Of all the ways to waste money on marketing, advertising seems to be everyone's favourite. So, how do you get better results from your advertising?

First a few home truths. In my experience, many businesses depend too heavily on advertising, when there are many more effective ways to market (Direct Mail, Telemarketing,Email, Internet, Referrals, Social Media, PR etc.) . In addition, advertising can be one of the most expensive marketing options. So I would always look at more cost effective methods of marketing before even considering advertising. But if you are advertising already, or plan to in the future, here are some basics on what works and what doesn't.

1. Stop any advertising that isn't working

That may sound obvious, but you would be amazed at how many people are running ads just because a fast talking advertising rep has rung them offering one of those last minute special offers, or because that's what their business has always done and they don't really know whether the ads are working.

2. You won’t know whether your ads work unless you test and measure them

Too often a business just allocates a part of their valuable marketing budget to their advertising and then just spend the money year on year without even the vaguest sense of whether the ads are working or not. This is crazy! If your ads are working, you want to roll them out on a larger scale. If they're not, STOP and use the money on one of the dozens of other marketing solutions that will work for your business and bring you a better return on your investment.

3. Only run ads that are going to produce a response

This is known as direct response advertising. The other form of advertising is brand advertising. This is what Coca-Cola and McDonalds do. With the benefit of a multi-million pound budget it's designed to build and sustain awareness of their worldwide brand. However, if you're a small or medium sized business or a sole trader, brand advertising is almost certainly a huge waste of money.

Instead, the purpose of your ads must be to produce not just a response, but a profitable response.

Writing a good advertisement

The most important element is the headline. The headline is either the heading at the top of the ad or, if there's no heading it's the first words of the ad. The headline needs to grab peoples' attention. So if the headline of any current ads you’re running is simply the name of your company, change it!

The copy of your ad needs to be a personal communication to the person reading it. And it needs to be about them, not you! It needs to address their needs, desires and fears and it needs to tell readers about the benefits of what you are offering, not the features.

The end of the ad needs to be a call to action. Tell people exactly what they need to do to follow through and make it easy for them to contact you or make a purchase. Examples would be a telephone number (NOT a mobile), an email address, your website address and if appropriate, your business address.

Other useful tips on advertising