David Fowler Ads

What is an ad?

2011-12-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

In the ad workshops I present to media companies, ad agencies, marketing firms and business owners, I start by asking a question that sets the stage for creating more effective ads.

It also catches people a off guard because they really haven't thought much about the question before. Or the answer.

I'd like to start by asking you the same question. Here it is...

What's an ad?

No, it's not a trick question. And no, it's not a question many people have a good answer to. (A fact proven by the overwhelming majority of lame and ineffective ads across all media).

But the right answer, as you're about to see, is a strategy that will dramatically boost your ad response rates.

Before I tell you the answer, look at some of the definitions of "advertising" I found by Googling the same question. Here are 5 definitions from 5 different sources:

Advertising is attempting to influence the buying behavior of your customers or clients by providing a persuasive selling message about your products and/or services.
A public promotion of some product or service.
The business of drawing public attention to goods and services.
A form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service...
A communication whose purpose is to inform potential customers about products and services.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong...and Wrong.

The definitions are wrong because none provide insight that will help your ads generate more leads and sales.

So "What's an ad?"

An ad is an ETHICAL BRIBE so irresistible it causes prospects to stop thinking whatever they were thinking and to stop planning what they were planning today in order to take advantage of your bribe offer-NOW.

By applying this answer to your advertising, you'll be able to:

Attract more prospects to your business faster than you're attracting them now.
Dramatically lower your customer acquisition costs.

You have to be wondering why, if bribes are such a powerful strategy for growing your business, so few businesses use them in their ads?

Two answers: One, you simply don't know the power of bribery to attract new customers. Or, Two, you're turned off by the thought of having to "bribe" customers to do business with you.

I hope you're in the first group. Because if you are and you use a powerful bribe in your next ad, you'll see an influx of new prospects immediately.

If you're in the second group; you need to get past the self-esteem issues involved here. Bribery doesn't make you look cheap or scammy. In fact, good bribes make you look smart-because by using them, you are!

Why else did Mrs. Fields give away free cookies?

Why else did King Gillette give away millions of free razors?

Why else would AOL give away millions of free 30-day trials?

Why else would Denny's give away a free breakfast?

These brilliant bribes quickly exposed new products, exponentially grew the customer base and dramatically lowered customer acquisition costs.

No matter what industry you're in, bribes work to grow leads and sales. And there are numerous types of bribes-such as the "guilt" bribe; the "scare tactic" bribe; the "scarcity" bribe to name a few.

My personal favorite is the in-your-face bribe. Such as:

Buy one dinner, get one free
Free Round of golf includes cart and lunch
Test drive any pre-owned luxury car for 30 days-love it or bring it back no questions asked
Free VW Beetle with purchase of Condo
Free bookkeeping services for a month
FreeTheatre Tickets and Dinner for 2 to the first 20 callers...

Contrary to what some think, you don't need to be overly CREATIVE to find a good bribe to drive massive leads. Just steal or re-purpose some of the ones I just shared.

But here's a key piece to the puzzle: before you come up with a bribe, start by getting inside the emotions, the wants, concerns, problems and desires that occupy your prospect's every waking hour. Then work backward to arrive at a bribe. Remember your particular fish must find the bait irresistible.

With that in mind, here are some tips for using bribes effectively:

Starting with your prospect in mind, make your bribe a "WOW"; big, audacious, daring. Bold bribes generate bigger response.
Use a bribe your prospects CAN'T say "no" too; in other words match bribe to desire.
Tell the dollar amount of the bribe-prospects like knowing how much they're getting away with.
Consider using a bribe as a premium in conjunction with your core product.
Bribes don't always have to associate with your core product. For example, one famous bribe gave away "A Free Set of Steak Knives" to sell a yearly newsletter subscription.
Use the bribe as the lead offer in your ad...don't bury it in body copy.

Use these ideas and watch your ad's performance soar.

Okay, so now I have a bribe for you.

If you send me a list of "ethical bribes" you've used or made up, I'll post them on my site and pick a winner. I'll reward the winner with FREE AD COPY AND A ROUGH LAYOUT. (Ya, it's a pretty big prize because I charge $3,000 for full page ads and $2,500 for half page print ads). It's also a great prize because the majority of my newspaper and magazine ads drive thousands of dollars new business.

The winner will also get some penetrating insights and on-target advice about how to better market their business-so what's that worth to you?

I'll be picking a winner in the next 5 days. So hustle if you want in.

