7 Tips to Improve Your Advertising

First, we will cover Personality & Tone of your advertising and content, then we will cover whether your approach is feasible, so you can determine if you should even pursue it or restructure it and present it in a different manner.

• Personality & Tone:

What attitude/ behavior/disposition/character best fits or will be the most effective stance for your ad or content? You need to decide the personality and tone your ad or content will take.

Personality refers to the make-up of the content or ad’s character. Tone refers to the undercurrent or the mood of it. Ignoring this will lead to frustration due to non-performing ads and content that fails to convert prospects to buying customers. It’s important to ensure (yet most advertisers ignore it) that when you pull all the pieces together (picture, copy, etc), the ad or content conveys a uniform message and all parts are congruent.

• Is This Approach Feasible?

Let me state, for the record, that I will always encourage free-form thinking, and at the same time, you should also be aware of approximately how long a project will take to develop and the estimated cost. This should definitely include your labour and creative input value. You contribute value to your projects so it should be a consideration in the budget even though you don't have a line on your balance sheet showing this value as an outlay from the budget. Also, when you are engaged in this activity you are distracted from other “money making” activities. It's important to reject all approaches that demand too much time, work, or money. Instead, you should concentrate on generating ads and content that showcase your talent, knowledge, and experience and not be distracted by projects requiring months of work and loads of cash.

In this second part of the 7 Tips to Improve your Advertising I will cover 2 aspects of your advertising and content creation that should help you move through it more efficiently, saving you some time and money. Which means you will not only get faster results but greater returns as well.

First I will cover some hidden resources, very close to you, that you may not be aware of, and then I'll cover a key mindset trick to increase your effective use of time and resources that will help move you to the front of your market's pack. Speaking of mindsets, you should also look at this article on 10 Habits of Highly Successful Online Marketers to get some ideas on what habits you might need to develop to be a successful online marketer.  So let's dive right in, okay?

• Use What You Already Have.

Don't spend a lot of money on photos and illustrations or software. You might just be amazed at what you already have (and don't know it) and/or what you might have just lying around that you can use in your marketing. And best of all - It’s free.

You can also Google “royalty free images”. Or, as a last resort, you can pull out your trusty cell phone (everybody has one these days, right?) and get really creative.

You will also want to check your computer for pre-installed software. Most come with audio/video recording software, image editing & creation software, maybe even video editing software.

You can find some online websites that offer free versions or trials of most any kind of marketing tasks you may need for your business. For instance, Google offers a range of free and inexpensive business services. *Also an Autoresponder is a must have for any serious online business. Click Here for more information.

• Frugality=Timely.

For the most part, a small production budget forces you to be creative and self-reliant in the utilization of resources. It also allows you to respond more quickly at introducing your ads and content to the market. This “Rule of Thumb” works because you don't have to depend on other resources or people (some of which you may not have any influence over) to get your content out into the market-place swiftly. So, free your ads from the bonds of expenses and allow them the ability to move to the market at lightning fast speed.

Also, keep in mind that when economic conditions suddenly change (as they inevitably will), you can respond more rapidly with a new ad message or content that is more congruent to the new economy. You could say, “Now more than ever, it pays to use our product.” This speed to market will once again position you as the preeminent leader in your market and leave your competitors eating your dust, especially if they’re tied to expensive ads and long production timetables.

Many times we’ve seen an enormous budget plus a bad idea or incongruent message = a huge failure. “Big budget delivers big results?” Not necessarily, right? Just as money can’t solve all social ills, big budgets don’t automatically create inventive advertising. Many times we see a small budget plus a first-rate idea and congruent message = marvellous success.

Next, I will share, not 2, but 3 more things you can use to make your advertising perform better, so you won't want to skip this final section. I have a special gift for you too. A downloadable .pdf with a cadre of valuable information to make your advertising even more productive.

In this third and final part of the 7 Tips to Improve your Advertising I will cover 3 technical aspects of your advertising and content creation that I hope will help you make your content more relevant, more compelling, and more powerful. I've certainly saved the best for last.

First I will cover some things you should avoid when composing your marketing messages. Next, I will share one technique I use to make my ads/content more relatable to my audience. And lastly, I reveal my top tip for creating powerful, pulling ads and content that prospects and customers just can't resist. I hope you find this information as valuable as I have. Let's get to it.

• Temper Your Language.

Most people don’t realize the full impact and power that language carries. One misspoken or ill-conceived phrase can be interpreted as offensive to thousands of people. Therefore, you must be vigilant in your selection of words and context, as-well-as maintaining your cultural awareness, keep up with the ever-changing and expanding lexicon, and, above all, use your best judgment.

You should never use anything that is "at the expense of" a certain group. This will only offend people. It is far better to show that you can get results from across a broad spectrum of readers and you always get a smile from every one of them.

Engage your audience by starting a conversation, never make fun of the prospect in a “we’re just kidding” kind of way. They are probably not paying close enough attention to your ad or content to catch the subtle nuances of your wit anyway – they will only see enough to be insulted, and that's a surefire way to lose business - forever.

• Make Adversity An Advantage.

Tell your story, at least part of your story. Draw upon your talents, knowledge, and experience and try to use that to help your prospects sympathize, understand, and relate to you. Use as many feelings and emotional language as space and context will allow, the more of your prospect's emotions you are able to engage, the better the response your ads/content will generate. Be sincere though, the first sign of deceitfulness will send your prospects running and you'll never see them again.

• Expand the Limits.

Demonstrate that you’re better than the space your ad or content lives in, especially if you have a small ad. Be bold, be bigger than life, you need to stand out if you intend to make an impression. Keep in mind that the prospect could care less about the size of the ad, they only care about what you can do for them.

Well there you have it, my 7 Tips to Improve Your Advertising. Follow these tips and you will be better positioned as the leader in your market-place, which means greater success for you.

I suggest you make sure you review all of your current advertising & content assets, as-well-as any new ads/content you develop in the future to make certain that it follows these protocols.

Please leave a comment below to let us know how we're doing.

Feel free to leave any suggestions for future posts or content. Or ask any questions regarding anything you don't understand or need help with, I would be happy to help in any way I can.

To Your Success,
Christopher Gibson

P.S. I hope you find this information helpful. Thank you for reading. A Business doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. We can show you a better way. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE