From Concepts to Cash - Advertising that works!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Written By Beth Borrego, previously printed in BlastMaster Magazine

===========================

Have you ever found yourself watching TV and saying to someone “I love that ad” or “have you seen that new ad for _______”? Have you found it difficult to create flyers, ads, postcards and the like or even wondered if they were worth using to begin with? Well, they are, but creating an ad that works isn’t easy. It’s work. It takes time and a truly creative thought process. If you don’t understand the audience you are targeting, you won’t get their attention. The American Association of Advertising Agencies says that each day consumers are bombarded with more than 1,600 advertisements. Only 80 or so are consciously noticed and only 12 create a reaction. Wow. What a perspective. That alone should speak volumes to you. Advertising touches the needs or wants the consumer has and persuades him or her to act. But it’s getting to those needs on a personal level that’s the challenge.

It’s important to know how to reach the consumer. That is, where are consumers in your area likely to look when they need your product or service? Don’t know? Don’t worry. We’re going to go over that. In fact, we’re going to go over quite a few things. We’re going to look at the various types of print media, and talk about them. You’ll see why staying in touch with prospects is important to your business. We’ll talk about targeted campaigns and go over ad layout. So go get a snack and grab a pen and paper. We’ve got work to do.

I’ve listened to folks banter back and forth over what the best form of advertising is. Back and forth they go, focused on the one thing that works for them, and shunning the others that didn’t work. What’s wrong with that? They are focused on the ONE thing that works for them. Never, ever, put all of your eggs in one basket. Let’s look at a few of the things we have to work with:

Flyers

Post Cards

Business Cards

Phone Book Ads

Newspaper Ads

Print Ads (magazine style)

Coupon Mailers

Ok. Now we have a short list of print ad types. Remember the eggs? If you’re thinking about using only one of these then you’re only hurting yourself. You’ll limit your company’s exposure. Trust me on this. And your name recognition won’t increase nearly so well.

Did I mention MS Publisher? I’m pretty sure I have in other articles. Did you get a copy? Shame on you. Go pick up a copy when you’re done with your reading. You’ll need it to design all of these things. It has easy to use templates in many styles. You’ll have all of your ads, flyers, and cards uniform in no time. For now though, let’s look at those print ad types.

Ah, flyers. They get stuck in your door, and sometimes under your windshield wiper. They’re usually either really good, or pretty bad. Many flyers lack the information a consumer looks for and create cautious feelings in the consumer. A well-designed flyer should provide the consumer with enough information to get them to call. The drawback to flyers is that they are time consuming to distribute, and work best where homes are in close proximity to one another. You might consider placing flyers on the street where you are currently working for example.

Craig Lawrence of American Pressure Wash in Binghamton, N.Y. asks, “I just wanted to know if you have ever sent out post cards in just black and white print? I have never tried direct mail, and was wondering what you thought of this plain card approach.” Post cards have less advertising space, but can have a high impact on the consumer. A post card on glossy stock will get readers attention. Even a card that isn’t glossy can accomplish this provided that the words chosen for the ad grab the attention of the reader. Graphics and photos work effectively on post cards too. Make sure to ad some color to your cards, at least one or two, if not four colors. Color catches the eye, and a picture, so they say is worth a thousand words. I wouldn’t print just black on white, as it may get overlooked more easily. Check out www.twigonestop.com . Their prices are reasonable, and they use a four-color process.

Business cards are critical. Hand them out to everyone you talk to. Make sure the card has your standard company information on it but is not too busy. Leave the back for the person to make a note on if they need to, or put a coupon on it. Include things like company name, your name and title, company logo, phone and fax numbers, bullet points for services you offer, credit card symbols if you take them, or organizational names or symbols you are members of.

Of course you’ll want to make sure you have a presence in the yellow pages. While it’s true that you could just list your business name and phone number, you might get lost in the sea of box ads that way.

A 2” wide x 2 ½” high display ad is a good place to start, and 4” wide x 2 ½ “ high should be plenty. You really don’t need a half or full-page display ad, or a cover ad to get the attention of your audience. Color isn’t really necessary in the yellow pages, although it is nice. Given the quality of the paper, it doesn’t print that well. Save the money you would have paid for color and do something else with it. The most important thing to remember about the phone book is your ad will be there for a year. Before you run the ad, sit down and look through the book under different headings like decks, power washing, pressure washing, contractors, or anything else you can think of that describes what services you offer. Now when you are doing this, look to see which heading have the most advertisers and large ads. See where I am heading? That’s where the consumers will typically go. It doesn’t hurt to list yourself in more than one area, especially if you do more than one type of business. Make sure you are listed where the customer is most likely to look.

