How to make your advert stand out
In this particular local magazine I regularly receive through my letterbox I get a chance to purvey various attempts at designing advertising. I do feel sorry for multiple trades who have to compete with each other, all trying to attract the same customers from the same page:
Look! Four plumbers jostling with each other to capture the same audience!
(Actually it think it’s a bit cruel of the magazine compiler to do this, but the thinking behind it may be to make it easier for customers to find the plumbers’ ads quickly if they are in an emergency!)
So how do you make your ad stand out from the others?
What all these plumbers are doing are trying to raise customer awareness that they exist. They are relying heavily on reputation, how well they are known in the community, the longevity of their business or even how quickly someone answers the telephone!
They are all keen to tell you their features: what they can do, how many years’ experience they have, even that they can do anything! One does mention his speciality, and another lists what works he can undertake. Not one mentions any benefits they can give their customers, or any testimonials or case studies from satisfied customers.
None of them have reassured their customers they can make their lives better in an emergency, that their focus is to provide a quick and easy service with the least fuss and immediate response. There are no headlines to capture their customers’ attention with empathetic questions or statements that they understand their customers’ pain and can provide the solution for it.
One does say he is a specialist at bathroom refurbishment – great! He needs to grow his reputation in this area to gain a following, then he can tell his satisfied customers he does other plumbing work as well. Just a tiny testimonial saying “I had trouble with X and this plumber sorted it out by doing Y” will speak volumes on an advert. Don’t think to have to mention everything – if you do specialise in other areas, take out other similar adverts for those niches later, using the same principles.
There’s no mistaking the fact that these are all plumbers though, the word plumbing appears at the top of each. But it needn’t be in their names, you can rely on the word appearing in the headlines or solution filled subheaders. If you establish you understand your customers’ predicaments at the top of the adverts, put your company names at the bottom along with your logo, straplines and qualification logos, followed by your contact details in large, clear numbers and letters. Telephone numbers obviously need to be big, as that is usually the main source of contact customers look for, but don’t undermine your email or web addresses either.
List your benefits in bullet points, or failing that a list of features you specialise in, this is why the one that sticks out the most is the top left hand advert. His image of a tap also aids as a focal point. The top right advert has too much text because he has to list everything he works with, so it looks too confusing to someone in a hurry. The bottom left puts his speciality too far down his list, it should be something he crows about. And the bottom right is just plain boring!
And some food for thought: what incentive can you give your customers to make them choose you from the other three, such as a percentage discount or special offer if they quote this advert, for instance? And is there any guarantees you can give your customers, like a response within a certain time? Remember, the customer always comes first… without them you don’t have a business.
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