5 Tips to Create an Ad that Works

Advertising campaigns are the backbone to many companies' marketing strategy. Companies rely on ad campaigns to bring in new customers to build brand awarness. In today's market, everyone is being careful how they are spend their money; that's why it is so important that you put out an effective ad. You want to maximize the impact when you're investing your hard earned cash in producing an ad piece.

1. The 3 Second Rule Grab their attention! Quickly! You want someone reading your ad to stop, give it more time and keep reading. Tell them right away why you and your ad are worth investing that time. Create a want or a need, and then offer a solution. For example, a headline of "Delicious Handcrafted Burgers" and an offer of "FREE BURGER" is going to make that person think about getting a burger, and there's your ad, with a discount, to make it even better for them!
2. Picture Perfect You know that a picture is worth a thousand words... this is especially true when you're looking at advertising. You can easily tell your readers the who, what and hows of you business by choosing a great photo. A blurry, grainy cell phone shot is not going to have the same impact as a well-lit, well composed photo. There are lots of very affordable stock photo options online, if you don't want to invest in hiring a professional to do a shoot.
3. Show Me the Savings Having a good offer on your ad will make a world of difference on your ROI. A strong offer = more new customers. You need to make it worth their while to give your their time and money. This also applies to restrictions; making something only available during certain hours or days may be eliminating lots of potential customers from the pool, if your times don't work for them.
4. Keep it Simple You don't want your reader to have to think too much, by keeping it simple they will have to call or come in to get more information. You don't need to give them every little bit of information on your ad; if you answer all of their questions before they have a chance to call and ask them, then you don't even have the opportunity to interact with them and close the sale. The same goes for your offer disclaimers. A dozen lines of miniscule type can turn people off; they may assume there's a "catch" and will keep going, since it's too much effort to read and interpret everything that's printed there.
5. Who, What, Where, When Last but not least, always include your contact information. You want to make sure that your reader knows exactly who you are and how they can find you. We recommend putting the phone number, address and website all together, as a single entity; that way, it does not turn into a "Where's Waldo" style search for how to find you!

Taking a Quality Photo

The time has arrived, you have spent long hours working long and hard over a job that you are really proud of or you spent hours thinking about the best decoration for your new restaurant or salon and know you want to take a great photo to show the world in your next advertisement. But why doesn't it look like those photos in the magazines that you see?

1. Choose the right camera If you are taking photos of your jobs on a regular basis for your portfolio, you may find it is worth spending a little bit of money on a base model DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex), but it isn't necessary... you can still get great photos even if you "just" have a point and shoot. Lighting, focus and composition are the things that will really make the difference in getting a quality image.
2. Lighting High noon is not your friend! Early morning hours or early evening are much better. The time just around sunset is what photographers call "The Golden Hour," it's a lovely flattering light for people (but might cause color casts as well, so keep that in mind!) Good light will give your photo more depth and dimension. Keep an eye out for shadows that are cast on the photo; if you're a house painter, make sure you can clearly see details in the house, and take a step (or ten!) back to ensure you capture the entire house in the photo! You don't want to accidentally cut off a roof's eave, or where the house meets the ground.
3. Clean up the area Make sure that all miscellaneous debris is cleared from the site. I once saw a great photo but they forgot to pick up the hose, that one little thing can really bring an entire image down.
4. Shoot Extra Photos Take Lots of photos from lots of different angles, and don't be afraid to start far away from a subject and slowly move in closer. You never know what you might find!

Here are three photos of the same object, taken with three different cameras; a cell phone, a point and shoot with flash and a DSLR using natural light. The natural light photo much better portrays what the product actually looks like, and will help you build trust with a prospective customer, by properly representing your product.

