Headlines should offer a benefit; be direct; arouse curiosity; and be up to a dozen - or more - words long. Once they have seen your ad, readers are just as likely to read a dozen words as they are to read three or four. (However - the first three or four words in a headline are the most important).

David Ogilvy, the famous advertising guru, used to write up to 16 headlines every time that he wrote an advertisement. Either you or your copywriter should do the same thing. In addition, try testing different headlines in otherwise identical ads. Usually, one of the headlines will outperform the others by a clear margin.

Rule 5: Two thirds of people think in pictures

Should you use photographs, illustrations and other images in your advertising? The answer is, space permitting, a resounding "Yes".

The first reason for this concerns the right side of the brain (which processes images). Pictures are hugely important to human beings. So much so that research by Bandler and Grinder, the founders of NLP, has shown that some two thirds of human beings primarily understand the world around them through images. Think about this for a moment. Two thirds of people won't believe you until they have SEEN what you mean in your advertising, as opposed to just telling them, via the words within your adverts.

The second reason why you should use images is that they catch the eye as the reader scans the page. The problem is that we are surrounded by so many marketing messages, that unless your advert 'jumps out' in some way - it will be overlooked. One of the best ways of doing this is through the use of an image.

Rule 6: Write body copy which sells

'Body copy' means the words in your advert - excluding the headlines. Always remember that advertising is 'salesmanship in print'. Therefore:

Open with an enticing sentence which will draw the reader into the advert. Jane Austen, Dickens and Tolstoy would have made great copywriters. For one thing, they always started their novels with an intriguing opening.

Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs. You may be an exceptionally intelligent individual, with extraordinarily developed cognitive capabilities. My advice, then, is to keep this to yourself and keep your ads simple and to the point.

Advertising copywriters know that there are certain words which have a magical effect on people. If you use these words in your headlines and opening paragraphs, your ads will pull a better response:

Free
New
You
Yes
Discover
Benefit
Money
Guarantee
Now
Secret
Proven

Rule 7: Try out different offers

A marketing 'offer' can take many forms. For example, 'two for the price of one', additional information, 'freebies', etc. No matter how sophisticated your product or service is, there will be offers that you can create around it.

Customers and clients operate from a position of enlightened self interest. So look at things from their point of view. Do as much market research as you can. Try out lots of different offers. The results may well surprise you.

Rule 8: Include multiple 'Calls to Action'

Having done all this great selling - you must let the reader know what you want them to do next. This is called the 'call to action'. For example, you might ask them to: call you, send off a coupon or visit your website.

Rule 9: Big is not necessarily better

Research by an American Mr Strong as far back as 1914, discovered that all ads are certainly not created equal. Imagine a full page ad. This was given a 'score' of 100 points, in terms of its effectiveness. Now imagine the same ad - but only occupying half a page. The half page ad would score 68 points in terms of impact and recall. He found that a quarter page ad would score 49 points.

Therefore, a quarter page ad has virtually twice the impact of a full page ad. Amazing, but true. True because in the decades since this research was undertaken, numerous other studies (including one conducted by the Gallup organisation) have confirmed the veracity of the original research. They have all come within 2% of his findings.

However - do remember the key point that the actual content of the ad is the same in each case. If you have more space available - you can of course use it to say more. However, from the entrepreneurs' viewpoint, in this case it can be said that 'small is beautiful'.

Rule 10: Place your adverts effectively

There is much theory - and conflicting advice - with regard to this subject. However, here is a run down of the accepted wisdom:

• The front page is the best of all possible positions (but also the most expensive)
• The second best spot is the outside back page
• Next in line is the first right hand inside page
• Early pages are better than later pages
• Right hand pages produce a better response, rather than left hand ones
• 'Facing matter' means an advert which faces editorial - and this position may well command a higher price
• If you are using display advertising, try not to get lost amongst a crowd of adverts
• Study your target media carefully. Try to get your ads next to the popular editorial items
• If you are placing small ads - get them printed on the outside edge of the magazine - not near the central fold

Copyright © Nigel R. Temple, marketing consultant, trainer, speaker and author.

http://www.nigeltemple.com