What Are You Advertising?

The good and bad of local advertising is that you pay the same whether your is effective or not. An ad that gets people's attention and produces the desired response costs no more than one that people ignore completely.

So, if you are going to buy local advertising, it makes sense to take steps to make sure your ads are the ones getting the results. Leave the duds for someone else!

Yesterday I had a perfect example served up by one of my favorite advertisers. Their ad just started running and the business owner showed it to a friend to get her feedback. The friend's response was "I have no idea what you're selling when I look at this ad".

The ad in question had the company logo big and proud at the top. Underneath the logo, in relatively small type was a tagline about what service they were offering. And, since their company name does not clearly indicate the type of business, this ad made it hard for a reader to easily understand what was being promoted.

With the help of her forthright friend, this business owner could easily see how to correct the ad to make it work better. But, examples like this (and worse) abound in local advertising. And many of the unfortunate advertisers never have a clue why their ad didn't produce the results they wanted.

When you create your ad, make sure anyone who reads it will find it easy to instantly understand who you are and what you're promoting. Keep it obvious and simple. And, get a 2nd or 3rd opinion. Have several people look at it. It's best if they are completely outside of the ad creation process so they bring a fresh viewpoint.

Do this and you'll find you get better results. And you won't pay a penny more!