How to Write an Ad for your Business

Hello. I’m Jeff Philips and thank you for tuning into this weeks webisode. If you have a business or a nonprofit, you have to get the word out about that, and how you are you going to do it? Well one way to do it is you can advertise. You might know where to advertise, but do you really know what to say to make that effective? Well with today’s guest, I have Julian here. Julian welcome to the show.

Julian: Thank you Jeff.

Jeff: Why don’t you explain to the viewers what it is that you do.

Julian: Okay. Well I have been the editor and publisher of the “Chatham County Line” community newspaper, a monthly community newspaper for the last 10 plus years. Before that I had been involved in community journalism for more than 30 years including 12 years at a daily. Was the neighborhood editor for the “Durham Sun” and the “Harold Durham Sun” for 12 years. My expertise is community journalism.

Jeff: Why don’t you explain to us what actually makes for a good article.

Julian: A good article, and this is true for any medium, I’m speaking to print, there are a couple things you have to think about at the same time. One is whatever message that you’re trying to get across. The other is, who your audience is. Who’s going to be reading it. You have to have a picture of that in your mind when you start out . When you write your article you want to draw them into it. You have to make it really interesting and you have to arouse their curiosity and then you need to satisfy it by the narrative of the story. I’ll say that clarity is the most important thing that you can do. You need to be very clear, you need to respect your audience and never talk down to them.

Jeff: Now what in your opinion makes an effective print ad?

Julian: Well they’re the same things really. You need to attract someone’s attention and convey your message almost instantaneously, So you want to do that by having a nice graphic or nice image. Say very clearly and in large type what you do and very clearly who you are. Then let people know how to get in contact with you. The important thing about print ads are repetition.
They might not be interested in your product the first time they see the ad, but if they see it over time they’ll remember it. Then when they are interested it, they’ll act.

Jeff: Are there other reasons why someone in this digital age may advertise in a news paper now days?

Julian: Well, certainly. We reach a very specific audience. In other words, if you advertise in my paper the folks in Chatham County, the folks Chapel Hill, the folks in Carrboro, they’re the ones that are going to be seeing the ad and they are going to be the ones who are going to be acting on it. If you go online the trick is attracting people to your site so you cast a much wider net. It’s also not nearly as targeted or as focused. Some people in fact use our paper to advertise their websites.

Jeff: Awesome. Well hopefully you got some good information about that and Julian, thank you for coming in. I really appreciate it.

Julian: Well thank you Jeff. This was a lot of fun. Thank you.