While there are some very important strengths that a skilled copywriter can bring to the table, it’s important to point out that writing copy for an ad is much like filling in the blanks. News stories are often written to answer the question, “who, what, where, when, why, and how?” Advertisers should consider the same questions when composing their ad.

The major points to any ad copy can be summed up thusly: Headline, Product, Pitch, Location, Call to Action, and Contact. It really is that simple! Those six points will give your potential customers everything you need to know. Of course, it helps to define each element as well.

Headline

Think of the headline as the ad for your ad. It should be attention-grabbing, and relevant to your product, service, or campaign. Good headlines will also use solid how-to tactics like “Five easy steps to securing your home,” or “How to have the greenest lawn in your neighborhood.”

The point of the headline is simple: Get the reader to stop and read YOUR ad. It should be no more than seven or eight words, and the type should be large enough to stand out from the rest. Here’s the kicker: A weak headline means a weak ad.

Product

Of course this is essential. What is your ad selling? Is it a service? A new lawn mower? An art gallery reception? ALWAYS list the product, preferably with a photo. It’s a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people try to get around this critical rule.

Some are pretty amusing. Abercrobme & Fitch is famous for using nearly-naked models for their clothes line. I’m still trying to figure out how that works… but then, maybe we’re supposed to realize how out-of-shape we all are, and then buy clothes to cover up since we don’t look like the A&F models. Also, Infiniti ran commercials years ago that didn’t even show the car. And they wondered why they didn’t sell very many. Go figure.

Pitch

This is summed up as WHY the reader should by the product. It’s much more than listing specs or details about the product or service. “Don’t miss the exclusive event of the year.” List awards, accolades, or other praises about the product. List reviews for books or movies. Discuss why it will enhance their lives somehow. But BE BRIEF and CONCISE. Blathering on with a dozen reviews is kind of pointless after the first two.

Location

Another no-brainer. Where can the reader acquire the item/service? I’m surprised at how often I have to look around the ad to find out just where the heck I can get that product. One thing to consider, though, is to leave this part out… no, I’m not being inconsistent. Here’s why – it’s the next point that makes it work…

Call-to-Action

This is just as important as the headline. If you must have only three elements, then they should be the headline, call-to-action, and contact information. EVERY ad must have a purpose. When your reader stops reading the ad, he should be faced with a single, compelling question: What should I do now? Should they call? Come to the store? Be at the midnight opening? Take care of that annoying scratch on their back?

Be specific. If you want to have the reader to “Call now to find out how easy it is to get our product,” then say so. “Operators are standing by” should always be followed with “CALL NOW,” or “Call before June first to get your discount!”  Having an ad without a call-to-action is a surefire way to waste money on that ad. DON’T run without it.

Contact

Every call to action needs a place to follow up. ALWAYS leave a phone number, website, or address (with brief description). Use all three if you have space. A description should be just a few short words: “Behind the Kroger shopping center at Hickory Hollow Mall” or “Next to Food Lion.” Be CONCISE and be SPECIFIC. When you proof your ad from the agent or publication ALWAYS make sure that the contact information is correct.

When I was in school, I always had the girls calling… only they dialed a wrong number, since they really wanted to talk to the good-looking football jock, who had a very similar phone number to ours. Printing a wrong number for a business isn’t amusing, it’s disastrous. Make sure it’s right!

Other points to consider is the space allowed. Don’t try to cram too much information into an ad, especially if it’s in a magazine or newspaper. These ads should be clean, high-impact, and should be as open visually — to offset the verbose text around them. Don’t write paragraphs for a small ad… we joke about that being “the Bible in a two-by-two.” NOT a good idea. Keep it simple.

That’s it for copywriting. Stay tuned for more from Advertising 101!

While I’ve already pointed out several things to ruin your advertising campaign, it’s always a good idea to consider elements that you SHOULD do. The key to success for your ad is dependent on a number of factors:

• Where the ad is being placed
• The audience/readership for your ad
• What your ad is selling
• Is it part of a campaign?
• What do you want readers to do when they see your ad?

Of course, each of these elements have their own considerations that factor in. I’ll attempt to be as succinct as possible (after all, simplicity and clarity are absolutely essential in any advertising campaign).

Where is the ad being placed?

Coupon Books

Coupon books are wildly popular and varied — they range from direct mail to free shopper pickups. Great local examples in the Clarksville, TN area are The Convenient Shopper, Clipper, Peddler, and similar publications.

