Smart Business Miami

Improve your advertising efforts

Easy tips for creating engaging ad copy By Jenifer Parsegian

Although you must start with a product or service that delivers genuine benefits and authentic value to your clients, advertising helps to illustrate those in a compelling manner.

Advertisements, Web sites and all other marketing materials such as brochures and pamphlets should establish a program of consistent communication for customers in order to create a strong marketing message.

The first step in positioning your marketing materials is to determine your target market. Until you have this information, you cannot successfully attract potential clients.

Materials should communicate a message that your target audience considers important. Know your clientele and have a good plan for communicating with them personally.

Using intriguing graphics is the first step in attracting attention and drawing viewers to your message. Pick a photo or image that will complement your headline and provide a rich meaning.

Although a strong graphic will draw attention, don’t let it overpower the copy and message. Your picture may be worth a thousand words, but it can also cause confusion if it competes with the message. Simply put, the element of an aesthetically pleasing graphic should draw attention and complement your message.

A gripping headline will also help pull in your audience and persuade them to take action. Your headline is the most important part of your advertisement or marketing materials.

A powerful headline should be benefit driven, news-oriented, curiosity-driven or how-to oriented. If your headline doesn’t grab attention, your materials will go unnoticed.

Marketing materials and advertisements should communicate an important message that will stress the benefits of your product or service by attracting attention, holding interest, provoking desire and motivating action. Here a few writing tips to get you started.

Write as you talk. Use the company’s voice and personality in the copy by making it read like written speech or conversation.

Write down features and benefits. Jotting down features and benefits forces you to concentrate on your service or product from both the business and client point of view.

Write from the "you" point of view. Make every form of communication a one-on-one conversation to emphasize the importance of your client and what you can do for it.

Use the active tense. The use of passive tense can create awkward sentences or seem flat and uninteresting. An active tense helps to create clear, concise and direct sentences.

Return to the opening theme. Give your readers a sense of completion by drawing your message back to your opening thoughts.

One key element for creating strong marketing materials is to obtain client feedback. The benefits of hearing feedback are more satisfied clients and fresh ideas.

Both compliments and constructive criticism can be great sources of improvement. Satisfied clients may describe your services in a manner which you may have not considered. Encourage feedback by providing ways to reach your business with a phone number, e-mail and fax.

These elements alone cannot guarantee successful marketing materials, but the combination of a beneficial service or product, appealing images and strong content will increase your potential for successful advertising.

Your advertising and marketing materials should increase awareness of your business, develop loyalty with your current clients and generate sales or sales leads.

JENIFER PARSEGIAN is creative director with International Profit Associates. Reach her at jenifer.parsegian@ipa-iba.com.