The 4 types of ads - and when to use each.

This is an excerpt from a very straightforward and helpful item in the Give to Get newsletter. I mention it here because there are good examples provided of each type. Worth you having a look if you are considering display-type advertising in newspapers or magazines.

Heres my summary (see details below for full article):

There are four primary ways that small businesses generally use small space ads in mass media:

1. To Generate Awareness

2. To Generate Sales

3. To Generate Traffic

4. To Generate Prospects

= = =

1. Ads Designed to Generate Awareness

Many small business owners often copy the marketing tactics of the big corporations. Big mistake. Small businesses are not big businesses.

Big businesses can afford to run marketing campaigns solely designed to create awareness for their business or a particular product. They've got deep marketing pockets.

See examples here.

2. Ads Designed to Generate Sales

When you see a small ad that describes an inexpensive product for say $20 or so, and the ad tells you to send your money to a specific address, or asks you to call an 800 number to order, that ad is trying to generate sales directly from that ad.

That can work if the product is simple to understand, like a book, or a simple household item, etc., if it is relatively inexpensive--under $40 or so.

Unfortunately, most products or services aren't that simple to understand, or are not that inexpensive.

See examples here.

3. Ads Designed to Generate Traffic

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the typical grocery or department store ads you see in your local newspapers are generating sales directly from their ads. They aren't.

After they see an ad for a digital camera for $399, they then have to drive to the store to learn more about the item before making their decision to buy.

Traffic generating ads are used a great deal on the Internet. They are designed to drive traffic to your web site.

4. Ads Designed to Generate Prospects

Finally, we come to the most profitable ads for small businesses; Ads that generate interested prospects.

If your prospects need more information about your product or service, or even about you and your company, then you will probably do much better by running Prospect Generating Ads.

The whole point about running a prospect generating ad is to attract people to your business who have an interest in what you are selling.

See examples here.


If you would like to obtain the full article I suggest you contact the author and mention PowerTips Article: PT112:
Joe Gracia
Give to Get Marketing

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We are in the Informed Age... are you keeping up?

I love Gerry McGovern's writings. His focus is helping organizations to create customer-centric websites by using the right 'content'. He is a world leader in structuring content and writing for the web. Not the salesy, hype-filled writing of the direct response world. But the useful, effective presentation of content - and use of key words - that will help the people visiting your website.

In his latest newsletter he used the phrase...

It is not the digital age. It is not the information age. It is the informed age.

He goes on to write that we are a questioning society. We want to know the answers.

I agree with him.

What are you doing to help your prospects and clients find the answers to their questions?

Do you even know what questions they are asking?

Successful marketing in the Informed Age will be based upon you leading your prospects to become paying clients by demonstrating that you can help them find they answers they seek.

Demonstrate your expertise. Build trust. Have a process your client can understand.