Coupon books are typically published at a greater frequency than some magazines (some as often as weekly or every two weeks) and allow for more time-sensitive advertising. Retail (including big ticket items) stores can especially take advantage of this with “sale-of-the-month” features. Some characteristics of the coupon book:

• Readers will typically browse through without reading unless they see an ad that interests them
• Some coupon books use classified advertising which allows smaller display ads to gain more “face time”
• Once the coupon book is browsed through, it’s usually discarded — don’t expect longevity from the ad
• Display ads should be high-impact and use eye-grabbing copy “Don’t miss your last chance to save!” or similar strong headlines.
• Don’t forget to actually use a coupon in your coupon book! Keep the expiration date within a couple of weeks or a month after the book comes out so that you can gauge the effectiveness of it.

Newspaper/Newsweekly

Once considered the standard for advertising, newspapers have struggled to maintain their readership due to depleting advertising sales. This is unfortunate, primarily because newspapers still have the highest level of credibility in copy content for local publications. You’ll hear it from me first: newspapers need support. However, advertising in them requires special considerations just like any publication.

Newspapers are usually discarded by the end of the day that they’re issued. “Yesterdays news” is actually a brand of kitty litter that is recycled from old newspapers — so don’t plan on a single ad placement doing much good for your business. This type of medium is especially dependent on repetition and frequent placement to build awareness for your business. Most papers will offer deep discounts for frequently-run ads. Some specifics to consider:

• Very temporary — here today, gone tomorrow.
• Ad copy should be bold, clear, and smart.
• Use a headline! Headlines should always specific, and never expect the name of your business to be a headline. Instead of “Bob Jones Alarm Services,” try something like, “Burglars have flashlights. Does your alarm work in the dark?”
• Readers will read sections they’re interested in — try to have your ad placed in a relevant section. If you’re advertising an electronics store that sells big-screen TVs, look to be placed in the sports section or in the living section near the film reviews.
• Color is often extra — strong black and white advertising can still catch eyes, but the copy content should be bold and to the point.
• Be clear and concise — you don’t have a lot of time to keep a reader on your ad, so make your pitch in as few words as possible, but be precise!
• Sometimes less is more. Newspapers are often very cluttered, so if you use a lot of white space in your ad with very little copy, it’ll stand out on its own.

Magazines

Magazines, especially local-focused magazines, are becoming more popular. These are publications that often focus on the regions in which they’re printed, and offer content that is compelling for their intended audience. Price doesn’t matter — many of these local magazines are free, while some are paid or otherwise offer subscriptions. The key that makes these magazines valuable to you as an advertiser is that they’re designed to be read. Editorial content is built around the ads (which give smaller ads even more exposure), and is usually focused on the readers.

Magazines have another, greater benefit — they tend to be kept or passed along to friends. Their full color pages will also give them added value to the publication, which can sometimes lend themselves to being on coffee tables in waiting rooms. We’ve all seen them — and sometimes they’re several months old. We read them anyway.

When advertising in any magazines, they have different levels of exposure and considerations:

• Tend to not be discarded — as a medium, magazines are often retained for several months or passed on to friends or colleagues.
• Full color advertising on slick pages always makes advertising look great.
• Advertising in magazines adds a level of prestige that isn’t in other publications — their style and layout are intended to provide as much longevity as possible (which allows your ad to work for you long after the date of the issue has passed).
• Ad copy should be as timeless as possible — most magazines aren’t printed but once a month, and readers of several months from now should be considered.
• Center your ad copy around featured items that you’ll have for a while — or an identifying point of your business. This is a level of exposure that is as much an identifying point as it is a sales pitch.
• Time-sensitive ad copy should be avoided. A car dealer might showcase their best car, and have a call-to-action to have the reader ask about the latest deals for that car.
• Magazine ads should be more “inviting” than “slap-in-the-face.” Readers will often curl up and read, so they’re not interested in being pummeled with hard-sale copy. Give them something enticing with a headline that might add humor or irony.
• The key to a great magazine ad is to have your copy be clear, concise, and memorable.
• Strong copy should be married with even stronger graphics. A great example is this Porche ad.

Next, we’ll discuss more specific copywriting tips.

In “Resolution,” we discussed pulling pictures off websites and why it’s generally not a good idea to do that because of the resolution of the images, and that it’s usually too low to be adequate for print purposes. Another, far more important factor looms over the horizon: copyright issues.

