• Four Essential Ad Elements to Get Results

    in Small Business Marketing on December 12, 2019

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    Your product (or service) is amazing. It can solve problems and make life easier for anyone who’s wise enough to give it a try. Anyone who knows about it thinks it’s great. So, what’s the problem? It’s likely that not enough people know about it, and it’s time to ramp up your small business marketing. You need to use your precious small business marketing dollars on ads that get you results. So, make sure to include these four elements of a successful ad: 

    1. THE OFFER. Your offer is the first element of creating any ad. It is the reason your audience is attracted in the first place. Follow these guidelines when creating your offer.
      • Captivate. You have a little under three seconds to grab a reader’s attention today. So, go for a clever, attention-grabbing headline. The main role your headline plays is to communicate the most important benefit your product or service provides your audience and make them want to continue reading.
      • Compel. Don’t simply tell your audience what you have with a bulleted list of your services. Tell them how they will benefit. What do you do for THEM? How can you make their lives easier? Write an ad that speaks to your audience on that level, and make them an offer they won’t want to refuse. But, don’t stop there.
    1. INCENTIVE. What else is it in it for them? Your competitors have offers too. But what makes yours better? Appeal to your audience’s emotions and include a bonus for choosing your product or service. Here are some ideas:
      • Donate to a charity to incentivize purchase.
      • Create a loyalty program with a reward for certain buying behaviors.
      • Give a free sample, demo or trial offer.
      • Offer discounts.
    1. MISSED OPPORTUNITY. What will happen if your audience doesn’t act on your offer? We have all experienced regret from not acting on a great opportunity at some time or another. The phenomenon even has a name—FOMO (fear of missing out). Consider these statistics: 60 percent of people make purchases because of FOMO, mostly within 24 hours; seven out of 10 millennials experience FOMO; and 48 percent of millennials have spent money they didn’t have to keep up with friends. Here is how you can use missed opportunity in your ads:
      • Make your offer for a limited time and/or quantity.
      • Create a “one-time” offer.
      • Appeal to your audience’s desire to have what their idols have, and use influencers and celebrities in your ad.
    1. SENSE OF URGENCY. First, get your timing right. Don’t place an ad at a time when your prospects will be too busy to notice it. For example, if you’re targeting vendors in the wedding business, try to reach them in the winter months, when they’re in planning mode, not in the summer and fall, when they’re working constantly and exhausted. Here are some ways to create a sense of urgency.
      • A clear call to action. Once you manage to capture someone’s attention and get them interested in your product or service, what do you want them to DO? Here are some examples of a clear calls to action: Call now to schedule your FREE 30-minute consultation. Or, Get our FREE Guide Now. Make sure you have easy and obvious clickable links for your prospects to take action.
      • Use power words in your ad such as now, hurry, don’t miss out and before it’s gone/too late. 

    One of the best things about digital marketing for your small business is the fact that it’s highly trackable. Don’t spend money on advertising without having a clear way to track the results. Creating unique codes to redeem or different landing pages for each ad gives you the ability to analyze what’s working and what’s not.

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