Tips for Increased Response from Your Ad in Natural Awakenings

If you own a business then you probably need to advertise. But just what makes a good ad? You want to be sure that your advertising dollars are well spent, so here are tips on how to get the most bang for your buck from your ad.

Hire a professional

Advertising agencies and graphic designers are professionals in creating ads, copy and imagery that attract attention and create results. If you are willing to put your message, product or service in front of readers, draw from the experience of professionals to ensure the readers

Considerations on creating your own ad

In an ad you have a limited amount of space and only 5 – 10 seconds to catch the attention of the reader. So how do you make the most of that space? The first thing you need is a headline that catches the eye. The number one rule in advertising is to draw attention to your ad and stop the reader from turning the page.

Most ads have the name of the advertiser and/or business and phone number as the most prominent features of that golden space on the ad. However, if the reader has never heard of your business, then you may not catch their attention and they may not read the ad. And, needless to say, if they don’t read it then it doesn’t matter how prominent your name and phone number is on the ad! So the number one order of priority in a good ad is a headline that catches the eye and piques the interest of the reader.

What makes a good headline?

Think about what would make you stop and take notice? Would a headline like this work for you? Alternative Health Associates. This might not be intriguing enough to make you want to stop and find out what they do. The headline gives some clue, but it could be much more powerful.

Would this catch your attention? Need Help Sorting Through the Alternative Health Maze? We can help!

Now this just might intrigue someone enough to read further. So the second rule of an effective ad is to clearly spell out the benefits of what you are offering. You should never list every single benefit or service that you offer — touch on the most important services or highlights. However the headline should be intriguing enough to get the reader to read the entire ad and call and ask questions. This is referred to as the FAB approach - Features, Advantages and Benefits.

If you want to try your hand at writing a headline for your ad, just keep these ideas in mind. Your headline needs to promise a benefit and/or provoke curiosity. Also, people buy two things: Solutions to problems and implied postive experience. Think of these two criteria next time you write a headline for your ad.

The response you get to your ad has everything to do with how effectively your ad “speaks” to the reader. Does your ad convey a benefit or evoke curiosity about your business? Do you ask the reader to call you and tell them why they should?

Do I need a visual element?

Yes, this is usually a great idea. A photo with the headline under it can be very compelling and helps grab attention of the reader. You should also include any logo that you may be using for your business. If you don’t use a visual element, the actual font used in the ad and the over-all design can be just as powerful if well executed.

Ad submission

Now you've created the perfect ad, it must conform to Natural Awakenings ad submission guidelines. The ad must be created in the right application (Microsoft Word and Publisher are not acceptable for press printing), images must be between 240-300 dpi (images pulled from web pages will not print properly) and converted to CMYK, and images and fonts (only Postscript Type 1 or OpenType fonts — TrueType fonts are for screen imaging only) must be submitted with the ad.