Designing Your Advertising Message
Craft a message that will cut through the blizzard of other messages to attract attention and capture customers.
Today's consumer is in a big hurry. We are overwhelmed with work, family, school, children, meetings, moves, and a myriad of other duties and activities. We like things that are QUICK AND EASY. Your customer should be able to QUICKLY find what you are selling and EASILY understand your message. Don't make the customer work or wait to find out what you're selling!
Steps to Follow
Target Your Audience
photo by Pulitzer Prize winner Joe Marquette
Advertising is way too expensive to waste on people who aren't interested in what you have to sell. Knowing your audience makes all the difference and will save you tons of time and money. Once you have targeted your audience, you can hone in on what appeal is most likely to motivate them, and what tool to use to capture their attention.
Here are a couple of ways to identify your audience.
Look in the newspaper or magazine that you want to advertise in. Look on the website as well as in the hard copy. Find ads from at least three of your competitors. Analyze what is effective, and, importantly, what is not.
Answer these questions when you look at the ads the competition is running:
- Who is the audience for the ad, exactly?
- Is it men, women? What percent of each would you guess? 60% men, 40% women? Come as close as you can.
- Are they married, single, divorced, widowed?
- What age range do they represent?
- Where do they live?
- Can they afford the product or service?
- What does the ad tell you about their wants, needs, values, lifestyles?
Page 1 of 5 Next >>