Steer Clear Of Common Small Business Advertising Mistakes
In my work as a copywriter, I am often asked by clients how they can improve the return they get on their investments in marketing and advertising. I’d like to tell you about the mistakes which small businesses tend to make in their ads so that you can avoid making them yourself.
Layout
Many small business ads look like a shopping list, this is the biggest mistake to avoid.
They’ll put the company name at the top instead of an attention getting headline and follow with dry copy which simply does not hold the reader’s interest. No compelling reason is given to follow up; and the ad concludes with a phone number and address.
These ads are ineffective; they don’t get prospective customers to care about your company. Your reader wants to know one thing: what’s in it for him or her.
This is a much more effective ad layout:
Headline at the top. (Don’t be tricky: just state the strongest benefit of your product or service.)
The bottom right (known in the business as the “anchor point”) should have a contact number and coupon, if you are using coupons in your ad.
Company name and address should go in the bottom left corner. You want to use your adspace to make the case for your business. Once you convince the reader, they’ll find your address.
If you are using photos or illustrations, place headlines underneath them to keep your reader’s eyes moving down the page. Make your headlines and photos part of a narrative.
It’s a good idea to outline the benefits of your product or service with bullet points. Long copy is great, but it’s a lot harder to write.
What are your ads like? Are they lists or do they have a story to tell followed by a call to action? If you are using the former style, I promise you’ll get more results by changing things up.
Failing to Test and Track Ad Response
You should always test and track your ads. Even a slight change can generate many more sales for the same product or service. Testing and tracking can help you to cut out what isn’t working and keep what performs well.
How to Track Advertising Response
It’s very simple to track your ads. For instance, you can ask callers how they found out about your business. If you have a lot of different ads out there, you can track things with more complex methods such as the following:
Coded coupons in your ads Different coloured reply-paid postcards Different department numbers Asking your callers to mention an offer or ask for someone by name etc.
If you’re advertising online, it’s even easier, you can use tracking software to compare response rates between different ads.
Not long ago, a client tracked their advertising for the first time and found that the expensive newspaper ads they were running were bringing them a negligible response. However, their very inexpensive flyers were getting a huge response. They dropped the newspaper ads and managed to get a much higher return for their marketing dollars.
What To Test
Test these parts of your ads:
Headlines Offers Body Copy Guarantee Price
Headlines are the most important part to test, work on these first. If you find an approach that gets results, keep at it until you find an even better tactic. This is the approach which can maximise your marketing ROI.
Taking the time to ensure that your ads are effective at generating responses can make a huge difference to your business. It may even be worthwhile for your company to take on a copywriter. Having an expert on hand to create your advertising can be more than worth the salary you’ll pay him or her.
Not Making The Most of a Powerful Guarantee
Many small businesses don’t have a strong guarantee, or they don’t know how to incorporate their guarantee into their ads. This is important, because powerful guarantees have been shown to increase ad response by 50+ percent.
A strong guarantee makes customers more willing to buy from you, since the perceived risk is eliminated. If you project confidence in your business, prospective customers will feel it too.
Here are a few tips for successfully incorporating your guarantee into your ads:
1. Your guarantee should be a specific promise of performance or results.
Don’t use boilerplate phrases like “Satisfaction Guaranteed” or even “Money-Back Guaranteed”. While these are probably better than nothing, they don’t have a fraction of the effect of a specific promise like:
“If you don’t love our product, we’ll pay you to go to our competitors”
” Web traffic increased by at least 50% in 60 days or your money back”
“Send $35 to [Your Company Name and Address]. $40 refund if you’re not completely satisfied.”
2. Test Your Guarantee
As a copywriter and small business consultant, I spend a lot of time working with my clients to produce guarantees which get the reader’s attention. A lot of business owners worry that they will have a lot of customers taking advantage of their money back offers. If this is the case, then start small ? publish one ad with this guarantee, another without. Track your response rate and the number of returns you see. If it works for you, keep offering the guarantee.
In almost every case, a good guarantee will bring in much more in sales than you’ll end up paying out in refunds. Fine tune your guarantee (wording, conditions and so on). You may see a huge difference in sales between a 30 day and 60 day guarantee.
3. Make your guarantee highly visible
Your guarantee should be a headline; you don’t want your reader to miss it.
What can you offer prospective customers in terms of a guarantee that will make them more interested in doing business with you?
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