Articles: Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Ads?

Unfortunately, too many businesses believe they can run an ad in a newspaper or magazine, and they'll instantly have plenty of customers. That kind of thinking has led to millions of dollars wasted on ineffective advertising every year. Here are some of the biggest blunders:

#1 Thinking that advertising is the same as marketing
When it comes to marketing, advertising is just one tool among many. For some businesses, such as mine, advertising is a waste of money. (I have the receipts to prove it.) For others, a combination of advertising plus other marketing methods has a synergistic effect that works really well. But even businesses that seem at first glance to be almost completely advertising driven - such as auto dealerships - still use other marketing methods to complement their advertising.

#2 Failing to target prospects via the right publication
For an ad to be successful, the right message must reach the right market using the right medium. Choose publications that reach the audience you want to reach. Advertising luxury boats for sale in the Fargo Daily News in North Dakota is a wasted effort. But advertising those luxury boats in Chesapeake Life magazine is probably a wise move. Chesapeake Life magazine is the only lifestyle magazine targeting high net worth households throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. BMW dealers, high end home furnishing retailers, and luxury travel companies will find far more qualified prospects by advertising in this magazine than in the Baltimore - or Fargo - newspapers.

#3 Creating a single ad instead of an integrated marketing campaign
Ads should never be created in a vacuum. Instead, they should be created in the context of a larger marketing plan. No single ad can do it all. Each ad is just one piece of the puzzle, and its success depends on what other pieces of the marketing puzzle fit alongside it.

#4 Running an ad once or twice and expecting big returns
When a consumer responds to an ad, it's because she is feeling the pain of a very specific problem, and the ad reaches her at exactly the right time. What are the odds of that happening the first time the ad crosses her field of vision? Not very high. When the reader encounters the ad, she's more likely thinking about something else – getting the dog out for a walk before he has an accident, that she forgot to pick up the dry cleaning, or what she's going to fix for dinner. Your ad is competing with the stress and clutter of her life. That's why repetition is so important.

#5 Focusing on how an ad looks instead of how it performs
Ad agencies love to brag about all the awards they win for creative ads. What they don't tell you is how many of those award-winning ads are total failures when it comes to bringing in the revenue. The number one goal of an ad is not to look pretty or provide eye candy to the reader or sound clever and amusing. The number one goal of an ad is to get the consumer to act. Pretty pictures may help, but more often than not, they just get in the way. Design should always be a supporting cast member, not the main focus.

#6 Making vague claims about "quality" and "service"
People have heard words like these so often that now they're just background noise. They're totally meaningless. Here's how to make a more meaningful claim. Instead of "fast service" say "repairs completed in 2 hours or less." Instead of "finest quality cutlery" say "titanium steel blades won't need sharpening for 80 years!"

#7 Failing to focus on benefits
As in the example above, titanium steel blades are meaningless to me – until I learn that I won't have to sharpen them, ever. I don't care if you have fast service – I just want to know I can have my car back in two hours so I can pick the kids up on time. Demonstrate to the prospect what's in it for him, and you're much more likely to get a response.

© Eileen Coale, All rights reserved.

Eileen Coale, owner of Coale Communications, is a copywriter and consultant. To sign up for her free monthly ezine, Third Thursday Marketing Tips, or to learn more about her work, visit her website at www.eileencoale.com. You can reach her by phone at 410-757-0821. If you'd like to use this article at no charge for your website, ezine, or newsletter, contact eileen@eileencoale.com for permission.