And even if you don't win the big grand prize, you still win-because you'll see lots of bribe ideas to inspire your next ad campaign.

Send your list of "bribes" with my contact form

Accelerating your sales,

Use the following list of "ethical bribes"

to create powerful offers in your ads

The "FREE" bribe offer

Free teeth cleaning while schedule openings last"
Free Low Fat Yogurt Dish Topped with Fresh Fruit"
Free Storage for 2 months and we pick up and deliver free too"
Free Report: 6 Steps to Immediately Stop Foreclosure, Save Your House and Your Credit
Free Ad Critique
Free Bookkeeping Service for 60 days
Receive a free sample of _________________
A free checkup
A free membership for 60 days
A free audit
A free catalog
A free analysis
A free engine diagnostic
Your first 2 lessons are free
A free consultation
Free information packet
A free information video, CD or DVD
A free e-book
A free booklet
A free dinner
A free lunch
A free breakfast
A free newsletter for 3 months
A free room cleaning
A free cookie
Free eggs, butter, or milk
First month free
Free 60 day trial
Free case studies

The bribe offer that side-steps the word "FREE"

Complimentary dinner
Complimentary e-book
Complimentary 1-hour consultation
Complimentary survey results
Complimentary massage
Complimentary seminar
Complimentary DVD Report sent overnight to you
Dinner for 2 is on us at ___________
I'll pay for dinner at ___________
Let me pay for dinner at ____________
Let us pay for dinner
Be our guest for a complementary sample of _______
You're invited to be our guest and receive a complementary_____________
Sample ________; no cost to you
You pay nothing for a _________
Your cost? Absolutely nothing for this____________
As our guest, you pay nothing for this incredible ____________
I invite you to sample _________ at no cost to you
Tour these luxurious rooms and receive a complementary facial massage at ____

The free or discount offer with free premium

Buy 2 tires, get 2 tires free.
Half Off Sandwiches and get a FREE soda
Buy 2 Get ______ and Get 1 _____Free
Free Guine Game Ball with
Free Steak Knives (a $195 value) with your 12 month subscription
Buy 1 Bottle of Wine for $7. Get a Second Bottle for 5 Cents
Fly to San Francisco for only $39 and get a Free Garment Bag
Suits Are Half Off and Your Choice of 2 Italian Silk Ties are Yours Free
Free _______ with every order of ______
Free half-hour massage with any order of $60 or more

The discount offer

"$79 Down and $79 a month. Buy before Feb 7 and get a free $100 gas card" (Used car dealership)
Choose your savings--$3 discount up to $10, $5 discount up to $30, $10 discount up to $50
60% Off Stero Equipment Because of Our Recent Fire
50% Off all cakes, pies and cookies after 4PM

Have an ethical bribe that's worked to attract new customers to your business? Share it here.

Your niche

2011-11-19T08:23:00.001-08:00

Your niche is your most important business marketing strategy. It’s responsible for attracting customers, separating you from the herd of competing businesses and making your business money.

It’s much easier to create effective ads if your niche is truly “magnetic”. That’s because a niche that magnetically pulls and attracts customers is the biggest indicator your business works—even before you create ads to promote it.

Don’t rely on advertising to be the “attracting” factor. That’s what your niche is for.

One thing I’ve learned about niches is this: a great niche will attract great word-of-mouth advertising. When a business gives it’s customers an advantage they can’t get elsewhere, those customers talk. and if customers are referring their friends, your advertising campaigns will be that much more effective. A good niche will skyrocket ad response.

If your niche isn’t working to magnetically attract customers you should look (under the hood so to speak) at the engine that comprises your niche. There are 4 unique niche-building elements...each a strategy in itself. They are:

A core customer—a specific type of customer who wants your products and services.
A core product or service—a unique or hard to get product line or a way of delivering service that’s special.
A core competitive strategy—a strategic way to undermine your competition...like Kinko’s being open 24/7.
A core image –the appearance of your business that visually “transmits” your competitive strategy.

Let me give you an example of how one Plumber, facing 67 other local plumbers, decided to change his focus from being a general plumber to a unique category specialist. A category none of his competitors wanted.

He narrowed his product and service offering to “toilets”—the segment of his business that made the most money.

Here is the ad

By being the “toilet” expert willing to make service calls anytime day or night, he quickly cornered this lucrative part of the plumbing business. He also grew from 1 truck servicing the community to 6 trucks in less than a year.

