If you are on a limited budget and designing your own ads or working on your own marketing and advertising for your web site, marketing materials, etc.—it helps to know a few basic things about advertising. Even if you are able to afford to pay a professional to design your ads, you will still want to guide and direct them and be able to offer suggestions for what you want to say and how you want to say it. One important thing to remember is that the headline for your ad is the most important line.
The headline has to work hard—it has to grab people’s attention and send the message you want to send. Before you even get them to read the fine print or figure out who you are and what you do—you have to draw prospective customers in. That is why things like “Clearance Sale” and “Up to 75% Off” can be so effective for some businesses—people are responding to price. In order to choose headlines that really work, you need to have an understanding of your target market and an idea of what motivates them (are they looking for low price, value, exclusivity, or convenience, for example?). This knowledge can help guide you in coming up with a headline that will grab their attention and appeal to their motivation.
It may seem obvious, but I also want to mention that a headline in an ad should be of a larger font size and in a bold, clear font type. You might not want to use bold font throughout your entire ad, but you do want the headline to be larger and bolder to add to its effectiveness and make it more likely that it will get noticed. It is not only about what you say—but how you say it!
Also: Low and No Cost Advertising for Your Home Business