Are Your Ads Attracting Enough Attention to Interest Readers? If not, They're Probably Worthless. Here How's to Grab Potential Customers and Never Let Go.

By David R. Young

Ads don't really pull anything, of course, but I always liked the sound of that expression. It's as though your ad were sucking in the money from all around the country like a huge vacuum cleaner. What I mean is making your ads attractive enough to command the attention of the publication's readers. If you don't attract the readers' attention, your ad is worthless. You've lost your sales opportunity before it begins.

There's more to an ad than having a catchy headline, although the headline may be one element that makes your ad attractive. And the offer, usually touted as the most important part of the ad, may not catch customers if it's not read.

So grab your pencil and note pad. Here's how to find out what really works.

Start by analyzing what everyone else is doing. Flip through your favorite magazines and tabloids one page at a time. Turn the page quickly. As you turn the page, your eye will immediately be drawn to one of the ads somewhere on the page. Which one caught your eye first? Why? What makes that stick out while the others just form a sea of gray around it?

There's something different about that ad. See if you can isolate that difference. Whatever that ad is doing to catch your eye may be just exactly what you should be doing to make your ads catch your buyer's eye.

• Is the unique element the ad's size? Is it noticeably larger or smaller than the other ads on the page?

• Is it shape? I used to design my ads with what appeared to be a cut-off corner because none of the other ads did that. You might make your ad look like it has torn edges rather than using a neatly-squared border.

• Is it white space? Does the eye-catcher ad have a lot of white space or is it entirely filled with type? Most ads are so crammed with small print they're just gray blobs.

• Has the advertiser used a tint or shaded area? Has color been used? Why? Does the color highlight something that interested you?

• How about pictures? Do they catch your eye? What kinds of pictures? Halftones? Cartoons? People? Products?

• Is the advertiser using an illustration like a pot of gold or a new car or maybe a smiling woman? Does the picture draw you into the ad so that you read it? Does the picture relate to the ad's content like a palm tree in a travel ad or is it unrelated?

If the picture catches your eye but it's unrelated to the ad's content you'll feel like you've been tricked. The picture's implied promise wasn't met. If, on the other hand, the picture IS related, you won't feel that way.

Check several more pages. Are you finding that most of the ads are dull and don't really catch your eye? Are you finding some qualities that are consistent eye catchers?

I hope you've been taking notes because the next step is to put together a list of the things you found that reached right out from the page and grabbed your eyeballs. Nyah! Nyah! Made you look!

Now THOSE are the features you should have in your ads!

This kind of analysis works just fine for one-inch or larger space ads and, though you might not think so, it also works well in classifieds. When researching the competition's classifieds, you'll want to ask yourself which words caught your eye.

For example, the first few words in a classified ad are usually in BOLD print. They're calculated to grab your attention and hold it long enough for you to read the rest of the ad. Notice that dynamic words like FREE and EXCITING and MONEY are more attractive than dull words like RECIPE or PLAN or LITERATURE. You'll want to find some dynamic words that lead into your ads.

Are the available categories listed by the publisher? Can you devise an ad that would fall into its own category? Would being the only ad in a category be more of an eye-catcher than being one ad among 25 in a category? You bet it would!

* Do symbols like stars or bullets attract your attention? * They do for me. But most classified advertisers use only words. That's dull. Your classified ads can include symbols, usually at no extra charge. They're on the typesetter's palate of characters, so why not use them?

Pay attention to the above points and watch your ads improve. And vary your approach--there are lots of ways to boost your visibility in that sea of ads. Best of all, they don't necessarily increase your advertising costs.

For more information about how to make your ads really pull, write to:

Communication Services, DMM
210 Glen Ellyn Way
Rochester, NY 14618-1617

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