If your ads aren’t attracting the leads and sales they should, take a hard look at your niche.

Chances are, if you look at your niche in light of the 4 niche elements above, you may not be different from your competitors.

If that’s true, fix it. Look at each of the 4 niche elements. Take them one by one. Find a way to be unique and special in each of the 4 areas. By being different than your competitors in each area, you’ll create a huge gap between you and everyone else.

Then create ads to reflect your niche strategy. And watch what happens. David Fowler

Connection Between a Business Owner's Comfort Zone and Ad Results

2011-11-19T08:21:00.001-08:00

Over the years I've learned that there is an interesting connection between a business owner's comfort zone (defined in one Wikipedia definition as "the limited set of behaviors and environments that a person can engage in without becoming anxious"), and the results their advertising produces.

Sound strange or a bit too woo-woo for your taste?

Hold your judgment. At least until you've read the stories I'm about to share.

The first story dates back a few years when I ran one of the largest retail ad agencies in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut region.

During that time my agency was hired by a large, established retail carpet store in upscale Westchester, New York. Our assignment: create an ad campaign to grow sales by 20% over a given period of time.
Not many businesses are that clear about their advertising objectives; so I was intrigued and inspired by the challenge.

What further inspired me was the store owner seemed to be doing the right things to support his revenue goals: he beefed up the sales, marketing and ad budget; he initiated a staff training program; and he hired a seasoned sales manager to lead the charge.
All good things, right?
In our first meeting with the sales manager we hammered out a production schedule and media plan and discussed the need for the ads to have strong offers to accomplish the sales goals we had to meet. Everything was positive.

In a week we met again, this time we had ad concepts in hand. Each half page, black and white ad in the campaign featured a powerful, irresistible offer in the headline, lots pictures, lots of product listings with price discounts and a premium gift offer with purchase.

The sales manager loved the ads and approved them on the spot.

The first ad ran in the Sunday edition of The New York Times.

On the Monday following I got a call from the sales manager. He was ecstatic. "The ad produced the most one-day traffic the store has ever had. We broke all sales records", he said.

When the next ad ran in The Times, it was even more successful than the first one. "We had to hire traffic cops to direct traffic", the sales manager yelled on the phone over the noise of busy shoppers in the background. "This place is crazy".

The third week of the campaign he called to say the campaign was on track to generate "better than a 30% sales increase." We had hit a home run and I was feeling good.

But those good feelings were short lived. Because just as I was getting accustomed to these ego-boosting weekly phone calls, something strange happened. The phone calls from the sales manager stopped.
When I called the store I was told the sales manager wasn't available. Each time I called I got the same answer. It was weird and disconcerting.
Then I got a call from the sales rep at The New York Times. "The store manager just called and pulled the plug on the ad campaign. They want to stop advertising altogether", he said. "What happened?"
Finally a week later the sales manager called. His once positive, confident voice now sounded sheepish, small and defeated.

"I have to let you and your agency go", he said in a near whisper.

"What's wrong?", I asked in total disbelief. "Didn't we produce the sales you wanted?"

"What's wrong", he said, "is the store owner is uncomfortable with all these people in his store. He's uncomfortable with our success...he won't even come into the store anymore." Then he put his finger on what I suspected was the real issue: "The owner wants his old store back. He's completely out of his comfort zone right now."

I later learned that the store manager quit; the sales training stopped, and the store shrank back to sales below where they were before they hired us. But I'll bet you the store owner was "comfortable" again.

Now contrast that story to this one: I was conducting an ad workshop in San Diego not long ago. During one of the breaks a young man, the new marketing director of a local casino, approached me with his current newspaper ad in hand. He wanted to know what he could do to dramatically improve revenues.
I asked him if he had "the guts" to massively grow his leads and sales.

He was a bit shocked by my question.

I told him to come up with a specific number of leads he wanted the ad to produce. I further told him the number should make him "uncomfortable". And when he knew to come back and we'd talk about his ad strategy.

As the session ended, I saw him walking toward me. "I have an answer", he said. "I want the ad to generate a thousand new leads."

"Then you need an outrageously compelling offer", I answered. "And to come up with one, you need to get outside your comfort zone."

