into the must point out a specific benefit to your prospect. Ask yourself as you write, "How will this help to get my prospect to act now?"
Always focus on the prospect, no matter what everyone else says or thinks. Tell them you've got a solution to their wants, needs desires, RIGHT NOW! The purpose is to get them to act.
- Identify the prospect pain. (Research your target prospect to understand this)
- Make them really feel it (they will do more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure...so really hit them between the eyes)
- Let them know you can take it away right now. (Go into absolute detail here)
- Let him know the pain will stay unless they act now. (Remind them of the pain they are currently feeling. Go into detail here as well)
- Remove the risk of taking action for them. (make it so simple and risk free, they would feel silly not using your product or service)
- Write your ad as though they are sitting beside you. You know their needs, wants and desires intimately because you have now done your research thoroughly.
- Write the same way, as you would have a conversation. Use a friendly, matter of fact manner, (Don't beat around the bush! This is serious)
- Read it back to yourself out loud, putting yourself in their shoes.
Do you feel the pain? Can you truly empathise with him? Use short sharp spunky words. These will get more reaction from them. Tell them exactly what you mean and what they need to do in a step-by-step way. Make it as simple as possible. Take the risk out of it with a very strong guarantee. This will earn their trust for your product or service. They'll feel like they got absolutely nothing to lose.
Make it as easy for them! Make it interesting. If they get bored by what you have to say...so will lots of other prospects. Make the phone number, e-mail address, coupon, or whatever it is, easy to see and simple to use! Make this information plain as day. Make them feel special, important and worthwhile. You will win their loyalty.
About the author: Smarter Business Leads specialize in using Low Cost Advertising & Marketing Ideas that will explode your businesses cash register. Check them out at www.smarterbusinessleads.com if you hurry they may even send you a free report!
10 Critical Things To Do Before You Spend A Dime In Advertising
"Research..." Let's say it again..."Research"...Grrrrrrrr. The word "research" can make many eBusiness owners cringe. Why? Because it sounds like such hard work.
Let's analyse the word itself. "Search" means to go looking for something and "re" means "again". Put them together and it means to go looking for something again. Guess what? Research is hard work. However, to survive online research must be done and it must be done on a regular basis. So if you don't like doing research, well basically, that's too bad. It's time to take it by the hand and make it your friend because you need to do research to be a successful eBusiness owner for these reasons:
- Research is going to take time, however, in the long run it's going to save you a lot of money.
- Research is what's going to set you apart from everybody else. By taking the time to research hot topics, hot websites and the latest techniques of Internet gurus you are going to learn what is currently working and what is currently not working - taking advantage of the mistakes that others have made - and that information alone is priceless.
- Research is going to make you look like an expert. People will want to join your list, belong to your private site, read your books because they know you spend the time researching the latest up to the minute trends and techniques.
- Research is what the majority of eBusiness owners avoid doing like the plague. Why? Because people are inherently lazy and if there's an easier way of getting from (a) to (b) people will consistently choose that route.
- Guess what? By doing research that other people hate doing you will become a valuable regular source of information to an unlimited number of people.
So let's say the word again and this time let's say it slowly and with a smile... R E S E A R C H ! See, it doesn't seem so awful now, does it? Because research is what is going to save you a lot of money, make you a lot of money, and research is what all successful Internet marketers do on a regular basis.
It's time consuming. It's annoying. However, it's a necessary evil so let's learn to really love it.
Okay, now that I hope you are feeling a little warm and fuzzy towards doing research ;o), what every Internet marketer must do on a regular basis is research what advertising works. And the first step is to find a newsletter/ezine to advertise in and to do that you need to spend a bit of time collating some information.
Here's 8 things to do before you spend a dime on advertising:
- Take time time to look at the newsletter publisher's website.
- If you like the website then subscribe to the ezine and look at the format of the ezine closely.
- Contact the publisher and ask the following questions:
- What is the number of subscribers?
