8 Steps That Make Some Ads Almost Always Make Money

I’m sure there has been a time where you launched an advertising campaign and didn’t get the results you wanted. To the extent where you swore off direct mailers or ads completely, unfortunately, just like most endeavors, there is a right and wrong way. Understanding the proven fundamentals of what makes a great campaign will help you boost your advertising successes.

The most critical two steps, preceding the actual copy or design of the ad, the two steps that is often neglected, is establishing the specific goal of the ad and picking the media that fits your message. For instance, there’s a difference in the result of having increases in customer traffic to your retail locations and having people call you to schedule appointments. There’s a difference between asking for an RSVP to a special event and asking people to leave their contact information for further follow up.

Does that make sense? Again, what is the end result of your advertising? Are you selecting that newspaper, magazine, or web ad placement because your competition is doing it? Or did you select that medium because it’s the most likely place for the eyeballs of your most likely customer, target audience, to be? Always remember what it is that you are trying to accomplish and why.

Once you understand your goals and media, best suited, to communicate to your target audience, it’s time to get to work on the third step….

The third step is the headline. A helpful trial when deciding on a headline is whether it answers one or all of these four questions:

• Who Cares?
• What’s In It For ME?
• Why Are You Bothering ME?
• So What?

For more information on writing excellent headlines refer to Bill Glazer’s Outrageous Advertising book. The headline sets the tone for the rest of the ad. Experts have stated that if you can’t grab the audience’s attention in 3 seconds with the written word or 15 seconds with the spoken word, you’ve lost them. So, when crafting a headline take it seriously, as if your paycheck depends on it, because it DOES! One stat that conveys this is 75% of buying decisions are made at the headline, alone.

The fourth step is the actual written or body copy of the ad. The message should convey all the advantages or benefits of the headline. I look at the copy as an extension of the headline. It takes skill but the copy is your sales presentation in print. It’s designed to wrestle the emotions out of the reader inducing them to buy and ultimately act on your goal for the ad. This leads to the fifth step….

The fifth step is the compelling offer and its brother the Call to Action or CAT. Now, let’s back-up to where I stated it’s critical to have a goal, an end game to where, when, and how you want your audience to respond. How do you know whether or not an ad was successful if you’re not absolutely clear on what results you want from it? What’s more, if you’re not clear, how can you expect the audience to be?

Moving on now, the compelling offer is used to arouse desire within the hearts of your audience for your product or service. Hence, the word compelling and maybe it’s a discount, a special edition product, a reserved copy, a free lunch, or a special event. Then, ask your audience to take action the way that would result in your goal for the ad.

Most marketers understand this basic concept of a compelling offer and a call to action but neglect to use a deadline. When is the last time you accomplished a task without a clear deadline for its attainment? Exactly! Psychologists have proven that we humans are procrastinators by our very nature. So, with the call to action provide a deadline. The deadline can be a specific date, limited supply, or anything else to create a sense of urgency.

Your ad’s response rate will mirror the quality of the sense of urgency you provide with the deadline. An important note, it’s important to have an honest and believable deadline in order to derive the most from this technique. If you’re full of B.S. people will sense it, and avoid taking action. Usually they will put your ad in a “maybe later” folder, out of sight, never to see the light of day!

The sixth step is having an effective ad layout. The main problem I find with most ads in this regard is that they’re either too boring or too busy with random fonts and overused colors. At the end of the day, the point is for your audience to take action on your ad. If your ad’s layout detracts from your message you will fail. What you want to do is keep it simple using the steps discussed thus far, while keeping the design memorable.

The graphics and design elements are tools to enhance the message of the ad so there’s a higher probability that your return on investment is significant, so choose carefully. Parting words, I suggest with every fabric in my body that you choose to work with a graphic designer who understands the dynamics of sales and marketing. It’s always a wonderful sign when the graphic designer asks you who the target market is.

The seventh step is an action that only the great marketers adhere to. I admit that I often times fall short on this one. Would you like to guess what it is? A test is the surefire way to minimize risk especially if you’re investing a significant amount of paper (double meaning). For instance, a direct marketer will often test a mailing run of 500 before they take it to the next level. Another example, infomercial producers will run a small test market in the thousands before they run the spot nationally.

A test is considered a success when your return on investment is higher than 1:1 or for every dollar spent the ad brings back more than a dollar return. In other words, the goal is always to make a profit, just breaking even is not an acceptable campaign. If you’re low on capital you can always take the piece to 20 or so current clients or potential prospects and get their feedback on the ad. Now, once your satisfied with the test you’re ready for the final step…

The final step is simply to implement your marketing campaign by placing the ad in the media you chose earlier. Here’s a bonus step that is worth thousands! That is, it is critical that you track results. Not just track results, but really analyze how much that particular campaign generated in dollars and sense (pun intended). We’re in business to generate paper, not go broke because we failed to understand our advertising dollars. I know business people, I’m sure you do too, that advertised themselves out of business.

A tracking system that is able to record customer information, how you got that customer, what offer enticed them to call, how much they bought, and how they heard about your business, is critical to understanding your Return on Investment (ROI). Plus, your marketing funnel needs to flow seamlessly into your sales process. That’s great when the phone rings but what do you do next? Do you have marketing and sales processes that work together to turn prospects into profits? You have to qualify those prospects that call, and then convert them to paying customers.

To conclude, investing in advertising is a critical part of your business.The more knowledgeable and open-minded you are about advertising, the more successful you’ll be. Those aren’t empty words; I’ve experienced it in my own career.