Be clear, be concise, be brief and shout LOUD!
If you want your advert to pull in enquiries and sales – and why else would you bother advertising? – your copy and design need to be carefully constructed.
Here’s the basics.
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write a short, eyecatching, inspiring header
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put the header at the top of the ad using a large font size
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don’t use fancy typefaces, they just confuse matters when you need to look sleek
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compress your sales message into as few words as possible – no more than three short sentences
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make it as exciting and stimulating as you can but avoid sounding like bad American direct mail
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put your sales message below your heading, set in a font size that’s easy to read at a glance
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write a strong, compelling call to action and put it below your sales message
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include contact details – in your order or preference – at the bottom of the ad, again using a nice, readable font size
As you can imagine, a successful direct response advert is rarely a pretty thing.
Loud headlines, easy to read text and prominent contact details don’t often make for a minimalist masterpiece. And you won’t win any design awards. But it’ll bring in more business than a complicated, airy fairy, verbose ad using a stylish yet fiddly font.
In other words, leave the pure brand advertising to the big boys who have more spare cash than commercial sense. All illustrated by an advert I made earlier, just for fun.
