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Classified Ads That Get Results

Guest post by: Terri Levine

Article Overview: Going to spend money on advertising? Here's how to get the most bang for your buck.

Classified Ads That Get Results

The cost of running a classified ad is relatively inexpensive. Even most major magazines will afford you the ability to run your ad to a large target audience. Most magazines and newspapers will also offer you a discount the more frequently you insert your ad. Don't think that classified ads don't work because they're small and relatively inexpensive. When I was starting out, I ran this ad with great success in a small local newspaper:

Overwhelmed at work and home? Call the coach at

800-555-2345 for a free complimentary coaching session

and restore balance.

After running this ad only three times in a small local paper, I was overwhelmed with phone calls. I tried the same ad in a magazine that was primarily placed in health food stores, as I was target marketing to that audience. Once again the ad generated many phone calls, many complimentary coaching sessions, as well as clients and new sources of contacts.

When writing a classified ad, you may want to test different papers, different magazines, different categories and even different days of the week and times of the year. I looked through publications and saw which ads were running repeatedly. I figured if the ad kept running, it must be generating some income for the business running the ad.

I used that ad to model my ad. What I love about classified ads is that they are relatively inexpensive so it gives you the opportunity to test new ideas as well as ad sizes. Another effective strategy is placing your classified ad under several different headings. For instance, as a coach I could place my ad under personal, under consulting, under business improvement, etc. Feel free to run the ad in many sections of the same publication.

I once again stress that repetition is key in advertising. Keep the ad running for a period of time so that people get used to seeing it, get used to your name and your business, and then they will take action.

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Article Tags: advertising, business, marketing, small business



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