The Art Of Writing Classified Ads
The writing of good classified ads truly is an art that needs to be learned and perfected. Depending on the type of business you run, the development of a good classified ad can boost your annual sales by an average of £5,000 to £20,000 or more.
You must first of all forget any notion of selling products from your classified advertisements. Instead you need to concentrate on offering free information to attract as many interested parties as possible for the products or services you have to offer. You need to understand that your ad has only one purpose. That is to target a specific group of customers who need what your company has to offer.
The purpose of your ad is to gather enquiries, whether they be in letter, notes, on postcards or through online enquiry forms. Or for that matter on anything through which the customer can say "Please send more information". Upon receipt of any enquiry you must respond quickly with professionally written and prepared sales material. This will at least consist of a sales letter, descriptive circular, a full product brochure and a return addressed envelope for convenience.
Unlike any display advertising, your classified ad will be placed under a specific heading according to product or service type. Then only readers interested in your subject will scan your heading in the same way they would scan the adverts and subjects placed in a phone directory. They are the ones looking for something; it's up to you to let them know you have it.
Never try to deceive prospective customers with the content of your ad. Remember you need the names of good quality buyers, not a massive amount of names to supply expensive marketing material to. It is best not to promise more than your product or service is able to offer in your classified ad. This will not only lose you a sale, but will upset the customer and alienate them from any future sales.
It is essential that you place your classified ad under the correct heading and sub heading. For example if your product targets other business's remember ther are sub headings like finance, technology, marketing etc. Some publications or online classified sites even allow you to create your own sub heading if there isn't one already.
When writing your ad it is best to disregard the size and cost of your ad. You need to tell it all, and stress the need for the product or service you have to offer, what it will do, and how the readers will benefit from the purchase of it. Concentrate on how what you have to offer will make their lives better and much easier.
When you have finished writing the best possible description you can, now is the time to start thinking about size and cost. Read through your ad to see if you can cut down on the wordage without detracting from the content, and be selective with your choice of words to be written in the final version of your ad.
Only when you are totally happy with the final content of your ad should you submit it for publication. Then if you have been honest and as descriptive as possible, any interested parties will request further information hopefully leading to a sale.
Thanks for reading.
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Jason
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Jason Morris is co-author, search engine optimization and marketing consultant of Business Phone Systems Direct. An established communications company, offering advice and implementation of high quality business phone systems
