Classified Advertising in newspapers is a great way to quickly and inexpensively advertise your business, announce a special, recruit employees, etc. Because they can be such an effective way to get your message out… some tips on Classified Ad writing bare repeating.  Here are some ways to improve your classified ads.

When writing a print advertisement, especially a newspaper classified ad, it is important to remember that space is limited. As an expert on your product, you could probably write four, well thought out, articulate pages of text, explaining every aspect of your product. However, what you are able to do and what works as a classified ad are two very different things. In the Newsletter, we discussed “Keeping it Simple.” Keeping it simple is a way for you to evaluate your product and figure out what is most important, or what is the best selling point. Because space is so limited, it is best to find one aspect of your product that is “sellable” and write the ad based on that. For example if you are looking for drivers and your company offers great benefits, rather than wasting space explaining the long hours and heavy lifting requirements, spend a significant amount of the ad describing the fantastic benefits.

Not only is it important to use words that are going to be meaningful to your target audience, this is also a good time to mention the importance of injecting “you” into your ad. By using the word “you” in your text, you have invited the reader to read on because they are led to believe that something in the ad affects him/her. Because you have now addressed the “you” reading the ad, make sure that you tie the benefit to that “you.” In other words, don’t leave the reader’s hanging; tell them how your product or service will change their life, or at least make it better, easier, happier, etc.

This goes hand and hand with keeping your ad simple. The whole point of placing a classified ad is to sell something. Whether it is a product or a service, the goal remains the same; SELL! You can get real creative and add lots of fluff to draw people into your ad, but without a clear, concise message you aren’t going to get a whole lot of responses. If you are offering a Business Opportunity, tell them! Don’t try to be intriguing without explaining why; otherwise people are left without a reason to call.