A couple of days later we met and together came up with an offer that was outrageous enough his palms were sweating. He would advertise a "Free Prime Rib Dinner for 2, plus $25 of Free Gambling Money".
A few days after the ad ran in the local newspaper, he called. His voice was filled with excitement.
"You're not going to believe it" he said. "The ad pulled just over 10,000 responses in 3 days. And we generated over $500,000 in revenues to our bottom-line."
'That's good news", I replied.
"Ya, but there was a problem. The Food and Beverage Manager complained that they couldn't handle all the new customers. They ran out of food, we didn't have enough servers, and parking was a nightmare. So we had to stop running the ad."

Okay, so being prepared for success is critical. And I'll cover it another article.

But here's the point: like the casino's marketing director found out, your ads cannot deliver bigger sales results until you demand bigger sales results.

To improve sales, set your "lead and revenue targets" higher than you're comfortable with.
You'll be able to tell if you're setting goals outside your comfort zone because if you are your palms will sweat.

Try this right now. Set uncomfortable goals for your next ad campaign. And then check your palms.

If they're not sweating, do the exercise again until you do.

And if you are sweating, take a look at your ads again. Does the primary offer have the necessary fire power to accomplish the results you want? I think you can tell. We all know if an ad's offer is "lame" or not. Be honest. And keep pushing the envelop out until you come up with strategies that will accomplish the mission.

Allowing yourself to think outside your-comfort-zone-box will not be easy if you're not used to it.
But it's the only way to quickly grow your leads and sales.

Like it or not, the results your ads are delivering are the ones you're comfortable with. No, you may not be "intellectually" comfortable with your present results. But as it applies to your comfort zone, you are where you want to be. It's familiar there.

So if you want sales at a higher level, challenge your present comfort zone and push your mental borders further out. It's in this new, unfamiliar mental zone, that breakthrough ideas occur.
Albert Einstein summarized it best: "The same mind that created the problem cannot solve the problem".
Outside your comfort zone you'll discover a "new mind", capable of powerful ideas you haven't entertained before.

What is an ad?

2011-11-19T08:19:00.001-08:00

In the ad workshops I present to media companies, ad agencies, marketing firms and business owners, I start by asking a question that sets the stage for creating more effective ads.

It also catches people a off guard because they really haven't thought much about the question before. Or the answer.

I'd like to start by asking you the same question. Here it is...

What's an ad?

No, it's not a trick question. And no, it's not a question many people have a good answer to. (A fact proven by the overwhelming majority of lame and ineffective ads across all media).

But the right answer, as you're about to see, is a strategy that will dramatically boost your ad response rates.

Before I tell you the answer, look at some of the definitions of "advertising" I found by Googling the same question. Here are 5 definitions from 5 different sources:

Advertising is attempting to influence the buying behavior of your customers or clients by providing a persuasive selling message about your products and/or services.
A public promotion of some product or service.
The business of drawing public attention to goods and services.
A form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service...
A communication whose purpose is to inform potential customers about products and services.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong...and Wrong.

The definitions are wrong because none provide insight that will help your ads generate more leads and sales.

So "What's an ad?"

An ad is an ETHICAL BRIBE so irresistible it causes prospects to stop thinking whatever they were thinking and to stop planning what they were planning today in order to take advantage of your bribe offer-NOW.

By applying this answer to your advertising, you'll be able to:

Attract more prospects to your business faster than you're attracting them now.
Dramatically lower your customer acquisition costs.

You have to be wondering why, if bribes are such a powerful strategy for growing your business, so few businesses use them in their ads?

Two answers: One, you simply don't know the power of bribery to attract new customers. Or, Two, you're turned off by the thought of having to "bribe" customers to do business with you.

I hope you're in the first group. Because if you are and you use a powerful bribe in your next ad, you'll see an influx of new prospects immediately.

Why else did Mrs. Fields give away free cookies?

Why else did King Gillette give away millions of free razors?

Why else would AOL give away millions of free 30-day trials?

Why else would Denny's give away a free breakfast?

These brilliant bribes quickly exposed new products, exponentially grew the customer base and dramatically lowered customer acquisition costs.

No matter what industry you're in, bribes work to grow leads and sales. And there are numerous types of bribes-such as the "guilt" bribe; the "scare tactic" bribe; the "scarcity" bribe to name a few.

My personal favorite is the in-your-face bribe. Such as:

Buy one dinner, get one free
Free Round of golf includes cart and lunch
Test drive any pre-owned luxury car for 30 days-love it or bring it back no questions asked
Free VW Beetle with purchase of Condo
Free bookkeeping services for a month
FreeTheatre Tickets and Dinner for 2 to the first 20 callers...

