There is more to making a purchase than just making the purchase itself. Consumers, whether in a store or on line, go through several decision steps when making any kind of purchase, large or small. Beginning with the state of mind of the consumer, from unawareness of the offering all the way down to when consumers becomes buyers. Advertising can significantly influence the decision making process. Prospective buyers who do not yet know that they have a need are informed by awareness advertising which brings the advertiser at the top of the mind and helps in building mind share Benefits oriented advertising shifts need solution toward advertisers offering.
Classified ads can play an important role in this decision making process as a cost effective format for impersonal communication to reach target audience and to generate quality and quantity response. The format of classified advertising is broadly two; namely, advertisements on line basis and display advertisements, with restrictions on size and content, placed in classified sections. The later can sometime offer certain advantages, for example, color options, company logo and some visuals but at increased cost.
From the advertiser's point of view, the primary aim of any advertisement is to communicate well to the target audience . The matter could be a product or a service which has utility and can be bought. Therefore, the ad matter must arouse the readers curiosity provoking them to take the next step to get more information. People will respond to the ad if they can identify with what has been advertised. The title or heading is the determining factor whether the ad gets read. It should be appealing to the reader and offer some benefit. Short and specific headline which reveal exactly what is in the ad helps. Over used words like free, money, etc. are best avoided. Often reason for poor responses is because people do not proof read their ads. Make sure that contact information works!
Using action words in the headline or asking a question does help to catch the readers attention, for example, using How to, Last chance, Now!, Amazing, Announcing, and others in the headline. They worked in the past and pull in readers even now. To help writing ads that get results, some research can be done by looking at other ads. Ask yourself, what caught my attention? What did not catch my attention? Pay attention to how other ads are being written. The best ads come from people who pay attention to what others are writing. If you notice a good ad, write it down, save it. Pull out these ads when looking for new ideas and analyze them, figure out why they work. Stay up to date with the ad writing methods that are currently being used and with what is working and not working.
Before starting out make sure what you want to promote and for whom. The more focused the ad, the better the response. Offering something free in the ad related to the ad's topic will usually catch the readers attention. To pique the readers curiosity use descriptive words and just say what is on offer. All caps are best avoided, as it makes the ad hard to read and is considered yelling. Include website and an email address in your ad. Inform the reader how to respond and keep it simple and easy. Also make sure that the ad contains lots of white space, easy to read fonts, and clear graphics or pictures.
Testing ads can be very helpful in finding one that works. Test one ad at a time so you know which one is working and where it is working from. Even though it may take more time and effort, try to set up a web page for your ad and track the responses through your pages statistics. By setting up a specific page for your ad you will be able to track how it is doing. An effective ad will create an emotional desire for the reader to do more. This desire could be to make more money, have better work habits, etc. It should make the readers feel something so that they will want to get more and follow it up with action.
Finally, selecting the media to place your classified ad is important. If you choose print medium it is always better to look at the circulation figures, profile of its readers, reach and whether a relevant ad category is available where your ad will be noticed to eliminate possibility of placing your ad in a clutter where it can be totally lost. Sometime a weekly special feature which is relevant to your ad can be a fantastic platform to carry a message to the target group with ease. A certain minimum frequency will increase the opportunity to see your ad better with corresponding increase in response. Classified ads in trade magazines related to your product or service often work well as they have better shelf life and referral value. Therefore, evaluate not on only the ad content but also the medium to use. Revise and test ad on these two parameters until you get it right.