Making Your Business Unique

We're happy to bring this article to you, written by Tom Egelhoff

If you took high school physics you probably learned that two objects can't occupy the same space at the same time. Well, the same is true in business marketing. No two companies can occupy the same perception in the customers mind at the same time. We're not talking about a physical presence, but an image that comes into the customers mind when they think of your business.
If I were to ask 10 different customers where to find the lowest price , or highest quality or most selection for women's clothing I would get 10 different answers for each niche. Each customer might have a different perception of what low price or highest quality is. But each customer will usually only have one answer per niche.
Here are some back niches a business can occupy. Is your business among them?

• Low price/low quality - If you have the lowest prices, you can talk quality all you want but, you are going to have an uphill climb to convince the customer. We are suspicious of low prices. Does the phrase, "What's the catch." ring a bell. There is nothing wrong with having competitive prices for comparable products. Most businesses that profess to consistently have the lowest prices simply match competitors prices. Many name brand products will not allow a company to sell their products below a certain price. They don't want to be perceived as cheap.
  
• Top of the Line, Highest Price/Best Quality - Rolls Royce, Rolex. Top of the line products not only have a perception of high quality but can also be prestigious. Also keep in mind high price can carry the perception that its overpriced. Does, "You pay more for the name.", ring a bell? It's much easier to justify a higher price by pointing out the quality than trying to justify the lower price.
  
• Large Selection - Go to any big name department store, JC Pennys, Nordstroms, and compare the size of the women's clothing department to the men's clothing department. The women's section is always three to four times larger than the men's. Why? Women demand selection. It's fashion suicide for a woman to be caught at a social function wearing the same outfit as someone else. Men really don't care if someone else has the same tie. Do your customers demand selection? If so, how does your selection compare to your competition? Keep in mind selection doesn't always mean inventory. One flower shop may carry exotic flowers while another shop doesn't. The shop with the exotics has a larger selection with one flower than the shop that has none.
  
• Service - Ask any major retail chain who has the best customer service and chances are they will say Nordstrom's. They are the team to beat in retail customer service. In small towns, family and small business can usually offer better individual customer service than national chains.
  
• Friendly - Small businesses usually excel in this area. Large businesses have more restrictions and rules than small businesses. Small businesses can get to know their customers by name. Workers in small businesses have more of a sense of ownership in their job then large faceless corporations.
  
• Convenient - We hate to go out of the way for things. We pick things up on the way home from work. We shop, eat, buy gas where it's easiest. We seldom go out of our way to go to a specific business if another is more convenient.

So, which of the six does your business coincide with? I know what you're thinking, "We do all of the above." You can't occupy all the positions at the same time. Only one position will be dominant in the minds of the customers.

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You don't have a choice

Unless you are a brand new business, your customers already have a perception of your business. It may be right or wrong but they have it.
The point is, if you don't do anything your customers will pigeon-hole you along with your competition. You don't have a choice. They may not do it the way you want, but they will do it. Doesn't it make more sense to find the strongest niche and promote it and establish your uniqueness with your customers?

Used With Permission ©1998 Eagle Marketing PO Box 271 Bozeman, MT 59771-0271
http://www.smalltownmarketing.com - 406-585-0219 • email:tommail@smalltownmarketing.com

Marketing for Little to No Money

I truly believe that a successful business must advertise in a least 3 different types of media. That does not mean that you need to spend a lot of money to do so, you just need to advertise intelligently and creatively!

1. Create a referral network Do you have people in your network that do something similar to you but are not in competition to take away your customers? For example a great network would be a hair dresser, tanning salon and manicurist; or how about a roofer, window contractor and painter?. These examples of referral teams allow for the group to easily refer each other's services in a natural conversation without seeming pushy.
2. Email marketing Set up an email capturing widget on your website using one of the many services out there such as Constant Contact or iContact. For a small monthly fee, these services will help you market to your targeted audience; people who you KNOW are interested in what you have to say and are interested in hearing from you.
3. Be helpful Put yourself into the role of resident expert, or trusted advisor. Offer to be a speaker, write an article or do a demonstration and share your knowledge and don’t hold back. You will benefit from the name recognition.

These are only a few ideas; I encourage everyone to go online and find other ideas that fit your specific business. The more things you do, the better your business with be for it!