Contrary to what some think, you don't need to be overly CREATIVE to find a good bribe to drive massive leads. Just steal or re-purpose some of the ones I just shared.

With that in mind, here are some tips for using bribes effectively:

Starting with your prospect in mind, make your bribe a "WOW"; big, audacious, daring. Bold bribes generate bigger response.
Use a bribe your prospects CAN'T say "no" too; in other words match bribe to desire.
Tell the dollar amount of the bribe-prospects like knowing how much they're getting away with.
Consider using a bribe as a premium in conjunction with your core product.
Bribes don't always have to associate with your core product. For example, one famous bribe gave away "A Free Set of Steak Knives" to sell a yearly newsletter subscription.
Use the bribe as the lead offer in your ad...don't bury it in body copy.

Use these ideas and watch your ad's performance soar.

Okay, so now I have a bribe for you.

The winner will also get some penetrating insights and on-target advice about how to better market their business-so what's that worth to you?

I'll be picking a winner in the next 5 days. So hustle if you want in.

And even if you don't win the big grand prize, you still win-because you'll see lots of bribe ideas to inspire your next ad campaign.

Send your list of "bribes" with my contact form

Accelerating your sales,

Use the following list of "ethical bribes"

to create powerful offers in your ads

The "FREE" bribe offer

Free teeth cleaning while schedule openings last"
Free Low Fat Yogurt Dish Topped with Fresh Fruit"
Free Storage for 2 months and we pick up and deliver free too"
Free Report: 6 Steps to Immediately Stop Foreclosure, Save Your House and Your Credit
Free Ad Critique
Free Bookkeeping Service for 60 days
Receive a free sample of _________________
A free checkup
A free membership for 60 days
A free audit
A free catalog
A free analysis
A free engine diagnostic
Your first 2 lessons are free
A free consultation
Free information packet
A free information video, CD or DVD
A free e-book
A free booklet
A free dinner
A free lunch
A free breakfast
A free newsletter for 3 months
A free room cleaning
A free cookie
Free eggs, butter, or milk
First month free
Free 60 day trial
Free case studies

The bribe offer that side-steps the word "FREE"

Complimentary dinner
Complimentary e-book
Complimentary 1-hour consultation
Complimentary survey results
Complimentary massage
Complimentary seminar
Complimentary DVD Report sent overnight to you
Dinner for 2 is on us at ___________
I'll pay for dinner at ___________
Let me pay for dinner at ____________
Let us pay for dinner
Be our guest for a complementary sample of _______
You're invited to be our guest and receive a complementary_____________
Sample ________; no cost to you
You pay nothing for a _________
Your cost? Absolutely nothing for this____________
As our guest, you pay nothing for this incredible ____________
I invite you to sample _________ at no cost to you
Tour these luxurious rooms and receive a complementary facial massage at ____

The free or discount offer with free premium

Buy 2 tires, get 2 tires free.
Half Off Sandwiches and get a FREE soda
Buy 2 Get ______ and Get 1 _____Free
Free Guine Game Ball with
Free Steak Knives (a $195 value) with your 12 month subscription
Buy 1 Bottle of Wine for $7. Get a Second Bottle for 5 Cents
Fly to San Francisco for only $39 and get a Free Garment Bag
Suits Are Half Off and Your Choice of 2 Italian Silk Ties are Yours Free
Free _______ with every order of ______
Free half-hour massage with any order of $60 or more

The discount offer

"$79 Down and $79 a month. Buy before Feb 7 and get a free $100 gas card" (Used car dealership)
Choose your savings--$3 discount up to $10, $5 discount up to $30, $10 discount up to $50
60% Off Stero Equipment Because of Our Recent Fire
50% Off all cakes, pies and cookies after 4PM

Have an ethical bribe that's worked to attract new customers to your business? Share it here.

2011-11-19T08:18:00.001-08:00

Use the Newspaper Ad’s “Image” to Attract The Right Prospects

How important is the ad's "image"? VERY. Based solely on image, readers decide to read an ad or not in 1/20 of a second. In less than the blink of an eye, readers make a "read" or "no read" judgment.

So how do photographs, graphic elements, colors, typefaces, white space or clutter, cause the life or death judgment of the ad? If the image in the ad matches the self-image held by the reader, they'll more than likely read the ad. Like attracts like. But if readers determine the ad's image is "beneath" or "above" their self-assessed social status, they won't read the ad. That's why you must correctly identify the "self-image" of your prospects.