Unlike the yellow pages, the newspaper gets recycled every week. But, there are some very effective newspapers out there to advertise in. Look through all of the newspapers you get, both the subscription ones and the free ones that litter your driveway. Believe it or not, around here I like the freebies. Why? Well, there is a section called Ask the Pro’s, and it has classified ads by category. Homeowners can find you with ease. Look for a paper near you that has some type of contractor’s area in it, and look through the ads to see if any of your competition from the phone book is in that newspaper. Did you find one or two? I know I did.

Display ads are another wonderful way to advertise. There are some publications that print ¼, ½, and full-page ads specifically for advertisers in a magazine type format. Many consumers know to look for them in their mailbox, and purchase from the advertisers. These ads tend to have coupons with expiration dates ranging from 1 month to 6 weeks out. We have actually gotten calls as long as 3 months later from this type of ad, which is an amazing shelf life for a mailer. Many use a four-color process, some on newsprint and some on a glossy stock.

Much like the magazine type mailers, the coupon mailer is another popular way to advertise and the advertisers often use coupons to get the reader to call for service. Coupon mailers will often print one or both sides of the insert in either two colors or four. There is usually a price range depending on the number of times you run, and how many coupons you mail, and of course the price varies depending on if you are running one or two sides and in four color or not.

While we’re on the subject of coupons, let’s talk about them for just a minute. Coupons can be a real sore point for many companies, and many don’t use them. Just remember, the consumers who use coupons simply react to advertising differently than consumers who don’t bother with them. Personally, I think you are missing the boat if you don’t give them a try at least once. A few articles back I asked you to gather up competitive information and make a file. Did you do it? What do you mean no? If you did, go pull it out, you’ll need it. Take a look at the coupons other companies are using. Look for similarities. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Stick to the basics.

Before you discount any of these options, just remember that different consumers react to different ads in different ways. What one person will read another will throw in the trash. There is no such thing, as 100% readership. Don’t ever believe it if any sales rep tells you everyone reads their publication or opens their coupon packet. It’s simply not true.

What kind of follow up advertising are you doing? Do you send out a mailing to customers when it’s time for service again? Why not? Keeping in touch with your customers is an important part of growing your business. People don’t necessarily remember who washed their house or treated their deck last time they had it done. Don’t assume they will. Make sure they remember you and call you again. You probably have a stack of proposals you didn’t win along with the ones you did that same year too. Mail them something. Maybe the company they went with last time didn’t do a good job, or maybe they don’t remember them. Maybe, just maybe, the other company isn’t going to mail them anything. Remember those postcards we discussed earlier? “Reminder” cards are great ways to add on services, and keep consumers coming back to you.

So now that you’ve got a few ways to advertise, the next question is, how do I find the market? It’s all about focusing on the segment of the market you are after. The more you know about the group of individuals you are targeting, the better. Things like age, gender, income, marital status, location, and occupation can all be important depending on what it is you are trying to achieve. If you want to do business in neighborhoods with homes in excess of $250,000.00 only, then you’ll need to know where they are. If you will be doing your own mailing, I suggest getting Select Phone by InfoUSA. The CD’s have all the business and residential listings in the United States. You’ll need to know a little about the area, such as the zip code for example. You can create mailing labels and mail them yourselves. One word about mailing labels, make certain you add one more line to the spreadsheet you will be creating the labels from that simply says “Or Current Resident”. Otherwise you’ll end up with mail returned to you, instead of the new owner seeing it.

But it’s also important to know these people. No, I don’t mean go door to door, I mean look at what they buy, and where they shop. What types of ads do they respond well to? Is the area upscale and preppy or yuppie? Does it have a busy Starbucks nearby? Who cares about coffee? They do. It’s marketed in an attractive way. It fits their lifestyle. You need your image to have that type of appeal too.

If you plan on using a coupon mailer or newspaper rather than doing it yourself, you will quickly learn about zones. And wouldn’t you know it, all of these wonderful publishers will break them up strategically so to hit a whole area of interest to you, you probably need more than one zone. Brace yourself, and have an idea of which areas really mean the most to you.

Now you’re ready to think about your ad layout. There are a few things the ads may contain. They are called:

Visual – choose a photo or graphic that would interest the majority of the target audience.

Headline – very often at the top, and in bold print

Body copy – information about the services you offer. Be brief. Use bullet points or short sentences.

Border – you don’t have to have one, or you could. Sometimes less is better.

Call to action – “Call today!” or “Act now!”

Starburst – try putting “Free Estimates!” inside one of these.

Make sure you cover the basics, company name and logo, slogan if you have one, phone number and credit card symbols for example. Use bullet points to list your services. Believe me, there is a lot more than just this, but these basics should have you well on your way to a successful ad campaign.