A Step-By-Step Guide for creating imaginative order pulling adverts for both on and offline marketing

OK, lets get started!

Rule One - The Headline

The headline is without doubt the most important part of your advert, that big chunky text at the top of your ad, if this doesnt grab their attention then youve lost a potential customer/sale.

The sole function of your headline is to get the readers attention so that they will read the rest offer your offer, right? Thats obvious, but pick up any newspaper and take a look at the classified section and look at all those lousy headlines :-

Increase Your Sales Today

Beat Inflation

The above headlines hardly make you want to read on, do they? In fact theyd be lucky to get a second glance.

Lets say, for example, you was trying to promote a book about working from home on the Internet, what would be a good imaginative headline?

Learn How To Work From Home On The Internet

Yawn!...Boring! Not exactly imaginative is it?

Or

Go To Work In Your UNDERPANTS!

Hhmm....No prizes for guessing which headline would get their attention!

Rule Two - The Sub-heading

With the sub-heading you should just give the reader a couple of lines of text to draw them into the main body of your advert, such as:-

Millions of people all over the world are making a fortune working in their underpants! Discover how YOU can do it too.

Now theyve just got to read on, I havent even mentioned the Internet yet, Im pretty sure theyll want to know what Im talking about.

Rule Three - The Body Text

The body text of your advert is where you have the chance to sell the reader your product, its time to make that sale!

This is where a lot of people blow it, instead of concentrating on what benefits the customer can gain from their product or service they just ramble on how good their company or product is.

For example, for the Internet book I could write:-

"Ive been marketing on the Internet for over 20 years, last year alone I made over 250,000 from selling just one product..."

So what? Big deal! Im not interested in how good you are, what can you do for ME, the customer?

Make a list of all the benefits people will get by buying your product and work them into your body text keeping the focus on your reader.

So, for the Internet book we could have:-

Discover the free way to get thousands of people advertising your product and YOU keep all the profit!

Learn how to start your own Internet business for less than the price of a pizza.

How to get your hands on top selling Internet products free.

Get a systematic marketing system that works while you sleep.

Insider secrets to e-mail marketing revealed.

How to TRIPLE your sales using one simple technique that doesn’t cost a dime!

How to advertise your product just once and keep on selling it for years to come automatically.

How to build websites which really pull in the money and that take less than an hour to build.

etc. etc.

Thats better, now weve got their interest peaked, they are surely intrigued by now, we still need some more body copy to go along with these bullet points, such as:-

Discover how you can earn what you want, when you want without leaving home!

For the first time ever a top Internet marketer teaches you how to stake your claim on the Internet spending little to no money. You dont need any Internet knowledge, business premises or employees, just a home computer and this powerful book. This step-by-step book will teach you how to....

Rule Four - The Coupon / Order Form

The coupon or order form should ALWAYS restate the price and briefly describe what you are selling.

If the price is right for them, they will then read your entire advert before making a buying decision.

Keeping this in mind, it would be WRONG to have the coupon or order form say:-

"Please send me a copy of How To Work In Your Underpants, I enclose a cheque for 14.99 made payable to Joe Bloggs...."

This is wrong because you havent resold the product, it should look something like this:-

"Yes, I would like the secret inside information on how to make money on the Internet, please send me a copy of the book How To Work In Your Underpants. I enclose a cheque/P.O. (Includes postage and packing) for 14.99 made payable to Joe Bloggs.....etc"

Now anyone who has just scanned your ad and gone straight to the order form will be intrigued enough to read the whole advert!

Dont confuse your customers

You must be very clear as to how much your customer is going to pay, dont confuse them, a confused customer wont buy!

If your product costs 20 plus 5 postage and packing then your order form should say:-

"I enclose a cheque/P.O. for 25 (20 plus 5 p&p) made payable to Joe Bloggs"

If you do not P&P then you should state this in on your order form:-

"I enclose a cheque/P.O. for 25 (price includes p&p) made payable to Joe Bloggs"

It is common practise to inflate the p&p price in order to deflate the product price, dont go over the top though.

Whenever you see the word handling, as in post, packing and handling, you know that you are seeing an inflated p&p figure. The word handling can be used to justify any amount of expense if someone queries the fact they have been charged 8 p&p and when they get the product its got a 50 pence stamp on it.

Rule Five - The Guarantee

Youre selling a quality product, right? There shouldnt be any reason why the customer will be unhappy with your product, is there? So you should be able to offer customers a full, no questions asked, money back guarantee.

Dont put any conditions on your guarantee, i.e., if youre not 100% happy with your product, just return it with its original packaging for a full refund, with a guarantee like that the customer will think, Oh, I see, if I actually take it out of the wrapping they wont refund my money! sneaky !#@&*!. Keep it simple and put a time limit on your guarantee:-

If youre not totally satisfied with the book Go To Work In Your UNDERPANTS! simply return it within 30 days of receipt for a full refund.

Rule Six - Typefaces & Graphics

The purpose of your ad is to get the readers attention, theres no need for fancy typefaces, colours or images (unless its a picture of your product).

Make it easy for the customer to read, theres no need to give them a headache or eye strain when they read your advert.

Rule Seven - Always Close The Sale

Anyone whos had any kind of training in sales will be able to tell you the importance of closing a sale which is basically a quick run down of the benefits of your product and then asking for the order.

No matter how good your advert is, if you dont close the sale at the end of your advert, thats another potential customer lost! You must evoke some kind of buying action, make them see that theyve got nothing to lose by just trying your fantastic product, get that order! i.e.:-

"Order your copy of Go To Work In Your Underpants TODAY and try it out for 3 whole months, if the secrets of Internet success outlined in this incredible book dont work for you just simply return it for a FULL, no questions asked, refund."

Rule Eight - Make It Easy To Order

Offer as many different ways for them to pay as you can, cheque, postal order, credit card, egold, or paypal etc.

Try and offer a FREEPOST address for them to send the money, its bad enough trying to find an envelope in most households, never mind a stamp.

Make sure its clear EXACTLY how much they have to pay for your product, including postage and packing, i.e.:-

"I enclose a cheque/P.O. (Includes postage and packing) for 14.99 made payable to..."

Dont expect people to calculate it for themselves.

If you dont have a coupon or order form on your advert, let them know they dont have to write you a letter explaining why theyve sent you a cheque in the first place. For a no coupon advert you would write something like:-

"To order your book, write your NAME and ADDRESS on a piece of paper, enclose a cheque/P.O. for 14.99 (includes postage and packing) and send it to Joe Bloggs FREEPOST, 14 Anystreet, Sometown, England."

Rule Nine - Know Your Target Audience & Market

Its very important that you know who your target audience is and that you craft your adverts accordingly.

Dont use long words that most people wouldnt know the meaning of, keep your sentences short, simple, and to the point.

How would your product benefit your target audience? Why should they buy your product? What are its key features?

Never talk about you in your adverts, the customer only cares about themselves and how your product will enhance THEIR lives.

OK that concludes the rules for crafting order pulling adverts, you may not be able to sell ice to the Eskimos, but youll at least have a better chance than most!