How many times have you paid a great deal of money to place an ad in a publication just to get zero results? The answer could lie in the lack of effectiveness in your ad.
Here are 10 helpful tips on how to improve results!
- Talk directly to your audience in language they can understand.
- Design your entire message around "what's in it" for the reader -- your potential customer.
- Use a clear and distinct benefit in the headline that appeals to your potential customer.
- Use plain English in the body copy explaining in a succinct fashion what your product or service is going to do for the reader.
- In the body copy use sub-headlines to emphasize the benefits.
- "Serif" typefaces are regarded as the most legible font; nearly every newspaper in the world uses them due to their high readability.
- Avoid color headlines; researchers say readers find colored headlines distracting. Studies have also shown that the darker the color, the greater the comprehension. Keep the text black if possible.
- Avoid reverse print in body copy. Use white text on black background for greater readability.
- Keep your layout clean, including using consistent type styles.
- Traditional ad layouts consist of photo/illustration over headline over body copy. This is not a mandate, but it has been a proven effective approach.
Remember that for every advertising rule, there is an exception to the rule. But the one rule never to be broken is that you can never run an effective ad too many times. |