Now, since we’ve already attempted to dissuade our friends from using web images, there’s always a few that will insist that the resolution is perfectly fine for print use. With this in mind, the conscientious advertising representative will ask this question: do you have license to use that photo or artwork?

This isn’t meant to throw anyone off, but it IS meant to determine the permission and license of that particular piece. Pulling artwork or photos from internet websites is extraordinarily easy, so copyright concerns are rarely considered. The reality, though, is that they should be.

At this point, I need to submit a disclaimer (We have an agreement with our attorney – he doesn’t make magazines, and we don’t give legal advice). For all legal concerns, please consult a competent copyright attorney. Any information distributed in this article is meant to guide readers into making informed decisions regarding photography, ad copy, or artwork; and should never be substituted for qualified legal advice.

All right, that’s done.

Copyright law basics

Copyright law in the United States is a VERY serious thing. It’s been amended several times in the last thirty years, and some of those amendments cover internet publishing. Here’s the basics: copyright law is designed to be creator-friendly. Legally, anything that is written, photographed, drawn, painted, filmed, or otherwise created is copyrighted the moment it’s published in a tangible form. The official government list is:

• Literary works
• Musical works, including any accompanying words
• Dramatic works, including any accompanying music
• Pantomimes and choreographic works (that are written down)
• Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
• Sound recordings
• Architectural works

That tangible form can be a bound book, a reproduced CD or DVD, published on a website, or even scribbled down on a paper napkin at your favorite diner. Copyrighting is usually confused with registration. In order for a document or created work to be registered, it must be filed with the US Copyright Office at www.copyright.gov.

Let’s be clear: Registration is NOT required in order to have the work copyrighted. So even if you never register it, it’s still protected by copyright law. The benefit of registration is that the creator will be able to refer to the registration date in order to challenge an infringement in court. If you don’t believe me, take it from the Copyright office itself:

Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is “created” when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. “Copies” are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm. “Phonorecords” are material objects embodying fixations of sounds (excluding, by statutory definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette tapes, CDs, or vinyl disks. Thus, for example, a song (the “work”) can be fixed in sheet music (“copies”) or in phonograph disks (“phonorecords”), or both. If a work is prepared over a period of time, the part of the work that is fixed on a particular date constitutes the created work as of that date.

Put simply, when it’s created, it’s copyrighted. For a really fun explanation of the process, the copyright office has a nifty little animation (ideal for students and teachers).

Can you pull art from another website?

All of this should be considered when looking for art or ad copy. Most importantly, no matter what — if you didn’t create the photo, written copy, or logo, you MUST have permission to use it in your ad.

If you’re a franchise owner, then you already have license to corporate art, ad copy, and logos. This is one of the benefits of being a franchisee. So, there’s nothing to worry about there. Be careful, though, of using your own creation for your ad — they may have requirements that must be followed. Contact your franchise marketing office if you’re not sure.

If you’re advertising for an independent business, then you’ve got freedom to create whatever you want for your advertising — so long as you’re the one creating it. Let me be clear, though. NEVER use artwork or photography from others’ websites unless you have clear permission to do so. The simple reality is that you might be infringing on someone’s copyright if you do. To get permission, you should contact them directly. That permission should be in writing on their company letterhead.

Other options to getting professional quality art or photography

Okay, so you don’t want to go through that hassle. The good news is that you can get great art still! There are four ways to get good photography, art, or verbiage for your advertising needs. The best part is that they’re all relatively simple:

• Purchase royalty-free stock art. Corbis, Photodisc, iStockPhoto, Shutterstock, and Jupiter Images are the more popular stock photography houses. Keep in mind, though, that you’re not actually buying the full photo from them, you’re purchasing a license to USE their photo. The greater the license, the more the expense will be. Pricing ranges from $15 to around $300 for high-quality images. Visit any of their websites for more information. Keep in mind, though, that they offer different resolution sizes. Be sure to get the right size for your ad (see our tutorial on resolution if you’re not sure what we mean).

• Hire a professional photographer, illustrator, copywriter, and/or a graphic designer. In most cases, they’ll also be doing the work for a license fee. You’re not actually purchasing what they do unless they make it part of the arrangement. Most designers and photographers charge an extra fee to sign over the ownership of their work (this is standard practice). But, they’ll also license the usage of that piece to you as well. They’ll gladly explain the process to you, but it’s really not usually complex.

