34 Ways To Make Your Advertising More Effective 

 This page contains some excellent ideas for increasing customer response to your advertising. These are not just words on a page - they are tested advertising methods for getting results. Don't let an easy idea stop you from getting better advertising results.  

 What do we consider better results? A better offer can double your response. A better headline can double your response. A better graphic, better position, better media, better timing, better copy - all can double your response. Get them all right, and you get 10 times the response that a bad ad gets. And this is just the beginning.

34 Ways To Get More Effective Advertising 

 “Lose 10 Pounds In 10 Days” is a benefit promise headline. It's good, and it will get interested people to read your sales copy [which is the job of your headline]. 

 "Lose 10 Pounds In 10 Days The Easy Way" is better. [People want the easy way of doing everything - especially hard things].

 "Announcing A New Way To Easily Lose 10 Pounds In 10 Days" is better still. You have combined benefit, ease, and news in your headline. Your headline is a winner.  

 Your headline must be great. Read Effective Copywriting for more.

 2. Write a few different headlines, and try them out. An improved headline could triple your advertising effectiveness, or more. Same ad - different headline - three times the response. [No kidding]. How do you get more effective advertising? You test different headlines, and measure the response.

 3. People act on emotions, not on logic. Your headline and your ad should aim to get an emotional response. Emotions are triggered by clear, powerful benefits. Give benefits, not features. Touch on human desires and needs, and offer the solution to the problem.

 4. People will justify their emotional decisions later. An ad is not the place for a logical argument or justification. The job of the ad is to get a response. This does not mean that you don't want to list factual information in your ads. You absolutely want to list facts that give benefits that create strong emotions. That is how it's done.

 5. Test Your ads. Create two different ads with two different offers. Key the ads so you know which ad the client saw, and see which offer works best. This is absolutely the best way to increase the effectiveness of your advertising. Keep testing until you find the offer that works the best. You will DOUBLE the effectiveness of your ads.

 6. Twice as many readers will look at a photo than read a headline. By using a graphic you are getting the attention of twice as many people. And a vertical photo attracts more attention than a horizontal one. Studies also show that the size of your photograph is important. When you double the size of a photo, you double the average amount of copy a person will read. That's how you get more effective advertising.

 7. Your photos must match your message. If there is no connection, people won’t get it, and they will not read your copy. If people can't look at your photo independent of your copy and know what business you're in, change your photo. And always use captions with your photos. Twice as many people will read the caption than the text copy.

 8. 60% of consumers believe ads that offer a money-back guarantee. 57% believe ads that carry an official third party endorsement. 46% of consumers believe claims based on survey results. That's how you get more effective advertising.

 9. Offer different deals every few weeks. One offer will out-pull the others. This will also help you to get different kinds of customers who respond to different offers.  

 10. Always write in the present tense, using the second person format. Use the word "you" as often as you can. "You will relax". "You will know".  Eliminate any references to yourself, and direct them all to the customer in the present tense, second person format [you, you, you, you...].

 11. Coupons get the highest response rate for advertising. Coupons in newspaper inserts get double the response than do coupons in regular newspaper ads [4.4% versus 2.3%]. Coupons contained inside a product get more than double the response than do the insert coupons [12% versus 4.4%]. If you can, use coupons.

 12. Offer a limited number of free consultations or special deals per month. “Only the first 50 people….” This gets people to respond now. Use a time limit in your ads for people to respond. Time limits work.  

 13. About 1/3 of readers will stop after reading the first 50 words. An additional 25% will stop reading after 200 words. Put the benefits up front, and keep them coming. Or to put it another way, get straight to the point. People will not wait.

 14. People believe testimonials. Use them if you can.

 15. Be careful when measuring the response to your ad. Many unpredictable things can go wrong or right that have nothing to do with your ad. Current events, the weather, and competitor actions can help or hurt you in the short run. You may get great placement and a great response, or the exact opposite. Just average it all out. Ask your customers where they saw your ad, and be persistent. Good luck or bad, it’s time and patience that will pay off with more effective advertising.

