How to Write Compelling Advertising Ads

The most important aspect of any business is selling the product or service. Without sales, no business can exist for very long.

All sales begin with some form of advertising. To build sales, this advertising must be seen or heard by potential buyers, and cause them to react to the advertising in some way. The credit for the success, or the blame for the failure of almost all ads, reverts back to the ad itself.

Generally, the "ad writer"  wants the prospect to do one of the following:

a) Visit the store to see and judge the product for himself, or immediately write a check and send for the merchandise being advertised.

b) Phone for an appointment to hear the full sales presentation, or write for further information which amounts to the same thing.

The bottom line in any ad is quite simple: To make the reader buy the product or service. Any ad that causes the reader to only pause in this thinking, to just admire the product, or to simply believe what's written about the product - is not doing its job completely.

The "ad writer" (Small Business Advertising Copy-writing)
must know exactly what he wants his reader to do, and any that does not elicit the desired action is an absolute waste of time and money.

In order to elicit the desired action from the prospect, all Advertising Copy are written according to a simple "master formula" which is:

1) Attract the "attention" of your prospect.

2) "Interest" your prospect in the product

3) Cause your prospect to "desire" the product

4) Demand "action" from the prospect

Never forget the basic rule of advertising copy-writing: If the ad is not read, it won't stimulate any sale; if it is not seen, it cannot be read; and if it does not command or grab the attention of the reader, it will not be seen!

Most successful advertising copywriters know these fundamentals backwards and forwards. Whether you know them already or you're just now being exposed to them, your knowledge and practice of these fundamentals will determine the extent of your success as an advertising copywriter.

CLASSIFIED ADS Advertising Copy

Classified ads are the ads from which many successful businesses are started. These small, relatively inexpensive ads, give the beginner an opportunity to advertise his product or service without losing his shirt if the ad doesn't pull or the people don't break his door down with demands for his product. Classified ads are written according to all the advertising rules. What is said in a classified ad is the same that's said in a larger, more elaborate type of ad, except in condensed form.

To start learning how to write good classified ads, clip ten classified ads from ten different mail order type publications - ads that you think are pretty good. Paste each of these ads onto a separate sheet of paper.

Analyze each of these ads: How has the writer attracted your attention - what about the ads keeps your interest - are you stimulated to want to know more about the product being advertised - and finally, what action must you take? Are all of these points covered in the ad? How strongly are you "turned on" by each of these ads?

Rate these ads on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best according to the formula I've given you. Now, just for practice, without clipping the ads, do the same thing with ten different ads from your favorite local newspaper. In fact, every ad you see from now on, quickly analyze it, and rate it somewhere on your scale. If you'll practice this exercise on a regular basis, you'll soon be able to quickly recognize the "Power Points" of any ad you see, and know within your own mind whether an ad is good, bad or otherwise, and what makes it so.

Practice for an hour each day, write the ads you've rated 8, 9 and 10 exactly as they've been written. This will give you the "feel" of the fundamentals and style necessary in writing ads.

Your next project will be to pick out what you consider to be the ten "worst" ads you can find. Clip these out and paste them onto a sheet of paper so you can work on them.

Read these ads over a couple of times, and then beside each of them, write a short comment stating why you think it's bad: Lost in the crowd, doesn't attract attention - doesn't hold the reader's interest - nothing special to make the reader want to own the product - no demand for action.

You probably already know what's coming next, and that's right. Break out those pencils, erasers and scratch paper - and start rewriting these ads to include the missing elements.

Each day for the next month, practice writing the ten best ads for an hour, just the way they were originally written. Pick out ten of the worst ads, analyze those ads, and then practice rewriting those until they measure up to doing the job they were intended to do.

Once you're satisfied that the ads you've rewritten are perfect, go back into each ad and cross out the words that can be eliminated without detracting from the ad. Classified ads are almost always "finalized" in the style of a telegram.

EXAMPLE: I'll arrive at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon, the 15th. Meet me at Sardi's. All my love, Jim.

EDITED FOR SENDING: Arrive 2pm - 15th - Sardi's. Love, Jim.

CLASSIFIED AD: Save on your food bills! Reduced prices on every shelf in the store! Stock up now while supplies are complete! Come on in today, to Jerry's Family Supermarkets!

EDITED FOR PUBLICATION: Save on Food! Everything bargain priced! Limited Supplies! Hurry! Jerry's Markets!

