Classified advertising is a relatively inexpensive way to promote your product or service, so it's a great option to consider for small businesses. However, if you're not careful, you can waste a lot of time and money on ineffective classified ads.
There are several
factors to keep in mind when writing classified ads. If you keep these factors
in mind, you can run an effective classifieds campaign.
1 - What are you selling?
Before you decide
to run classified ads, you should determine if your product is well suited to
classified advertising. In other words, are the people reading the classified
ads likely to be looking for your product? For example, if you sell used cars,
classified ads might be a great way for you to go, because people do read
classified ads when they are looking for a car. On the other hand, you probably
won't sell many Ferrari's with classifieds.
2 - Where are you running your ad?
How many people
will read your ad? Who are these people? Are they young or old? Rich or poor?
Are they likely to be interested in your product or service?
3 - Writing Your Ad
When you write your
ad, remember what you are trying to do:
A. Catch the reader's
attention, so they will read your ad (that is the job of your headline)
B. Convince the
reader that you have something they might be interested in (that is the job of
your ad body)
Get the reader to
contact you or otherwise respond to your ad (you should have a clear idea of
what you want the reader to do – call you, visit your website, etc.)
5 - Test, test, test
Once you start a
classified advertising campaign, you should rigorously test your ads and
methods to perfect them. This is one of the most important parts of any
advertising project – removing what doesn't work, and improving what does work.
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