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 10 effective advertising tips 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 site 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 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.
3. Advertise in the right Newsletter. That’s right. This is basic stuff. Don’t place your ad for cooking lessons in a Sports Trivia Newsletter. Or High Tech EBooks on Java-Scripting in a Romance Writers Newsletter.
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 humor, 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.
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 ad writing skills before placing paid ads in publications online. 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
You’re flipping through this publication as you wait for your latte, 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 dollar. It doesn’t take a genius to realize then 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. In that moment, (about 3 seconds) your reader decides whether or not to read any farther.
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 reader your ad
3. Your headline should scream how you might offer something that is unique or at least 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 on.
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. 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.
