Getting ready to sell some stuff at the Pennysaver?
A good classified ad will help you move your item or grow your business. Regardless of what your goal is for your classified ad, it’s important to do some homework first.
A classified ad is not terribly different from other advertising. The price is lower, and if done right, the profit can be much higher. The first step to writing a good advertisement is to remember the key elements – AIDA
- Caution (title)
- Interest (body of the text)
- Wish (body text added)
- Action (call to action)
the header
A good headline will jump off the page. He will grab the attention of the readers and grab their attention. He will also let them know what your ad is about. Here is a copy of examples.
- The newbie plan used to earn $3000 in a month
- Find out the unique strategies he uses to win $2.4 million!
Both work great. The first creates enthusiasm for earning money every month. He gives you the idea that anyone can do it, so it broadens the appeal. It gives the idea of a plan or instructions, and people like to get a list of things to do to be successful.
The second one is actually just a partial headline referring to a web super affiliate making a lot of money online. But he draws people in because of the numbers and the idea that they, too, can be a part of what he’s done. He draws them in, asks questions, and excites them. That’s what a good headline will do.
Of course, in a classified ad, you should make the title shorter. You can do this by removing unimportant words: Newbie Blueprint. Earn $3K/mo.
the body of the text
Now, in a nutshell, you need to tell your audience a bit about what they’re getting. Service, report, item for sale, garage sale – be as specific as possible so they don’t feel cheated. It’s usually better to write for the dustbin, just keep writing. It may require you to sit down at your computer, open word/notepad/textedit and start typing. Just don’t hold back, even if you have to write, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to say, but at least I’m writing…’ You get the idea. The ad won’t be written if you don’t take action!
Once you have some lines you like, move them to a clean document. DO NOT DELETE YOUR PREVIOUS! Keep rambling, as there may be material in there that you don’t realize is worth keeping just yet.
Now, start removing the words you don’t need. It is a small advertisement and you are paying per word. Be sure to convey your meaning, but skip the filler words.
longed for
Now, you have to appeal to their need/desire for what you are offering. You’ve got their attention, you’ve given them something to consider, now hit them where it matters. Find out what your target audience is really looking for. Understanding your audience is not that difficult. Spend a few minutes taking notes about who you are writing to and why. What are they looking for? What problems are you solving for them? What do they care that is relevant to their ad?
Now – Use it! Use what you know about them to bring them up to speed on the ad. That’s the point, right?
Values
This is where you have to be very good. You need to call them to action. That action can be calling you, going online, buying a product, placing an order now, calling a toll-free number, or many other actions. It has to be clear and a logical conclusion to the previous parts of the ad. Make sure they are in no doubt about what you want them to do. In sales, this is called asking about the business.
And you do all this for what?
Writing ads can be time consuming. It can be unpredictable, and often you have no way of measuring the success of each ad until weeks later. You must be writing ads to sell something. What if there was a better way to test your ads and sell stuff? Would you be interested? What if the other way could make it possible for you to never need to write another ad for the Pennysaver? Would you be interested?