To bring great sales success, a great advertising technique is not the only parameter. You must know what it is that your customers are actually buying. They are not buying your product or service, they are buying what it will do for them. Use the answers to this to set up your advertising masterpiece.

1. Offer an impressive benefit for the client

It must not be related to the product or service on offer. This is the most important of the 6 ways. It must be a primary customer benefit...for the person. For example a free garage inspection; emphasise the safety benefits for the family etc. If you're selling books on 'Computer Accounting Systems' focus on the reduced accounting time the purchaser will achieve and not the features of the product.

Frame the major benefit in a storyline with the customer involved. Make it really clear what is involved, i.e what's in it for them. Be specific, spell it out. It should be immediately understood. Include the product.

Attract good customers through high level benefits for them. Your main message must make the customer say. 'This is important to me, I must found out more'.

2. Make The Customer Believe Your Claims

What you state could be true, but a lot of potential customers don't tend to believe advertisers. Over bragging can kill the ad. Keep the claims honest and reasonable. It will pay off in the long run.

3. Make The Layout & Design Reader Friendly

Layout

• Don't wrap around a photo, i.e. put blocks of text around it.
• Emphasise specific phrases by putting more white space around them.
• Base your layout on the fact that most people look at the 2nd quarter of the page from the top, first.
• Use your single most important benefit as your headline.
• Put a benfit laden caption undert the photo as 80% of readers will read that first or instead of the copy.
• Don't use more than four secondary benfeit messages.

Typography

• Use Serif typeface (e.g. Garamond) for copy, stylish headings and sub-headings.
• Sans Serif (e.g. Helvetica) can be used for headlines, sub-headings, captions and labels.
• Consider larger font size if your tartget audience is older people.
• Print out alternatives and have them test read by others.

4. Stress What Is Unique

Re-emphasise services that are unique or may have been hidden from or taken for granted or assumed by the reader. Define your Unique Selling Point. What makes you stand out from the crowd? What makes you better than your competitors.

5. Attract Attention With Something New

Be inventive here. Is there something new that will be of interest to your customer's needs? Fresh benefits, new services or product features. E.g. 'You now have access to our outlets all over the country'. 'You can now obtain your account details online without visiting our offices'.

6. Keep The Reader Involved

Put the reader in your advertisement and get personal. Use the present tense for the customer experiencing their benefits. Don't put them in the future and use the future word 'will'. Get them feelig like they are part of your advertisment story.

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