SECRETS OF HIGH $ CLASSIFIED ADS
Classified ads, when used effectively, can be one of the
quickest and inexpensive ways to increase sales and customers. A
single well-written classified ad can generate hundreds of
thousands in sales, yet can cost you pennies to run.
Unfortunately, most people don't appreciate the pulling
power of classified ads. They think classifieds ads are for
selling cars, or finding jobs, not for expanding a business. And
while it's true a classified ad is a good way to sell a car, or
find a job, it is also true that classified ads can be used to
launch and operate multi-million dollar business.
In fact, many businesses rely exclusively on these small low
cost ads to generate all their sales. The reason is simple. Once
you have discovered how to harness the power of these ads, you
really won't need to run expensive display ads.
The key point about classified ads is that they are most
effective when used as 'lead generators'. In these ads, you are
not trying to convince someone to spend money with you in the ad.
Instead, you're trying to identify a potential customer by having
that customer contact you as a result of the ad. Once potential
customers have identified themselves, you follow up with your
direct mail offer for the product or service you want to sell.
Writing an effective classified ad is one of the most exacting
forms of copywriting. With twenty words or less you have to say
something that will cause potential customers to call you. And you
can't rely on eye-catching illustrations or professional layouts to
catch the reader's attention. It's all in the wording.
Here's what we do when we need to write a classified ad that
really works:
1. Define what we want the ad to accomplish. Do we want the
customer to read the ad and smile? Or do we want him to read
the ad and call us? (In most cases we want the customer to
call us immediately upon reading the ad.)
2. Define the profile of the person most likely to purchase our
product or service. (Is it a man or woman, young or old, rich
or poor?) If you can't identify who you are going to sell a
product to, it's almost impossible to write an ad that will get
their attention.
3. With the 'most likely customer profile' developed in step two,
you should list the 'hot buttons', those words, ideas, and
concepts most likely to gain the immediate attention of anyone
in the profile group.
These hot buttons might be phrases like 'work at home',
financial freedom,' 'overnight weight loss,' 'immediate loans'
or 'overseas jobs'.
4. Using the list of hot buttons we came up with in step three, we
should see how we can weave them into a 20 word or less ad that
accomplishes the goal we set in step one. When writing the ad,
the first three words are extremely important and must be
selected with purpose. They should call out to our potential
customers.
5. If our goal is to get the reader to identify himself to us as a
potential customer we should offer free additional information.
This way we get the customer to call us and give us their name
so we can send them something. We normally do this by saying,
'For Free Information Packet call 1-xxx-xxx-xxxx.'
6. After the ad is written to our satisfaction, we search out a
number of highly targeted newsletters and magazines that our
customers read. Then we find the ones with the least amount of
classified ads, and run our test ads there. (We always avoid
general interest publications. The ad rates are too expensive
and the response too small.)
7. Before the ads appear we develop our ad response pack. This is
free information that people who see the ad will be calling
about. And it is this response pack that will generate the
sale. Obviously having a good response pack is critical to the
success of the project.
8. When the ads appear, we keep track of the total number of
inquiries for each ad, from each publication. This lets us
know which ad works best, and which publication pulls best. We
use this information when we roll the ad out on a wider scale.
One final point. The success of a classified ad is determined by the
Sales are related to the follow-up effort, the response pack, not
the lead generating classified ad. Generally if you get five or
more responses to a low cost classified, you are on the right
track.
GOOD LUCK!