Creating Newspaper Ads - Classified Advertising Advice

Print classified advertising is of the most cost-effective and successful means of advertising available. Following a few basic guidelines will improve response and create the foundation of a successful advertising campaign. Whether you are looking to create copy for newspaper advertising or designing for print media advertising, success in creating any advertising campaign depends on three things:

1. Good ad copy
2. Targeting the right market
3. Repetition or frequency of advertising within that market

How to Create an Effective Newspaper Classified Ad

The single most important thing in advertising campaign is GOOD AD COPY. Since we are often asked for newspaper advertising advice, we have come up with a few basic rules to help you create effective newspaper classified ads. Here's where you start :

Effective Classified Ads Should Have Three Basic Parts :

1. THE AD HEADLINE
2. THE BODY
3. THE CALL TO ACTION WITH CONTACT INFORMATION

THE AD HEADLINE is the most important part of your newspaper ad. If you don't spark the reader's interest with the advertisement's headline, then they simply will not read your ad. A good headline should be believable and have action verbs that encourage the reader to do something. For example: "Earn up to $3000 per month!"

THE BODY is where you elaborate on the ad headline. A common error many unsuccessful advertisers make is trying to put too much in a newspaper ad. This results in a busy ad that lacks focus. Due to newspaper advertising pricing, advertisers will abbreviate words to the point they lose meaning. It is common mistake to feel as though you actually need to sell the reader in the ad. Experience has shown this approach to creating newspaper ads can be unsuccessful as it is just too much to ask of a 15 to 20 word classified ad. The strategy should be to spark the reader's interest with your advertising just enough to make them want to learn more about your product.

THE CALL TO ACTION finalizes the ad. Don't end your newspaper ad with just a phone number or web address. Have contact information paired with action words. Don't be tempted to omit simple words like "call now" or "log onto" to keep the advertising cost down. Studies have shown that these simple words increase response to classified ads. For example: "For FREE information, call now! 1-800......"

Once a good ad has been written, the equally critical aspects of marketing and repetition within a market need to be addressed. Repetitive advertising builds credibility in your advertising campaign and allows the reader to feel comfortable in responding to your ad. When creating newspaper ads, the advertising has to speak to the regional audience. A southern audience may not respond to the same creative as say a piece created for western region newspaper advertising.