« Advertising Should Create Sales | Home | Direct Marketing - Personalized Targeting »
Steer Clear Of Common Small Business Advertising Mistakes
By David B. Ascot | December 8, 2008
As a copywriter, clients often ask for my advice on how to improve the results they get from their advertising. I’ll talk today about the common mistakes small businesses make when it comes to advertising and help you get a better return on your advertising investment.
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.
This is a much more effective ad layout:
You have to lead in with a compelling, attention getting headline. Keep it simple, just state the biggest benefit of using your service or product.
Coupon or contact number at bottom right (called the “anchor point” of the ad).
Company name and address should go in the bottom left corner. You want to use your adspace to make the case for your business. Once you convince the reader, they’ll find your address.
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.
It’s a good idea to outline the benefits of your product or service with bullet points. Long copy is great, but it’s a lot harder 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
Why should you test and track different ads? Because one ad, sales letter or web page may sell 2, 3 even 21 TIMES more than an alternative for exactly the same product or service. You need to know what’s working and what isn’t so you can cut the losers and optimise the winners.
How to Track Advertising Response
It’s easy to track your advertising, you can just ask people who call how they heard about your business. If you are publishing many different ads, you can get more complex with your tracking using one or more of these techniques.
Coded coupons in your ads Different coloured reply-paid postcards Different department numbers Asking your callers to mention an offer or ask for someone by name etc.
Online advertising makes things even easier. There are plenty of ad tracking tools which you can use.
Not long ago, a client tracked their advertising for the first time and found that the expensive newspaper ads they were running were bringing them a negligible response. However, their very inexpensive flyers were getting a huge response. They dropped the newspaper ads and managed to get a much higher return for their marketing dollars.
What To Test
You should test these things in your ads:
Headlines, Offers, Body Copy, Guarantee and Price
Headlines are the most important part to test, work on these first. If you find an approach that gets results, keep at it until you find an even better tactic. This is the approach which can maximise your marketing ROI.
Simply making your ads sell harder can boost your business massively, start by testing and tracking your ads, and consider hiring a good copywriter, a small investment in professionally written copy will makes your advertising dollars work much harder.
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.
Avoid boilerplate like “satisfaction guaranteed”. Use more distinctive copy like:
“If you don’t love our product, we’ll pay you to go to our competitors”
” 50% increase in traffic to your site in 60 days or your money back”
“Send $35 to [Your Business Name and Address] and if you’re not happy with us, we’ll refund you $40.”
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
Your guarantee should be a headline; you don’t want your reader to miss it.
What powerful guarantee can you offer your prospects to make it easier for them to do business with you?
Topics: Lead Generation |