NETfabulous! Marketing - A Study in the Lost Art of Common Sense Marketing 4

 by Dr. Ana Hernandez

Welcome Back to our “NETfabulous! Marketing” Course Online. Today we complete section two of our 4 part series on easy-to-use, step-by-step marketing tips for killer online marketing campaigns.

So sIt back and let NETrageouz feed your hunger for marketing tidbits to produce winning ads. Section two covers the ins and out of the layout of your ad copy. Shall we begin?

Today we continue to build our checklist of elements needed to create dazzle in your ad copy:

The Advertising and Sales Letter Checklist

Section 2 : The Layout

The layout is an important part of the ad because it has to make the ad interesting, inviting, and appear easy to read. The visual appeal of an ad or sales letter can have a major impact on its pulling power.

1. Is the ad too balanced?

If it has perfect symmetry it could look boring.

2. Is the ad set in narrow enough columns (about 30 to 50 characters wide) like a newspaper or magazine article?

3. Does the ad have any pictures?

An especially relevant picture can add to the effectiveness of an ad almost as much as a good headline. It draws the reader into the ad.

Could any drawings or illustrations be replaced with pictures? Pictures out pull drawings by a huge percentage.

4. Do all the pictures, graphs or graphics have explanatory, selling captions below them?

People almost always read the caption below a picture.

5. If possible, pictures should show the product in action, like a demonstration or a comparison.

Especially if you can show powerful before and after shots.

6. Does the subject of the picture focus the attention of the reader into the ad rather than away from it?

For example: If the picture contains people, are they looking into or out of the ad?

Also, if the picture is showing movement (which is recommended) does it draw the eyes into or away from the ad?

7. Does the ad make frequent use of interesting, attention getting, sub-heads to break the monotony of straight body copy?

Do the sub-heads tell a story on their own? Read just the headline, sub-heads, and first couple of lines following each sub-head.

Do just these parts tell enough of the story to grab the "skimmers"?

8. Is the body copy set in serif type (that's type that has little feet at the end of the letters, like this type.

Straight or sans serif type (like this) is more difficult to read and should only be used in the headlines and sub-heads.

9. Is the body copy of the sales letter in a courier or typewriter type font rather than typeset type font?

10. Is the sales letter set like an actual, personal letter.

Does it have adequate margins?

Is the right margin "ragged" rather than "justified"?

Does it greet the reader like "Dear Friend" or "Dear Fellow ____ "?

Is it dated? Is it signed? And is it signed by the right person?

11. Does the sales letter have at least one powerful P.S. that sells the product?

Most people first look at the headline or the first paragraph of a letter and then immediately turn it over to see who it's from.

They then read the P.S. before returning to the beginning of the letter, so pay out these section correctly and you assure yourself f an interested reader.

12. Does the ad or sales letter use short paragraphs (especially the first few)?

Short paragraphs are much more likely to be read and are more inviting. Long ones look intimidating and cause people not to want to read the script.

13. Does the ad or sales letter use occasional one line paragraphs for emphasis?

14. Does the ad or letter call special attention to important points by using undelining, bold type or italics?

Use these only with important points. Too much of t makes the ad look messy and hard to read.

15. Does the ad or letter have some 'bullets' for heavy emphasis or benefits to be realized by owning the product?

Remember, the main goal of this checklist is to remind you of the important elements of the ad, rather than to teach you how to write an ad. The issue of product selection, target market selection, and prior preparation or research that you have done on your product is not covered here and would take volumes. Perhaps we can touch upon those subjects in future newsletters.

Well this concludes section two of our advertising analysis toolbox. We hope you can join us for the remaining two sections to review the dynamics of a successful marketing campaign which includes the ad copy and additional tid-bits for writing yummy, irresistible ads.

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About the Author: Dr. Ana Hernandez is the editor/publisher of NETfabulous! Marketing Course Online. Her Website at http://www.netrageouz.net offers the portal to her delicious recipes for creating the perfect marketing success campaign on a fixed budget. If you’ve been researching ways to make your first dollar online, then you’ll definitely want to sign up for her training course. Ana’s easy reading style and FREE E-course NETfabulous! Marketing Course Online is jam packed with tips and techniques for any level marketing enthusiast. Subscribe for FREE by visiting www.netrageouz.net and signing up to her feed.

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