ADVERTISING FOR IMMEDIATE RESULTS
Are you satisfied with the results you get from advertising your business?
Is the return on your investment attractive?
For most small businesses advertising is a necessary evil and most would say they would like a lot more business from their advertising spend. This is an entirely reasonable and achievable request – as long as basic principles are followed:
Unless your business is already taking millions you need to focus on Direct Results Advertising and not on the brand advertising. Whilst brand advertising makes us feel good and proud about our business it takes years for customers to get to know your brand, and really, you don’t have years to wait for them to like you and buy from you do you?
So, what does Direct Results Advertising entail?
Basically you create an advert that gives your prospective customers a reason to take action NOW.
In order to do this you have to completely re-think what you put in your advert.
Have a look in your local paper now. How many adverts use the name of their company (or themselves) as the headline? The thing is the only person who thinks the name of their business is important is you! To prospective customers your name means very little. What they want to know is what you can do for them. SO make sure the heading of any advert you do communicates something your prospective customers want. Something that is going to grab their attention. Then, succinctly spell out the benefits of doing business with you.
How Does Your Business Benefit Me?
DO NOT tell the customer how good you are, or how many years you’ve been in business, or even how many awards you’ve been granted….So many businesses just can’t help themselves. They talk about “we this” and “we that”. You get so busy telling everyone why you are so good that you forget that customers aren’t interested. All they want to know is what is in it for them.
Now I’m not saying that you being good isn’t important. you just have to learn how to turn a “we” in to a “you” so you are talking to the customer about how your business meet their needs.
Once you’ve listed your benefits you need to make sure there is a strong call to action. What do you want your prospective customers to do now. Make sure this is compelling. Once they move away from your advert you can almost guarantee they’ll forget about you.
Make sure your call to action stands out so your prospects know what they need to do and that they need to do it now.
AIDA
As a general rule follow AIDA:
Attention – create a header that grabs attention – and NO – your name doesn’t work here!
Interest – create some interest so they keep reading
Desire – tell them how what you are selling will benefit them
Action – make sure you include a strong call to action so your customers know what to do next
Measure Measure Measure
Always set up your adverts so that they can be measured. You’ve designed your ads to get results so make sure you track the results you get. Work out how much your advert has bought you in and most of all if you are disappointed in the results, change your advert to get a better response next time.
If you need help with creating adverts that get an immediate response call us now on 07533 927015 or use the quick contact us form on the right
