Is Your Advertising Working?

Advertising has become a lost art. No longer do we see great ad copy from the likes of Ogilvy or stop you in your tracks advertising from the likes of Benetton. Instead, advertising has been replaced with AdWords ads and YouTube videos. Don’t get me wrong, I like and use both every day, but every once in a while I get a chance to sink my teeth into some serious ad copy and I love it.

Is your advertising stopping people in their tracks?

Advertising, to be effective, has to stop people in their tracks. You have to “disrupt” them, you have to do whatever it takes to get them to stop thumbing through whatever medium they are using at the time and pay attention to your ad. But even mediocre ads can be effective if they have one thing working for them – frequency.

So spend the money already!

You should know by now that you need to spend enough money on media to get your message not just out there, but recognized. And it’s the recognition that is going to get you the business…over time.

To do this, your ads have to accomplish a few objectives. So here is a quick checklist to include in your next batch of ads:

1. Communicate one message per ad – Your company can do a lot of things, but your advertising should do only one – sell. Make it easy for people to remember you by using a headline that incorporates what you do, how you help the reader and with a solid benefit.
2. Whether you know it or not, your advertising has developed a style or personality – Sure every contractor has the lowest prices and most dependable service on the planet, but that message is delivered in different ways. Take a look at your competition’s ads to see how you can make yours more memorable by saying the same thing in a different way.
3. Just like selling, advertising only accomplishes the objective when there is a sale – So make sure your advertising asks for the sale! You do this with convenience factors: Toll free numbers, location hours, in home estimates, credit cards accepted and so on.
4. Make sure your ad looks good – I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but your marketing needs to look appealing to the user. Flow, readability and style are part of what makes your ad look good.
5. Uniformity – If you run ads across many platforms; television, radio, print or online, make sure you’re the message is uniform.

Tell me, what changes have you made to your advertising that is bringing in more clients or customers? Even subtle changes can have a big impact, so let us all know in the comments below.