Avoiding Common Advertising Mistakes Small Businesses Make

By David B. Ascot

In my work as a copywriter, I am often asked by clients how they can improve the return they get on their investments in marketing and advertising. I'd like to tell you about the mistakes which small businesses tend to make in their ads so that you can avoid making them yourself.

Layout

Many small business ads look like a shopping list, this is the biggest mistake to avoid.

They'll put the company name at the top instead of an attention getting headline and follow with dry copy which simply does not hold the reader's interest. No compelling reason is given to follow up; and the ad concludes with a phone number and address.
These ads are ineffective; they don't get prospective customers to care about your company. Your reader wants to know one thing: what's in it for him or her.

Here's a better layout for selling that works well in almost any situation:

Headline at the top. (Don't be tricky: just state the strongest benefit of your product or service.)

Coupon or contact number at bottom right (called the "anchor point" of the ad).

Your company name and address should go in the bottom left corner. Your reader will look for it once you have made your case.

If you are using photos or illustrations, place headlines underneath them to keep your reader's eyes moving down the page. Make your headlines and photos part of a narrative.

A series of benefit-rich bullet points (long copy is also great, but much more difficult to write.)

How are your ads structured? Do they look like a list, or do they tell a story and give a call to action? If your ads read like a list, then you'll see better results by changing things up.

Failing to Test and Track Ad Response

You should always test and track your ads. Even a slight change can generate many more sales for the same product or service. Testing and tracking can help you to cut out what isn't working and keep what performs well.

How to Track Advertising Response

It's very simple to track your ads. For instance, you can ask callers how they found out about your business. If you have a lot of different ads out there, you can track things with more complex methods such as the following:

Use colour coded coupons in print ads, or track coupons with codes. You can also have callers mention a special offer to track the success of your ads.

If you're advertising online, it's even easier, you can use tracking software to compare response rates between different ads.

One of my clients a while back tracked their advertising response rates and found that their expensive print ad campaign was bringing in almost no responses, while a nearly free flyering campaign was generating a lot of business. They were able to drop the print ads and save a lot of money while having a more effective advertising and marketing campaign.

What To Test

You should test these things in your ads:

Headlines Offers Body Copy Guarantee Price

Headlines are the most important, test and fine tune these first.
If you hit on something which works well, stick with it until you find something which works even better.

Just making sure that your ads are working well can dramatically increase your business; you may want to think about taking on a in-house copywriter. This can make a lot of difference in your advertising return on investment.

Not Making The Most of a Powerful Guarantee

A lot of small businesses fail to offer a strong guarantee in their ads. You need to do this, since a guarantee can increase your response rates by 50% and up.

Gurantees work because they remove the risk of purchase from your customer, making it easier for them to buy. When you guarantee your product or service, you're showing confidence that it will produce the result you claim, customers respond to that.

Here are a few tips for successfully incorporating your guarantee into your ads:

1. Your guarantee needs to make specific promises as to results.

Don't use boilerplate phrases like "Satisfaction Guaranteed" or even "Money-Back Guaranteed". While these are probably better than nothing, they don't have a fraction of the effect of a specific promise like:

"Be thrilled with your treatment or we'll pay you to go to the competition"

" Enjoy a minimum 50% increase in website traffic within 60 days or your money back"

"Send $45 to [Your Company Name and Address]. If you're not satisfied, we'll send you back $50."

2. Test Your Guarantee

In my work as a small business marketing consultant and copywriter, I often work with clients to develop a powerful guarantee. Sometimes the business owners are hesitant, what will happen if customers try to take advantage of a money-back offer? The simple answer to this is to test. Test small at first (one ad with the guarantee, versus one ad without). Keep track of the difference in sales results and any returns or refund requests. If it works, keep doing it!

I've always found that a strong guarantee generates more than enough additional sales to cover any returns or refund requests.
Also test different aspects of your guarantee (e.g. wording, time period, conditions etc.) The difference in sales generated by a 30 day and 60 day guarantee can be significant.

3. Make your guarantee highly visible

If you have a strong guarantee, don't hide it away where it won't be seen. Strong guarantees make great headlines. Visual devices such as a "Money-Back Guarantee" rosette also work well but remember to enlarge on your guarantee statement.

What can you offer prospective customers in terms of a guarantee that will make them more interested in doing business with you? - 15790

About the Author:

About the author: David B. Ascot has important information regarding sales lead generation strategies that will assist your company expand through online lead generation.

Online Advertising Secrets: What Is Article Marketing?

By Don Bethune

What is article marketing? Article marketing is one of the most brilliant forms of advertising. It is used by businesses and entrepreneurs to promote their products and establish themselves as experts in their respective fields. aArticles,a whether used as marketing tools or for journalistic endeavors, bear a greater level of legitimacy than your average late-night infomercial or an in-your-face print ad splashed across a page in the local circular.

The concept of article marketing has been around a long time. You can find relationships between businesses and publishers as far back as when mass printing was invented. These relationships involved business people providing information and expertise in articles that were provided freely to publishers who printed the articles, essentially advertisements, for the public. The target population for these articles was of course, the readers of the publication.

So now you know how to identify article marketing when you see it, but you might still be wondering, aWhat is article marketing? How do I even begin to write such an article?a The articles are usually short pieces, and of course contain information and content pertinent to the type of business conducted by the establishment or entity providing the written advertisement.

Well written articles are valuable because they increase client-lists as well as enhancing reputations and credibility. They can be powerful enough to legitimize a business. Therefore, when you are writing an article, certain crucial information must be relayed to the reader: name, title, biography and contact information. If the article is being written for the internet, then a website or URL must be provided. Itas important to establish yourself as trustworthy and an expert in your field. Ideally, the biography will contain the information necessary to establish these two goals by containing credentials, educational background and achievements in your field.

As stated above, the explosion of online commerce and marketing for businesses, web-based or not, has broadened the use and need for article marketing. The original concept of publisher-business symbiosis is still the core relationship which drives article marketing, even in cyberspace. If anything, the relationship is stronger, and the possibilities for reaching target markets and populations are even greater.

The greater scope of online article marketing can be identified through closer examination of search engines: who uses them, what searches are being conducted and which sites are appearing in the search results. Having an online article which addresses a particular topic or industry and which contains certain akeywordsa is extremely useful for search engine optimization (SEO).

When an article is published online, itas important to use effective search engine optimization because it attracts search engine users to your site, therefore driving business to your door. The more visitors you have, the more sales and profits you make. This validates the concept of effective article marketing as a traffic generator, and including business owneras website address brings more \"hits\" and a higher rank in search engine results.

One problem with the success of online article advertising is that it has fostered an explosion of topical articles on the web. Not all articles contain correct information or good writing. This may lower the usefulness of article advertising online, and hapless internet users may unwittingly take away bad information, which can lower the credibility of the articles themselves and their authors. A solution to the article content quality problem has been found in the use of article marketing services. These services can help businesses with the generation of well-written, accurate and well-distributed pieces.

The information provided here about article marketing and search engine optimization is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to business markets. Not all business owners are great communicators when it comes to the written word. For them, knowing how to use article marketing services for their business allows them to exercise the potential of online marketing. - 15790

About the Author:

Before you advertise online, make sure you check Don Bethune's incredible website traffic service at website traffic canadian online business, and increased website traffic