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Writing great adverts to promote your online business

Guest post by: Roy Derrick

Article Overview: There's a real temptation when you're setting up an online business to exclude traditional methods of promotion: methods which have been tried and tested over the years, long before the internet was the great driving force it is today. The temptation is to plough your entire promotional budget into Search Engine Optimisation or buying banners. If this is you, it might just be time to think again.

Writing great adverts to promote your online business



There's a real temptation when you're setting up an online business to exclude traditional methods of promotion: methods which have been tried and tested over the years, long before the internet was the great driving force it is today. The temptation is to plough your entire promotional budget into Search Engine Optimisation or buying banners. If this is you, it might just be time to think again.

The most successful marketing strategies for all businesses (online and off) are those which draw on innovative and traditional solutions. Good old fashioned brochures sometimes get forgotten about in today's online world, but a brochure can be a really effective way to get your message out to your target audience. Another way of promoting your online business is 'on the page' advertising in appropriate publications which are bought, read and trusted by your target audience. On the page advertising can be really effective in attracting appropriate visitors to your website. That said, you should be very careful when opting for these types of ads. Here's our top tips for securing and placing your ad:

1. Never pay the full price. Even the most prestigious of publications have a good margin for negotiation when they're selling their advertising space. Take advantage of this and bag yourself a good deal.
2. Secure a spot above the fold. If you're advertising in a newspaper, make sure your ad is positioned in the top half of the page. It's more likely to be read by casual as well as serious readers.
3. Opt for the right hand page. On printed publications, the readers eye is most commonly orientated towards the right, so always try to make sure your ad appears on the right hand page or on one of the right hand columns.
4. Don't even think about brand advertising. If you think of the likes of Nike, all they need to write is "just do it" and you know who's advertising. Most small businesses should never think of adopting this approach. The remainder of this article explains the style of advert a small business should aim for.
5. Don't follow the masses. It may well be that all your competitors advertise in a publication, but that doesn't necessarily mean that publication will work for you. Check it, test it and make sure your money is being well spent.

Once you've identified the right publication; verified that it IS in fact read by your target audience; negotiated yourself a good price and position, what do you do next?

Point number 4. talks about brand advertising and the fact that small businesses should not adopt this approach. So as a small business, what style of advert should you aim to design? The answer to this is a direct response advert. A direct response advert is one which very clearly asks the reader to do something, ie. to respond. Here are our top tips for writing a Direct response ad:

1. Clean and clear. Make sure your ad design is clean and clear. If people find the style confusing they're unlikely to take the time to delve deeper.
2. Headline. It's essential that your ad contains an attention drawing headline. It really needs to stand out and grab the eye of your target market.
3. Get to the point. You have a limited amount of space, time and words to get your message over, so you need to be specific, be factual and get to the point quickly and concisely.
4. Address the reader. Present the reader with a good reason to take action as a result of your ad. Speak in benefit terms rather than features and directly address your target audience's needs.
5. Call to action. At the end of your ad, ask your target customer to do something. Make it really clear what you want them to do eg. visit your website, phone you or return a coupon.
6. Contact details. Make sure your contact details are prominently situated on your ad, making it easy for people to get in touch.
7. Proof-read. Take the time to proof-read your ad properly. There's no point discovering a week after the ad has been featured that you've mis-typed your telephone number or website address!

To summarise, think about direct response advertising as simple as A B C...get your target customer's ATTENTION, present the BENEFITS of your business and encourage them to CONTACT you. Finally, don't forget to test different styles of ad to see which works best for your business.

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Article Tags: address your target audiences needs, attracting appropriate visitors to your website, benefits of your business, buying banners, direct response advert, most successful marketing strategies, promoting your online business, setting up an online business, target audience, test different styles of ad, tips for writing a direct response ad



Related Forum Posts
Re: Is Your Advert Really Worth It? - [quote="bmueller47":28wgag5k]Hi Topeyinka, I often wondered, how much control one has where the ads by Google are displayed. They are virtually everywhere. You visit your email site (googlemail) and on the right hand side there are all the adverts. Who is in charge where what is displayed? Maybe someone knows the answer.[/quote:28wgag5k] hi bmueller47, I think one can control advert also with google by giving specific target you want. You have to choose your choicest keywords before you place your adverts in google. That is how to control where you adverts will go for target audience.
Re: How to promote business online? - Good morning all, I would like to inquire about how to promote my business online. I started ConsumerBranch LLC as an online centralized location for businesses to purchase products from an array of suppliers. I would like to first understand where should I start to promote my business, and what method should I take to pursue this route. Please visit ConsumerBranch for more details. I look forward to the advice. Thank y'all for the help, Justin Sinsel CEO ConsumerBranch
Re: My Favorite Traffic Sources Online For Targeted Traffic - What a great post and really I have to agree with all of the above. I would also like to add ezine advertising, posting classified adverts in targeted online newsletters and also sending solo ads where you can email the whole list of the ezine with your product or offer. Also a word on Youtube, you can sometimes use your video as a way to post a response to a vid, this gets big traffic
Internet Marketing - That is an unusual approach if you're trying to promote your business or your site. I've run into promoters and business owners who are deceptive online and in the real world. However, NOT everyone is like that. I work very hard to be honest in all my promotion and in my writing. I cannot figure out what you're actually trying to accomplish with this piece, but it sounds like a sweeping condemnation of all promoters and people who promote online. Sounds like a strange approach for a person who has a "marketing" website. Shri
Re: How to Promote a MLM Business? - All their points are true friend. Why not use the company's tools? Many MLM companies have developed online marketing through text ads, email ads, and banners so that distributors can promote and advertise their business. The overall objective is to build and establish a strong web presence on the internet so there's no wrong way of using your own business name and promote it.


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