• Create the ad yourself. Okay, this one’s a no-brainer, but it requires a certain amount of skill. Unless you’ve had some experience and training in photography, design, or writing, then you might want to re-think this one… especially when you consider the next option.

• Have the publication create the ad for you. In most cases, they’ll write, design, and provide photography (either stock or custom) for your ad… for the price of your ad. If they have extra fees for this service, then it still might be worth considering. Most publications, though, don’t charge extra (Business Clarksville magazine, for example, includes all design fees in with the price of the ad). It’s usually an easy way to have a professionally designed ad that’s perfect for your business. In fact, they may already have just the perfect stock art for your ad!

Copyright law isn’t really that complex — and it benefits those who create the work. If you wrote the next great American novel, then you’ve got that level of protection for as long as you live and several years beyond. It’s a powerful way to protect what’s yours. Just keep in mind that it also applies to what isn’t yours! Remembering these key elements is essential to any printed work, and you’ll always know that there’s peace of mind when you follow certain steps to protect your work, and the work of others.

Next time, we’ll provide tips on copywriting (yes, it’s completely different than copyrighting).

Congratulations! You’re looking to place an ad in a high-quality magazine (and we always hope that you’re considering Business Clarksville for your advertising dollars, it’s quite possible that there are other fine publications in which you are advertising — this tutorial is universal). So what to do? You’ve got some great photos of your business on your website, so why not use them? It’s easy! Just copy and paste and save them to an email…

…Whoa there, pardner! Not so fast!

Photography is a fickle thing, especially when it comes to printing. And if I’ve already convinced you that photography is indeed fickle… print is about as unforgiving as that Clint Eastwood movie from a while back. Before you use ANY photos from a website, you should consider several things.

1) Web graphics are often WAY too low in their resolution to use for print.

Believe it or not, this is very easily explained. You see, websites are often viewed on a computer monitor. Even if you’ve got one of these nifty high-resolution monitors that are so sharp that your cat thinks your mouse cursor is a toy… well, it’s still nothing when compared to the printed page.

I’ll explain. Even monitors with high pixel density (that’s nerdspeak for lots of pixels in a square inch) are still 100dpi or less. That’s 100 dots per inch… or 100 pixels per inch. A pixel is, of course, the teensy little square that makes up one little tiny bit of your computer screen. Print, on the other hand, is usually printed at a whopping 2500dpi or higher.

So, when you compare 100dpi to 2500dpi, the difference is clear. An image that’s gorgeous on your computer’s monitor will look very, very pixelated on the printed page. If you’re printing on high-gloss paper with offset printing, it’s even more obvious. “No one will notice,” you might say. Yes. We will. And you will too. Worse yet, your customers will notice.

2) Never increase the resolution on an existing image!

Then there’s the great temptation to use Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or some other photo editing software to bump that resolution back up to 300dpi. Here’s a word of advice on this: DON’T. You’ll end up with something that looks even worse than when you started.

What better way to explain this than to show some great examples? This gorgeous train photo was shot by our own Curtis Davis, and gosh – it would look great in our magazine! Only, it’s too small.

Let’s get a little closer. I’ve created three different samples of this photo. Since we’ve already discussed Westerns starring Clint Eastwood, let’s bring out another Eastwood film: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

First, the Good. This is a 300dpi image that looks great in print:

See how sharp it is? You can almost see the whites of the eyes of the conductor… well, if he were there, that is.

The Bad: But let’s say we wanted to pull a 72dpi photo of the same image. If we zoom in, here’s what it’d look like:

YIKES! Yes, my friends, this is what it would look like in print. It’s absolutely terrible, and just won’t work. With a photo like this, you’re not likely to attract anyone but professional photographers who would BEG to re-shoot your photos, just to save the world from more bad photography!

Now, the Ugly. You’ve got Photoshop! Let’s increase that resolution! Again, it’s the same photo:

See the difference? It’s the same mess as before, just a blurry mess. And that’s what you’d get in your ad.

In the end, the best results will always happen with the best starting images. You might have heard the phrase, “garbage in, garbage out.” It fits here. Well. If you’re not sure whether or not your photo will be high enough in resolution for your future award-winning ad that turns heads everywhere… talk to your sales rep or their graphics department and ask. They’ll be glad to help you.

