Do Your Ads Suffer From “Information UNDERload?”
Flip through your local newspaper.
Study the ads.
What do you notice? Chances are, you see dozens of ads that look something like this:
- Company name and/or logo at the top
- Street address and phone number
- Maybe a trite phrase like "Come and see us" or "We’re the best"
- Not much else
Now, tell me what’s missing.
How about any hint of a benefit to the consumer?
How about an answer to that all-important question that everyone wants to know: "What’s in it for me?"
How about any information at all that would help a prospective customer to make a buying decision?
The problem with most local advertising is that it suffers from what I call "information underload." It fails to give the reader enough information to make an informed choice. And it fails to provide a strong motivation to act.
Every ad you write must contain four criteria:
1/ First, it must get ATTENTION –
This is done with a powerful headline that states a benefit to your
prospect.
2/ Second, it must stimulate INTEREST –
This might be achieved with a subheading that draws the reader in and
makes him want to know more about your product or your company.
3/ Third, it must create DESIRE –
Here’s where you heap on benefit upon benefit and make a compelling,
irresistible offer (preferably with a time limit.)
4/ Fourth, it must ask for ACTION –
You must ask the reader to do something. It doesn’t have to be to buy
your product. It can be to call you; to drop in for a demonstration; to write
for a free report. But your ad must ask your prospect to take the next
step in the buying process.
The four steps I’ve just outlined are a tried-and-true advertising system called the AIDA Formula (for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action).
To do all that takes words. Strong, selling words. Lots of them.
Will people really read all that writing in your ad?
Some will. Most won’t. But who cares!
You didn’t write the ad for everybody. You wrote it for those few people who are in the market for your product now, at this moment. And you’ve got to give them a good reason to buy from you or you’ll lose them to your competition.
One of my all-time favorite ads is by The Company Corporation. It starts with a killer headline that states:
"How to form your own corporation, by phone, totally legal, in any state in
the union, in as little as 8 minutes, as low as $45"
That’s six benefits packed into one headline. There’s absolutely no doubt as to what this company is about or what it can do for you.
But when I showed that headline to one of my snotty friends, she self-righteously proclaimed, "I would NEVER read that ad."
My response was, "Well, do YOU own a business that you’re thinking of incorporating?"
"No," she said.
"Well, then the ad wasn’t written for you, was it?" I said.
I wouldn’t expect her to read that ad any more than I would read an ad for feminine napkins. And that’s okay.
Write your ads to speak directly to your best prospects and no one else. Just make sure you give them the information they’re looking for. And lots of it.
Tags: Jonathan Hook, niche marketing, internet marketing tips, internet marketing, affiliate marketing