• By Kathleen Ann
• Published 06/8/2008
• Copywriting

The number one secret to the 7 secrets of advertising success is to get more prospects to take notice of your advertising. After all, if they don’t even notice you, that’s a done deal and you’ve totally wasted your money. There’s a whole bunch of ideas you could use, and here’s 5 top ways to get you started. 1. Captivating Headlines Advertising guru, David Ogilvy says that four out of five people only read headlines – nothing more! Think about that. If you don’t grab your reader’s attention in the headline they’ll click off or turn the page and you’ve lost them. More to the point – they’re not coming back. You’ve got about 3 seconds so make every word count. And remember your reader will only be thinking about “what’s in it for me”. You are guaranteed to get your prospects attention if you write your headline focused on their wants and needs and offer a solution. 2. Editorial Advertising When placing a print ad in a newspaper or magazine a great strategy is to model your ad to look and feel like the editorial copy in the publication your prospect is reading. They will pay more attention to it. Even though they’re aware it’s an ad, people are still going to read it because it’s in that style of the editorial that they are familiar with. Subconsciously they know and trust the publication so you have an added level of endorsement you just don’t get in a straight ad. 3. Lumpy mail or grabber This direct mail technique is bound to get your prospects attention and get the envelope opened. People are curious so put something lumpy inside the envelope or pin a “grabber” to the right-hand corner of your letter. Like a fake cheque or fake money. Even real money. Clip on a dollar note or stick a coin on.

Just make sure you use something relevant and refer to it in your he

adline or opening paragraph so it’s not seen as just a gimmick. 4. Audio and video Whether adding audio or video to your website or mailing a CD or DVD to your prospects the technologies are available right now to do that easily and inexpensively. You must have these explosive techniques in your arsenal. Both powerful attention getters that will instantly create a closer connection with your prospective customers when they see and hear what you have to say. Just hearing your voice alone will make a big impression and really stamp your personality on your message. Add the visual and you are tapping into one of our most potent senses and people will really feel like they know you. Video is particularly useful if you have a product to demonstrate. If a picture can paint a thousand words – what can you say in a short video? And here’s a tip. Make it memorable. Keep in mind that even if you don’t make a sale you at least want to be remembered. 5. Give to get Nothing gets attention better than FRE^E and don’t we all love getting something for nothing? But here’s a tip. Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it is not valuable or worse still, that it’s worthless. Really, ask yourself, would you want something that is worthless? Now here are two important things to remember. Firstly, you must give valuable information and “showcase” your knowledge as well as your generosity or there’s no point to this approach. Imagine what your prospective customer will think when you give away great content. How much more will they get in return for payment? Secondly, don’t expect your prospective customer to know the value. You do and you must put a price on it. This honours you and honours them.

So put some or all of these ideas into your advertising and I guarantee you that people will begin taking much more notice of what you have to offer. Once you’ve got their attention you can lead them to read your sales message right to the very end.

Direct response marketing expert Kathleen Ann is the “Marketing Champion for Small Business and entrepreneurs”. Delivering simple techniques and tools you can use to increase sales and profits. Sign up for her free audio workshop “7 Steps to Advertising Success” at http://www.PowerUpYourMarketing.com

by Kathleen Ann