Unit 12. Persuaision

TEXT 1.

Read the text and note down the key points. Discuss them with your partner.

1. __________________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________________

3. ___________________________________________________________

How To Make Your Advertising Really Work

Published April 2001 By Jody Hornor

Advertising is one of the key marketing communication strategies that can significantly reduce your overall marketing costs and increase sales -- if it's developed, placed, and scheduled properly.

What does it take to make your advertising successful? Ask yourself these questions: What is it that stops me long enough to read an ad? What TV commercials do I watch and why? What direct mail do I open? And what are the common elements that they all possess?

If you can't define those elements, start paying closer attention. They'll probably incorporate these 6 main elements: Make Advertising Pay

The six main elements to effective advertising.

1. A headline is the most essential element of an ad.

You've got a second or two to get the attention of a prospect. The message in, and treatment of, your headline will account for up to 70% of the readership of your advertisements. Yet, if you examine the advertising you see in your newspapers and magazines, you'll find many ads that have no headline. All too often they start off with the advertiser's name or logo -- something the reader cares little about. The best advertising emphasizes the service, not the source.

2. Headlines and body copy should appeal to the reader's self interest.

In other words, learn to think, write and speak benefits to your market! Check over your copy. Are you telling the reader how your product or service can help them? Do you use the personal pronoun "you" frequently? Or does your copy talk about "we can do..." "We're the best at...", etc. The latter are considered ego advertising and will not serve you well.

3. Use subheads.

Most people skim while they read. That's why it's important to use big bold headlines and strong, benefit oriented subheads in your copy. If you hook your prospect with the headline, they'll next skim the body copy looking for a reason to read on. If you give it to them quickly and concisely through subheads, the reader will read as much more as you give them. In other words, long copy generally sells more than short copy, so don't be afraid to tell a complete story in all your ads.

4. Urge action.

Always tell the reader what you want... "Order today", "Call for a free appointment", "return the reply card now", "come to our store by Nov. 15 to take advantage of this discount", etc. Never assume that the reader knows what action you want, and always be sure you make response as easy as possible. If appropriate, provide several response vehicles like a reply card and 800 number.

Why Text Advertisements Perform Better.

If you compare all forms of advertisements employed in the world of Internet, you can find that text based advertisements tends to attract more traffic than any other forms of advertisements. Text based advertisements are economical and easy to create. It takes only a small amount of space. With Text based advertisements, you will find it very easy to get your site advertised and notified by spending a small amount of money. These advertisements are also noticed by search engines and will act as a link to your website. Either you can buy some space in other popular website which are having higher page rank or you can participate in the widely popular contextual advertisement schemes which are also known as PPC based advertisements.

Contextual advertisements works based on the content of the website in which it appears. If the content is all about shopping, only advertisements about the shopping related sites would appear there. Thus, a contextual advertisement system ensures that your advertisement is placed only where it is most appropriate to appear.

Links placed in other websites are also a form of text-based advertisement. Links can be purchased or exchanged. If you exchange a link, you have to place a link from your website to the website where your link is already placed. Link purchase on a high page rank website is a very good strategy, as, many who visits a high page ranking website will see you advertisements and search engines will notice your site faster.

To conclude, text based advertisements are most efficient and economical way for advertising a website.

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Look at the following sentences: which view does last sentence refer to:

Text based advertisements fends to attract a lot of people.

Text based ads are the easiest to create.

A contextual advertisements system ensures that your ad can be published in any place.

Text based ads are elective and economical way for advertisements a website.

5. Use visuals that have a high degree of stopping power.

Photos are always better than illustrations in stopping power. Photos of babies, animals, odd situations or odd images are all good.

6. Use images that help tell your story.

Product photos, photos of your products in use, or any other photos are good -- if you can use them to relate a logical story about your company or product.

But there are other factors as well that will determine whether your advertising is effective.

Identify your target market. Before you decide where to run your advertising, you must understand your target market. Do you know the demographics and psychographics of your target market? Those are the age, education, income, sex, and lifestyle characteristics of your customers or clients. Without a precise picture of who your target market is, you'll waste valuable time and advertising dollars.

Knowing your target arms you to make good media selections based on how well that media delivers a qualified audience. And, you'll be able to evaluate that media's ability to get you in touch with your market at a competitive cost per contact.

Develop Communications Strategies to help you combine and incorporate the best media mix, frequency and message necessary to influence more prospects to purchase from you. Frequency is one of the key ingredients to the success of your communications program.

Studies point to the necessity of creating an exposure frequency of at least 9 impressions in order to influence your prospects to action. These "impressions" can be a combination of advertising and public relations activity, and will effect sales more quickly if they are highly targeted. You should note, however, that only every third media mention or ad is usually seen by your prospects. Thus a schedule of 27 exposures or more will bring optimum results.

Observe other advertising if you really want to get good at the development and placement of your own. Watch TV commercials. Can you identify the demographics and psychographics of the audience they're trying to reach? Look at print advertisements in newspapers and other publications. Use your six point check list above to evaluate the copy.

Was it an effective ad? Read all of your direct mail. Note which pieces you would normally open and which you're only opening because you read this article. What was it that made you want to open the package?

If you become an educated observer, you'll find that the most effective advertising always shares the key elements mentioned on the right side of this page.

YOUR GLOSSARY:

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