While writing advertising copy is an entire course by itself, I wanted to go over some of the basic principles good ads have in common. Keep in mind that you want your prospective customer to come away with the impression that will be learn something by doing business with you. And as a small business person, you don't have the luxury of creating a brand over time like Coca Cola. You need results now, so stay away from image advertising.
Some small business people feel overwhelmed by the thought of creating print media advertising. Get over it. Even if you hire an agency, you need a basic understanding of good advertising so you judge if the ad they create for you follow basic proven principles. You don't want just 'anything' created for an ad that may cost you hundreds of dollars.
The first step in creating any advertisement is describing on paper the key characteristics of your ideal customer. This can be as simple or detailed as you want to make it. The more detailed your description, the more targeted your advertising needs to be. This information will help you pick likely places to advertise or where not to advertise. If your target market is 'Women, aged 25-35, with preschool children', you wouldn't want to advertise in a college newspaper or teen magazine.
The next step is to outline all of the important 'benefits' that your product or service offers prospective customers. Remember that people don't care about the 'features', just what it can do for them. A feature of this Institute is that it contains a School of Business, a School of Marketing, and a School of Personal Development. The benefit of the Institute is that it will give the average person the knowledge to create a personalized business with a quick cash flow, become a master at marketing, and learn the personal skills needed to improve their lives. Always turn features into benefits.
Third, you must give people a clear idea of what you want them to do. For instance, call for more information, visit a store, go to a web site, call to order a product, etc. Having these three things clear in your mind will help you develop the right words to write your advertisement.
Here are some other considerations when dealing with print advertising:
- As with all advertising, the headline makes the rest of the ad work. You will want to write dozens of them before you choose the one to use. The best headlines appeal to people's self-interest, or give news. Long headlines that say something are better than short ones that say nothing. Remember that the best body copy can't overcome a bad headline.
- Use simple words that the majority of people understand. When you finish writing your copy, have someone that's around 16 years old read it. If there is something they did not understand, change it. Don't assume everyone will understand how you think.
- Use however many words it takes to tell the complete story about your product or service, no more or no less. Common wisdom says that the more you tell, the more you will sell - but, that comes at an increased cost. The best way is to write everything down that you want your reader to know about your product or service. Then simplify the story until it fits the size of advertising and still gives the reader all the facts needed to make the decision to talk to you.
- Get to the point. Don't try to be cute, or funny, or beat around the bush. Just the facts. Start off with the best benefit and mention them in descending order. Also tell them about what they will miss if they don't buy. Repeat the main benefit two or three times, using different words, and at the end ask for action by telling them what you want them to do.