3) Always start with the best photos or art

The easiest way to have assurance that your photo or art is going to be sharp, clear, and attractive for your potential customers is to start with the best photos possible. If you’re using a digital camera, be sure you use one that shoots at least 8 megapixels (most digital cameras today shoot at least 10 megapixels, and many can be purchased for less than $200). In fact, digital SLR cameras will shoot between 12 and 18 megapixels. Professional photographers will almost always have one of these.

For photographs, it should always be at least 300dpi. Sure, those fancy imagesetters can print over 2500dpi, but the line screen (to be discussed in a later session) is such that a 300dpi image will always look gorgeous. One more thing: It should be at least 300dpi at the size it will be in the ad.

In other words, if your ad’s photo or art will be 7.5″ x 4″ then it should be 7.5″ x 4″ at 300dpi. If you try to take a smaller 3″ x 1″ and have it enlarged, then you’re going to end up with “the ugly” as shown above. We can always go smaller… just not larger.

For your art and design, be sure to use the services of a professional designer. Most publications will offer to design the ad as an included benefit of the cost of the ad. They don’t charge extra. If they do… ask them why. Photographers might even be available.

So now you’re ready to submit the best ad copy and art possible. No matter what you use, you’re armed with the know-how to keep your ad from looking less-than-stellar.

Next time, we’ll discuss copyrights and copywriting… and why both are critically important!

• Don’t clearly list your business name, phone number, website, or anything about your business. This is kind of a no-brainer, after all – what better way to have your ad ignored than to ignore the basics of your business?

• Don’t use a headline. Since the ad’s headline is essentially the “ad for the ad,” the lack of a headline will cause readers to glance over your ad without anything to grab their attention.

• Don’t use strong, compelling graphics. If you want an ineffective ad, you’ll take extra special care to find some inane, irrelevant piece of art that has absolutely no purpose whatsoever.

• Don’t use a call-to-action statement. If you want your ad to fall into the empty void of the universe, just list a telephone number.Don’t tell readers to call. After all, why would you want the public to actually call your business? This is ineffectivity at its best.

• Use bad photography. If it’s too dark, too light, poorly framed or cropped, or looks like it was shot with a polaroid camera, then you’re sure to have your ad forgotten — worse yet, it will create a negative opinion about your business.

• Use low-resolution art. An ad that’s pixelated is just hideous. A sure-fire way to tell the public that you don’t care about your business is to use a website JPG for your logo in a magazine ad. It’s the perfect way to drive away possible customers!

• Don’t use a professional graphic designer. Since designers are trained to communicate visually and verbally, you’ll never want to hire one for your advertising campaign. To ensure that your ad gets lost in the shuffle, just find someone with a computer that can do the ad for you. After all, anyone can design, right? Who needs to pay a professional rate for your business?

• Don’t repeat your ad. A single ad will always be forgotten, lost in oblivion, and completely ignored. Since repetition is a key way to remember a message, always run only once. Just print it once and forget it. Instant forgetfulness! Congratulations! You’ve officially wasted your money!

• Advertise in only one medium. Just find one TV station, one radio station, one website, or one print publication. Put all your eggs in that one budget basket, and you’re guaranteed to have your ad be tossed into the wind. After all, the entire public you want to reach is only going to go to that one source, right?

• Don’t plan a compelling campaign. Just throw together your ad in a simple “here’s what we do” message, and you’ll find just how ineffective it can be! When you don’t take the time to plan out a 3- to 6-month campaign for your business, you’ll be impressed with how little response you get. Long-term planning should never be used if you want to be forgotten. After all, who’d want to be remembered like that little Taco Bell dog, the Geico gecko, or even that crazy old lady who always shouted, “where’s the beef?”

• Don’t budget. Just pick a few dollars here and a few cents there, and you’ll be amazed at how little return your advertising campaign will produce.

• Don’t advertise at all. Why bother going through all these other steps when you can have your business operate in the ultimate obscurity by not advertising at all? It’s a lot like using a lamp without a bulb — just don’t tell anyone you’re doing business! Sure, there’s word-of-mouth, but if you never want to grow, just don’t even bother budgeting, planning, or anything related to advertising. It’s the ultimate way to fade away!

So there you have it! With these twelve easy steps, you’ll have the least effective marketing campaign possible. Of course, if you actually want to grow your business, I recommend doing the exact opposite. Your business relies on a great message, and you’ll always want to find new ways to get your message out there.

Happy advertising!