I have just come back from a lovely week’s break in Italy, and while sitting by the pool I asked myself this question (as one does)…  What are the ingredients that make up the perfect advert?

Put another way, how do you know if you have a perfect advert?

After three days and a rather nasty bit of sunburn I got 20 factors.  No advert could possibly have them all in, and there is quite a bit of overlap, but I thought you might like to read the list.  I’ll do a bit of expansion on it in due course, but here it is to begin with are the first ten points.

My list works mostly as a set of questions. You write the advert and then look at your advert and ask yourself…

1.  Does the advert create a desire in the potential customer to have your product?

2.  Does it tap into a potential customer’s preferences?

3.  Does the ad answer the question, “why should I buy this?” – or at least move the potential customer in this direction, if it is not going for an immediate sale?

4.  Does the advert answer the question, “Why should I buy this from them?” (assuming that the product or similar products are available elsewhere)?

5.  Does the advert develop your brand?  This is important because having a brand that is recognised is nirvana.  Once you have a brand recognition – even if it is just by a tiny number of people - it is a shorthand, a way of getting the style and approach of your product or service across to people just through the name of the company or product.

6.  Does the advertisement immediately grab attention, or is it possible that people will just pass it by?  Does the ad get even the disinterested person to look (in as much as I, a person who never uses comparison web sites, watch Compare the Market dot com adverts and remembers them).

7.  Does the advert elicit positive emotions from the reader?

8.  Is the advert memorable?  For example, I stopped writing Toppled Bollard adverts two years ago, and if you have never heard of the things you’ll be saying “so what?”  But the fact is I wrote a series of adverts on a particular theme, and I still get potential customers phoning up to talk about HHM working for their firm, and mentioning the Toppled Bollard even though nothing new has appeared for a couple of years.

9.  Is the advert meaningful to the customer?  Does it relate to his/her life, wants, needs, hopes, interests, concerns?

10.  Is the advert interesting or is it dull?  If only partially interesting, how can it be made more interesting.  (Some people answer this by saying, “well, ours is not a very interesting product…” and I reply, “nor are mailing lists very interesting – you have to work hard to make your product interesting.  If you see the product or service as dull, then the ads will be dull, and you won’t sell.)

So that’s part one, I’ll put up part two shortly.   In the meanwhile if you think these ideas could make a difference to your business, and you’d like to talk about having them integrated into your advertising, call HHM for a chat.  No charge, no obligation.  Just call 01536 399 000.

Tony