If you want great ideas for an ad, avoid the cutesy and fancy “branding” ads you see all too often these days. Although these ads look great, they lack in substance and a call to action. Without a good call to action, you avoid the basic point of an ad – to sell. Your ad should produce measurable results, using pre-defined metrics.
In the classic “Blind Advertising Expenditures”, John W. Blakes writes, “There is just one justification for advertising: Sales! Sales! Sales! Sales that are immediate, sales that are abundant, sales that are profitable.” As a small business, you do not have the budget to commit to a huge branding campaign. And given branding’s ethereal nature, you need to stick to direct response ads.
A direct response ad should produce measurable results. Here are some key components to a good direct response ad:
- Headline (or Tagline): Your headline is the most important part of an advertisement. You are competing with thousands of other ads, so make sure your headline stands out. The headline should incorporate your product’s main selling point. Stick to one theme for a headline, lest you confuse the customer.
- Call to action: Tell the customer what action to take (Buy Now! Order Today! Visit our store now!)
- Copy: Long, informative copy is better than short, vacuous copy. Although peoples’ attention spans are shorter these days, the consumer prefers to have more information when making a buying decision. Keep the copy consistent with the headline.
- If you use an agency, hire one who deals with direct response ads. There are too many creative agencies who suck at anything but design work. Creative agencies may win a lot of ad awards, but you should look for an agency that has a track record of creating winning SELLING ads!
There are many other aspects to direct response ads that I will cover in future posts. For the time being, just realize that it’s better to have an ugly ad that sells (Head On, for example), rather than a pretty, expensive ad that does nothing to boost sales.