It takes dedicated and regular practice, but you can do it. Simply recognize and understand the basic formula - practice reading and writing the good ones - and rewriting the bad ones to make them better. Practice, and keep at it, over and over, every day - until the formula, the idea, and the feel of this kind of ad writing becomes second nature to you. This is the ONLY WAY to gain expertise in writing good classified ads.

Prior to opening your Company you must decide upon the general price Amount you expect to maintain. Will you appeal to people
buying in the high, medium, or low budget? Your choice of location, appearance of your institution, quality of goods handled, and
services to be provided will all depend on the clients you would like to bring, and so will your prices.

After establishing this overall price level, you are ready to price Individual items. Generally, the price of an item has to cover
the cost of the product, the other expenses, plus a profit. Thus, you'll have to markup the thing by a certain amount to cover
costs and earn a profit. In a business which sells few things, total costs can readily be allocated to each item and a markup
quickly ascertained. With many different things, allocating costs and determining markup might require an accountant. In retail
operations, products are often marked up by 50 to 100 per cent or more simply to earn a 5% to 10% gain!

Let us work through a markup example. Suppose your company sells 1 product, Product A. The supplier sells Product A to you for
$5.00 each. You and your accountant decide the costs entailed in selling Merchandise A are $4.00 per item, and you want a $1 per
item gain. What is your markup? The sale price is: $5 and $4 and $1 or $10; the markup consequently is 5. As a percent, it's 100%.
So you have to markup Product A by 100 percent to produce a 10% gain!

Many small business managers are interested in knowing what Industry markup norms are for a variety of products. Wholesalers,
distributors, trade institutions and business research firms publish a massive assortment of such ratios and business statistics.
They're useful as recommendations. Another ratio (along with the markup percent ) important to small firms is the Gross Margin
Percentage.

The GMP is comparable to your markup percentage but whereas markup Identifies the percentage over the price to you of every item
you have to set the selling cost in order to cover all other costs and earn profits, the GMP indicates the association between
sales revenues minus the expense of the product, which is your gross margin, along with your earnings earnings. Exactly what the
GMP is telling you is your markup bears a certain relationship to your sales revenues. The markup percent along with the GMP are
basically the exact same formula, with the markup referring to individual item pricing and GMP referring to the product prices
times the amount of items sold (volume).

Perhaps an example will clarify the purpose. Your firm sells Product Z. It costs you .70 each and you decide to sell it for $1
each to cover costs and profit. Your markup is 43%. Let up say you sold 10,000 Merchandise Z's Last month hence producing $10,000
in revenues. Your cost to buy Product Z was $7000; your gross profit margin was $3,000 (revenues minus cost of goods sold). This
is also your gross markup for your month's volume. Your GMP would be 30 percent. Both these percentages use the exact same basic
numbers, differing just in division. Both are utilized to set up a pricing system. And both are printed and may be used as
guidelines for smaller firms starting out. Often managers decide what Gross Margin Percentage they will have to earn a profit and
just go to a printed Markup Table to find the percentage markup which correlates with that margin condition.

While this discussion of pricing may seem, in certain respects, to Be directed just to the pricing of retail merchandise it could
be applied to other kinds of companies too. For solutions the markup must cover administrative and selling costs in addition to
the immediate cost of doing a specific service. If you're producing a product, the costs of direct labor, supplies and materials,
parts purchased from different concerns, special tools and equipment, plant overhead, administrative and selling expenditures must
be carefully estimated. To compute a price per unit needs an estimate of the number of units you intend to produce. Before your
factory gets too big it would be smart to consult an accountant in a cost accounting system.

Not all items are marked up by the average markup. Luxurious articles Will take more, staples . For example, increased sales
volume by a lower-than-average markup on a specific thing - a"loss leader" - may bring a higher gross profit unless the price is
lowered too much. Then the consequent increase in sales won't raise the total gross profit enough to compensate for the minimal
price.

Sometimes you Might Wish to sell a particular item or service at a lower Markup in order to boost store visitors with the
expectation of increasing earnings of Regularly priced merchandise or creating a high number of new support contracts.
Competitors' prices will also govern your prices. You cannot market a Product if your competition is greatly underselling you.
These and other reasons May cause you to vary your markup among items and solutions. There is no magic Formula that will work on
every product or every service all of the time. However, You should keep in mind the overall average markup which you want to make
a Gain.

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