Create Effective Ads for Your Small Business Create Effective Ads for Your Small Business

No advertisement is guaranteed to generate new business, sales, or customers. You can dramatically increase your chances of success if you follow a few basic principles. Start by keeping in mind a tried and true advertising formula: AIDA

  • Attention
  • Interest
  • Desire
  • Action

These are the four stages a person goes through during purchasing a product or service. Your goal is to capture attention, create immediate interest, encourage potential customers to learn more, entice people to want your product, and call them to action. In that case, your advertisement is much more likely to be persuasive and cost-effective.

All effective advertisements include an emotional appeal and a rational appeal. Rational appeal is based on clear, specific, concrete statements that help potential customers understand why they should purchase your products or services. Emotional appeals create a call to action on a more subjective level.

For example, in a new car advertisement, the rational appeal may focus on fuel mileage or lower maintenance costs. In contrast, the emotional appeal could be based on safety or perceived image.

The best advertisements create a blend of rational and emotional appeal. In a weight loss ad, the desire to lose weight to improve appearance could be as important as the need to lose weight for health reasons. Some advertisement experts claim the average person decides to make a purchase based on emotion and then justifies that decision with facts.

Whenever you can, make sure your advertisements combine a blend of emotional and rational appeal.

Here are the basic components of any advertising message:

Headline: Some experts feel the headline is responsible for as much as 70 percent of an ad’s success. Your headline should clearly state the benefit of what you provide. Readers should automatically be able to answer "What’s in it for me?" based on your headline – or at least want to look more closely.

Say you sell a weight loss product. The headline "Weight Loss Programs Available" indeed states what you do but in no way describes the benefits. "Lose 2 Pounds a Week" is better, but the more motivating headline is "Lose 2 Pounds a Week – Safely and Easily." The last headline clearly states several benefits: Not only will you help people lose weight, but they can do so safely and, most importantly, easily.

Photos: Use photos, preferably of people, whenever possible. Studies show ads with photos of people draw four times the attention of print-only ads. Just make sure your photo and message are appropriate for your company. If a reader cannot tell what your company does by your headline and the accompanying photo, choose a different one.

Make it personal: Use "you" instead of third-person pronouns. Draw the reader in. Deliver your message personally. The best ads focus on benefits for customers, so make those benefits clear and personal. "We provide outstanding weight loss solutions" is impersonal and vague. "You will lose two pounds a week, guaranteed" speaks directly to your customers.

Provide guarantees and warranties: Over half of potential customers feel ads that offer a money-back guarantee are more credible. The same is true for third-party endorsements or testimonials. Almost half put faith in survey results. If you have independent data or endorsements, use them.

Get to the point: Few people will read past the first 50 words. You probably won’t get the chance to lure in customers if you have not delivered your message by then.

Ask for a response. Unless you run ads simply to raise awareness of your products or services, include a call to action. Make sure your ads ask for the sale. Offer sales, delivery discounts, additional information, or free services. Give your customers a reason to respond immediately. For example, if you run a newspaper ad, the newspaper will head for the trash tomorrow – so ask for the sale today.

Before you run an ad, review it and make sure you’ve addressed the following:

  • You’ve clearly described the benefits to your customers, focusing on their needs.
  • The ad creates a clear advantage over your competitors, demonstrating how your product or service is superior. Whether you offer higher quality, lower cost, or convenience, customers must consider you the right choice.
  • Your call to action is clearly stated and drives customers to act. Your customers understand what to do and want to act with immediacy.
  • The ad corresponds with your business image and is professional. If it doesn’t, change it. Your ad may be the first experience customers have with your company.

Finally, keep in mind research shows most people need to see an advertisement at least four to five times before they will take action. Don’t assume your ad is poor if it doesn’t work well the first time you run it. Be consistent; then adjust your advertisements based on the results.