Untrained sales reps can "churn" advertisers...

When the owner of a large flooring center came to my ad workshop, he weren't happy with the leads generated by the paper. He showed me the ad. Yup. It was bright, busy and cartoonish. So I asked, "Who's the ad attracting?" "Aggressive bargain-hunters", he said. And then added, "They're not the right customer." The newspaper sales rep wasn't trained to ask who the ad should attract. And the artist at the paper, (without information from the rep), couldn't portray the store's visual merchandising of products in the ad. Their inability to put their finger on the prospect's image produced this result:

Ad Before Makeover

So by simply asking the owner the right questions, I learned the target was:

Wealthy women.
Sophisticated / classy.
Knowledgeable about products.
Value conscious-but willing to spend money.

In a walk-thru, I saw the store was:

Well organized.
Modern.
High-end products.
Bright / well-lit.
Spacious between displays.

With this information I worked with the newspaper's sales rep and artist; together we produced an ad that projected...

The right "image" that saved the newspaper an advertiser

Looking at both ads, you wouldn't think it was the same store. The new changes brought sophisticated women spending more money per transaction. In fact, this ad generated over $180,000 more revenues than their best-ever sale ad from the past. And that's the power of targeting using "image" to attract the right customer.

Ad After Makeover

Call or drop me a line if you'd like me to:

Speak to your group or convention.
Conduct ad training programs for your sales reps and advertisers.
Send you information about using my "How to create effective print ad" videos on your publication's website.

David Fowler: 760-822-2133 or email: gofinddavid@gmail

What makes an effective newspaper or magazine ad? Newsletter July 09

2011-09-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

This month I've invited Bill Fryer, one of the top print ad copywriters in the world to address the issue of "What makes an effective newspaper or magazine ad?"

Not only did Bill write an excellent article, he also shows you 2 effective sample ads...

Nine ways to make your newspaper/magazine advertising make you more money

By Bill Fryer
World-renown creative director and advertising guru

As children we are not taught to look for and read advertising.

So when we pick up a newspaper we are conditioned to mentally screen out the advertising and look for the information we actually bought the newspaper or magazine for.

Here are some tips to help you overcome the conditioning to screen out ads and dramatically increase the response from your advertising.

1. Spend time on the headline - it is about the most important part of the ad. It needs to convey a benefit, most especially it needs to promise something to the reader that they want. I have seen better headlines increase response by 2 to 6 times.

Do not spend time thinking up witty puns unless you are determined to be poor. If you have difficulty writing headlines, think about those that start with Who, What, How and Why, e.g. "How you can make $1000 a week working 2 hours a day" or "Why I am able to get the lowest prices anywhere for new XYZs".

Think about the product/service you offer and why customers need to come to you and not the other guy.

2. If you are going to use a picture make it intriguing. And make it convey the same benefit you are talking about. For example, were you advertising car polish you might want to show the different results achieved by your polish and your three biggest competitors.

Not so long ago we tested two different pictures for a mail order client. One showed an attractive woman, the other a strange looking man in a white coat (in fact he was the media buyer). The strange looking man pulled in more response because it was not the kind of picture you would expect to see on an ad - the attractive woman was.

Avoid stock photography of wonderful smiling people - people don't believe it.

3. Give them an irresistible offer. Ideally one with a time deadline. If your reader does not respond today there is a good chance they will never respond. Test different offers; offers have a huge impact on response rates.

4. Have a clear call to action. Actually ask for the order. For example, "only 100 products are available at this price so please call us on 1 800-123-4567 to place your order today."

And finally, remember that off the page advertising is more about recruitment than actually making a profit. Very few people make money out of advertising in the short-term. I once worked with a London tailor who spent £5000 ($10,000) and sold four suits (to four people) with a total value of £6000 ($12,000), hardly worth it. Five years later and those four people had purchased £32,000 ($64,000) worth of suits from him.

NOW...

One of the most important things to do when you advertise is select the right media.

In fact you will almost certainly make more money by focusing your efforts on correct media selection than you will with the creative work. So here are some more tips.

5. Select the right publications. Look at the people you want to sell to and find out what they are likely to read. Then work out a cost per thousand circulation for each publication you are interested in. Ignore the publication's readership figures and only ask about circulation.