- Has each subscriber specifically asked to be subscribed to the list or has it been automatic through a co-op etc?
- Is double opt-in used ie. Has each subscriber confirmed their request to subscribe?
- How often and what days of the week is the ezine published?
- It is generally believed that Tuesday through Thursday are the best days for readership, however, I know of many successful ezine publishers who publish regularly on a Friday or Saturday targeting weekend readership.
By taking the time to wait for these answers and going over the responses carefully you will immediately be able to place ezines in rankings of importance as a result of the answers you receive.
The more "yes" answers you get to the above questions the higher the quality of the readership will be. The number of subscribers is not an indicator of how well your ad will pull. Quite often newsletters with low subscribers pull as well as newsletters with thousands of subscribers.
The bottom line at all times is the sales you receive as a result of your ad placement. The higher the readership quality the higher quality prospects and customers you will receive and the less refunds you will have to process.
So next time that you're in two minds about doing things the quick way (looking for quick results with no research, high chance of monetary loss) or the slow methodical way (looking for quality results, possible delayed gratification, definite monetary savings in the long term) remember that Turtle who gave a certain self-confident Hare a big run (pardon the pun) for his money.
Now which one are you...that Turtle or that Hare?
Copyright 2003. Karin Manning. All Rights Reserved. Karin is the webmistress of earn profits monthly. Subscribe to her newsletter Net Wealth with up to the minute tips and techniques for growing your business online by visiting earn profits monthly today.
Advertising On A Budget - Part 2: Thinking Small
This is the second article of a three-part series. I'm illustrating the marketing challenges of a small business, PrescottWeddings.com. Our goal was to both build the PWC brand and drive traffic to the Web site. Advertising regularly was essential. Yet it was also essential to keep our costs down. So we leveraged our monthly newspaper advertising to stretch our marketing dollar as far as we could.
How did we do that? We "thought small." We bought one inch by two column inch ads (a column inch in this particular publication is approximately 1.88 inches). The ads were one inch high and almost 4 inches long.
To reflect the small ad, the copy also had to be short and sweet. Like so: www.PrescottWeddings.com. Everything you need to say "I do." Just the name of the business and the slogan. We put the name in large type and made the tagline much smaller. Did it work? The first day this ad ran, we garnered 350 hits on the Web site and several phone calls from business owners who wanted more information. And that was just the beginning. Hits steadily grew during the campaign, and every time it ran we always noticed a jump. Not bad for a little ad.
Conventional wisdom says bigger is better. And while it is true that big ads stand out (after all, they do take a big chunk of real estate on the page) it doesn't mean big is the only way to go. Small ads can pack a punch too.
Why did the PWC ad work? First of all, it got noticed because it stuck out (yes, small ads can stick out). It had an odd shape -- long and thin, not a square like so many other ads. The name was big -- bigger than many other fonts surrounding it. (But not so big that the ad lacked sufficient white space.)
But probably the biggest reason it worked was because the message was simple. This is clearly a Web site about having a wedding in the Prescott area. Therefore if you're involved with weddings, whether as a business or on a more personal level, and you're also associated with Prescott, then this is a Web site clearly worth taking a peek at. People instantly got the message. And they got it even if they only scanned the paper. It was quick and painless for them -- something all ads should strive to be.
What's also interesting is how this ad hit its target market. I've spoken to people (mostly men) who have no interest in getting married and have never seen the ad even though they read the paper. Conversely, businesses in the wedding industry and brides have said they see the ad all the time.
Now, you may have a business name that doesn't capture your business' products or services as well as PrescottWeddings.com (my business name for example). In this case, why not think of a catchy tag line you can use in those small ads to drive people to your Web site?
Web sites can be huge, wordy, information-stuffed selling tools. So use short, sweet one-message statement to get people to go look and learn more about your business rather than try to shove everything in an ad. Don't forget to include your business name and logo for branding purposes.
About the author: Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com Copyright 2005 Michele Pariza Wacek.