 16. Set goals and measure your progress. What is the response rate to your ad? Are inquiries becoming clients? What is your return on investment for your ad? Read What Your Print Ads Can Do for more.

 17. Are you getting repeat business? Find out why customers are, or are not, coming back.

 18. Are you attracting customers you don’t want? You may be making the wrong offer. Not every client is profitable or desirable. Effective advertising attracts the prospects you want, not the ones that waste your time.

 19. A half page advertisement will pull 70% of the business a full-page ad will. A quarter page ad will pull 50% of a full page. Is the cost difference worth it?

 20. Direct response advertising is effective advertising. Tell your customers to respond now. Tell them what to do and how to do it. Make it as simple as possible for them to respond to your ad immediately. [Offer credit, discounts, delivery, 800#, web information, directions, map, etc. etc. etc.]

 21. Understand how response devises work. [Coupons, phone #’s, return cards.] Read the Direct Mail Advertising chapter for more.

 22. Use the problem – solution format to create effective advertising. “Hungry? Try Our .99 Double Cheeseburger."

 23. Always ask questions that get a “yes, that’s me” reply.

 24. Buy a bigger ad. Effective advertising communication takes space. Don’t try to cram it all into a little box. The best advertisements need room to bloom.

 25. Your ad needs to work with the reader’s physical eye movements. The point of attraction for the eye, and the subsequent movement or natural reading progression needs to lead the reader toward the response device [like your phone number].

 26. For more effective advertising, better define who your customer is. Read Marketing Targeting Strategy  for more.

 27. Try different media. A small local newsletter may deliver big customers, and it’s very cheap. Newspaper inserts work, as does direct mail, and a hundred other kinds of media. Read Using Media More Effectively for more.

 28. Try different types of ads. A general ad will get you a higher response from lesser-qualified prospects. A specific ad will get fewer, but better-qualified prospects. Read Generating Better Qualified Prospects for more.

 29. Effective advertising connects your marketing together. Mention your newsletter in your e-mails, your e-mails in your ads, your ads in your brochures, your brochures on your calendars, your calendars on your business cards, etc. Connect them all as much as possible for more effective advertising.

 30. Generate more positive talk. Read Word of Mouth Advertising for ideas.

 31. Grab attention with your ads. Read The Elements of Advertising Design for more.

 32. Surprise your reader. Throw them a curve. Give them the desire to know more. Effective advertising leaves your reader a little curious.

 33. Understand the variety of promotional venues you can work with. You can use discount coupons, free premiums, loss-leader premiums, bundled products or services, rebates, sampling, contests, and/or sweepstakes to bring customers in. You can offer credit terms and easy payments. You can offer a 30 day no questions asked return policy. You can promise to beat any advertised price in the market. You can guarantee quality, freshness, turn-around time, or anything else that will make your offer more attractive to consumers. 

 34. Know your customers. Know what they need and want. Find out what is most important to them, and promise the solution in your ads.

Effective Advertising: Motivation

 If you want more effective advertising, you need to motivate your customers to take action.

 You need to make your customers squirm, or wince, or laugh, or cry. You need them excited, exhilarated, and ready. Let them feel danger. Fear. Heat. Sex. Hunger. Pain. Desire. Life. Death. Stoke them up, and then tell them how to get what they want. Fulfill that desire. Quench that thirst. Eliminate that pain. Easy. Fast. Free.  

 That's how you get more effective advertising. Your words are what will get you new clients. Your words must generate an emotional response in your reader.

 Human beings respond to specific motivations. The strongest one is fear. From a little dandruff on the collar to a full-blown heart attack, advertisers use fear to motivate because it works.

 You want a basic motivator working in your ads. Fear, social acceptance, greed or economic gain, health, beauty, freedom, and many other basic emotions are the building blocks to more effective advertising. Use emotions in your ads.

Effective Advertising: Ask For Help

 As always, Professional Advertising is here to help you. We recommend that you run your work past a marketing professional for assistance or a second opinion. It’s a cheap investment for something that is as important as your entire advertising program. Please contact Professional Advertising for these services and additional help.

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