Buy the publications and read through them. Are there a lot of mail order ads? If the publication has a lot of mail order ads it tends to indicate that it is a good, responsive publication. Otherwise those advertisers would not be in it. Then you need to negotiate a price.

6. How to get a good price. Do not book a series of ads - ad sales reps always say you need to buy a series of three ads to build response. This is complete garbage. Tell them you are a small business that does not do a lot of advertising and you want to test one ad to see how it goes. Tell them your budget is tiny and you really need help with this one. Get them to waste a lot of time selling to you - it makes them keener to get the sale. Tell them you might be interested if they have any last minute space - but make sure you have the ad ready to go in.

7. Think about the position you want. Generally speaking the positions nearer the extremities of the publication are the best - e.g. cover positions, etc. (Remember that people read newspapers and magazines both from front to back and back to front but never starting in the middle.) NB. you can end up paying a premium for these special positions. So you need to test whether it is actually worth the extra money. Generally right hand page is better than left, but not hugely. And a half page generally gets 80% of the response of a full page. Colour is sometimes more responsive than black and white but not always and it is worth testing the difference.

8. Think about how this is going to build your business. Often small specialist publications get a very high return on investment but the actual volume of orders created is not enough to create a big volume of sales. Market share is an issue.

For example, a seed manufacturer (see ads below) had us test a small grow-your-own vegetables magazine against a large national daily. The small magazine created 50 orders with a huge return on investment, the national pulled 2,500 orders and just about broke even. Going forward both justified further expenditure but the large national is the one that will build the business long-term, especially as they have a huge back-catalo.

Generally speaking the most successful businesses tend to get everything right. The same goes for success in advertising. If you have the right creative selling the right product in the right publication at the right time you should make money. Get any one of these wrong and you probably won't make money.

9. Ask a professional for help. I work with David Fowler both in the UK and USA territories. Generally speaking, if you use the right agency, it won't cost you a lot more but you should get much more effective advertising and you run the risk of losing less money.

Go visit http://www.billfryer.com

Rules for creating effective ad layouts

2011-08-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

First things first: I have a gift for you...Click Here for a free copy of my new book.

Now here are some very important rules and strategies for creating layouts that work.

1. Make the focal point of the ad a dominate picture(s) or headline

Put the largest (dominant) picture at the top or top left of ad.
Place headline subordinate to visuals, but “marry” them so they read “as one”
If no pictures, place headline at top.

2. Make sure pictures “flag down” and interest target readers.

Choose pictures with a “story” that supports the headline.
Crop-out unnecessary background distractions.
Use simple, straightforward visuals that communicate at a glance.
Pictures of people should have subject looking at the reader.
Use high contrast pictures—they reproduce better.

3. Use type to communicate the offer and reflect the ad’s “tone”

Headlines can be set in serif or sans serif—but set them bold or extra bold.
Use serif faces like Times Roman or Garamond for body copy—research shows it’s easier to read.
Headline type should be no less than 4 times larger than body copy—bigger is better.
The smaller the ad the more important headline size!
Set the headline in upper and lower case...not in all CAPS...caps are read 1 character at a time!
Set headlines in black or bold color to maximize attention—red and blue are good.
Set body copy in black or dark colors. The softer the color the less contrast and the harder the words are to read.
Avoid setting headlines or body copy over graphic patterns; it confuses the reader’s eye.
If you set type on a color, make sure the color is light so the type pops and is easy to read... always err on the side of high contrast.
Many of your prospects are older, so as a rule, body copy should never be smaller than 11pt.
Break headlines and subheads in coherent phrases:

I want to kiss her
BUT she won’t let me
– NOT –
I want to kiss her BUT
she won’t let me
If you use type in columns, don’t let lines exceed 4”—they fatigue the eye.
Keep lines of text short and manageable.. Excessive line length kills readership
If you must use “reverse type” use it sparingly......it’s hard to read and lowers message retention.

4. Place big items over small

Overall, the ad should have bigger pictures and type at the top.
Place big pictures over small pictures.
Place big type over small type.

5: Put the logo or name at the bottom right

The logo or name of the business is a “signature”...it belongs at the bottom center or right of center.

Call or drop me a line if you’d like me to:

Speak to your group or convention.
Conduct ad training programs for your sales reps and advertisers.
Send you information about using my “How to create effective print ad” videos on your publication’s website.

David Fowler: 760-822-2133 or email: gofinddavid@gmail.com