As Charlie is heading down the slippery slope to double figures (we are merely weeks away from owning a 10 year old!) we have been letting him stay up a little later by himself. Clearly the 9 year old shouldn’t be going to bed at the same time as a 5 year old and we did well to keep it up this long. Once the girls have gone to bed Charlie likes to watch something on TV other than CBBC, which I obviously love (only so much Danger Mouse this girl can take). We settle down and snuggle on the sofa to enjoy a bit of TV together but Charlie has inherited his father’s annoyance of adverts, and with that comes a flappy finger. OMG as soon as the adverts start he’s off flicking around only every single channel has adverts on at the same time and well it’s frustrating to say the least.
Advertising is a necessary evil in the world of small business. We know we need to do it. We know we need to pay for it. We know a lot of the time people will just flick on through. So how can you make your adverts both enticing, useful and drive customer sales?
When it comes to TV no matter who you speak to they will be able to tell you about an advert they like and/or don’t like. I love the Clearscore adverts, Flearoy and Moose get me everytime! It’s funny. The dog asks something the husband replies the wife thinks he’s talking to her she makes a lame comment, he looks confused (story of my life really only replace the dog with a small child). However the sales message is clear and obvious the humour hasn’t taken away or diluted this. Clearscore is so easy to use, there’s a super app and you can even check your rating in the bath. Simple.
Now lets take Moneysupermarket.com on the other hand. I really don’t like these adverts, (I’m sure others will disagree) the twerking businessmen in hot pants and stilettos, the builders dance off thing (what on earth!). I have no idea why but this makes me so uncomfortable. I dislike the advert so much I actually couldn’t think what it had to do with the business? The tagline on the website says “helping you make the most of your money”, which reminded me of Sharon Osborne standing their saying “Oh Dave your so MoneySupermarket”. Still not quite selling it too me.
4 Top Advertising Tips :
OK enough of my rambling and down to the top tips.
Is it memorable? :
Now you can say that both Clearscore and Moneysupermaket.com have nailed this as well we are sat here talking about it. But I do think you need to be memorable in the right way. Memorable as a business a potential customer wants to spend cash with, other small businesses desire to work with. Not memorable as something customers don’t like.
Is your message clear? :
Whether you decide to do print advertising, Facebook advertising or television commercials one thing remains the same your message needs to be clear. Confusing adverts that try to be “arty” and yet make no real sense these are my pet hates. (Think perfume and Christmas)
- Firstly have a clear understanding and idea of what information/service/product you are wanting to promote. Don’t blinding go in trying to promote a whole website.
- Decide what benefits this will have to your potential customer.
- How can you get this across clearly, if in print using as few words as possible.
Branding :
Advertising needs to incite an emotional response (aww Flearoy), connection and desire. Therefore consider using one clear image rather than many images which can and will dilute this response. Ensure your images are provided print ready (high resolution and 300 dpi) there’s nothing worse than blurry images. Use your logo, website details and your branding colours to streamline your advert and make it instantly recognisable that it is your business.
Call to action :
So you have a lovely advert in a magazine or a radio soundbyte, but have you told potential customers what to do next? You might notice I always end a blog post with a CTA (call to action) whether that be Follow me on Facebook or ending with a question that the reader wants to answer (ie leaving me a lovely comment, go on you know you want to). I always tell the reader what to do next. This is paramount in advertising if the potential customer doesn’t know where to go from the advert you have lost that sale. So what do you want them to do next? Call to book? Book online? Don’t try to give too many options a phone number or URL is sufficient otherwise they will become overwhelmed.
What top tips do you have for maximising your adverts? Making them clear and memorable without alienating potential customers or making the message to complicated?
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