Our advertising director Marcy Sparrow penned the piece below to send to our customers. I though it should reach a wider audience. JVH
A man wakes up after sleeping under an advertised blanket on an advertised mattress pulls off advertised pajamas, bathes in an advertised shower, shaves with an advertised razor, brushes his teeth with advertised toothpaste, washes with advertised soap, puts on advertised clothes, drinks a cup of advertised coffee and drives to work in an advertised car and then…
He refuses to advertise believing it doesn’t pay. Later if business is poor, he advertises it for sale!!!!
Advertising is not just putting an ad in a magazine or on line and waiting for the phone to ring. The ad content has a lot to do with what you get out of your ad. The first question you must ask yourself is who am I targeting? Who is my audience? Who am I trying to reach? What does my audience know and what do they not know and how can I educate them? What is their pain/problem? Can I fix that problem? And most importantly, do they know they have this problem? Once these questions have been answered, you can then move on to creating the ad and its content.
There are many types of ads but for our purpose I have broken it down into three types; Qualification Ads, Product Ads and Branding ads.
Qualification ads are very specific ads like RFP’s, RFQ’s or job placement ads. Theses ads have a lot of detail in them and are meant to inform a specific audience. There is a call to ,action clearly stated. By this I mean. what is it you want the reader to do after seeing your ad? For example, send resume, send proposal etc… These ads are changed often as the subject changes.
Product ads are meant to sell a particular product. The call to action here is to call you or visit your website. So it is very important for that information be clearly communicated in the ad. Also, the ad should highlight what your product does above and beyond your competitors. Don’t just state what it does, inform the readers of what it does better!!!
Branding ads are meant to take your company name and log it into the brains of your readers. Branding helps get your name recognized from all of your competitors. Nike is my favorite example of branding. They print a swoosh and people know who they are and what they sell. Granted, billions of dollars have been spent to get that type of reaction from an ad, but branding is just as important on a smaller scale. Loyalty is another component of this type of ad. It lets your customers know you are still out there. It allows your employees to see you marketing your company. Branding is a very beneficial part of advertising.
You can combine these ideas into one ad. But the key component here is to know who you are targeting, what they need and what is the best way to communicate that. Don’t assume that people know what you do. The ad should be clear, concise and always have a call to action.
Take a look at your ad and see if it falls short in any area.
Good advice from Marcy – you can reach her at marcy@parkingtoday.com.
JVH
