In many cases, most people know how to put together a basic advertisement. It may not be perfect, it may not pull really well, but it gets the job done. From our earliest days in this world, we are all exposed to advertisements which schools us in what an effective ad should (and shouldn’t) do.
On top of that, I find that many industries have their own style or unique way of creating advertisements, sort of an industry standard or standard operating procedure. This was pointed out to me once by someone who worked at a rental car place; it seems like every rental car ad is the same; not just that they have a picture of a car but the size and placement of the car in the ad is generally the same, too.
Determined to see if there is a transcendent rule of thumb for advertising that could work beyond the boundaries of industry and style, I contacted someone I know who works for a Yellow Pages style print-based directory. Although he doesn’t do the final design, he sells advertising and works with his clients to create mock-ups of the ad. In the few years I have known him, he has won several awards and broken a few sales records for his efforts.
Although he wouldn’t give me all of his secrets to create great ads, I was able to pry a few of the ideas out of him.
- Obviously, benefits are the key. Every ad needs to have 2 or 3 significant benefits to the consumer highlighted each time. Avoid listing features, avoid full sentences; just get the key idea down.
- More than one contact method. We live in a world that thrives on multiple ways to get in touch. If there are two pizza ads side by side, and only one pizza ad has a fax number, that pizza store will get any lunch business from offices that prefer to fax. Depending on your business, you may want to include one or two phone numbers, a toll- free line, a cell number, email, fax, web site, or instant messaging. There are so many ways to reach a business.
- Make sure your brand is readily apparent. Don’t just put your logo in your ad if it doesn’t include your slogan: make sure you are branding your company name, your logo, AND your slogan so that when people think of you they think of all three things.
- Include a map. My sales friend said that the map sold more advertisements than many other design features. Advertisers love maps because their audience loves maps. They’re easy to read and understand without a lot of words. Maps will help your clients get where you want them to go: straight to your store!
- A bounce-back feature. Record the strength and value of your ad by including something like “bring this ad into the store for 15% off your purchase.” That works for newspaper ads, he says, but if you’re designing a yellow pages ad, just have them quote a discount code; that way, they aren’t ripping out the ad from their phone book.
