How To Create Advertising That Sells. Five Easy Steps Anyone Can Follow - Step #1
Furniture World News Desk on
11/13/2013
Think about the world your advertising is born into.
Your customer is bombarded with ads. Newspaper. Flyers. TV. Radio. Internet. Emails. Snail mail. Most furniture ads are run, flyers inserted, etc., on weekends. This means your customers and prospects see in just a couple of days, many ads for furniture, mattresses and floor coverings that seem pretty much alike. Pretty pictures and prices. Sofas. Sleepers. Dining and Bedroom sets. Mattresses. Recliners. And so on. What can you do to cut through that clutter?
The only advertising that will cut through the clutter and which will prove to be any good (judged by results, not by if you or your wife or the ad rep or the mattress rep, or whomever think it looks good) is advertising that serves the customer.
According to advertising genius and pioneer, Clyde Bedell, and my Long Lost Retail Advertising Secret #5, All Good Selling is Serving. Since the only purpose of advertising is to sell, in order to sell, you must serve.
In order to serve your customer, your ad must contain at least the following five elements.
- A potent headline.
- Body Copy which carries forward the selling idea in the headline. In addition to the main headline for the sale, there must be selling headlines and copy for each individual item.
- A layout which serves your selling by following a logical sequence.
- Benefits supported with features. People buy for one reason and one reason only: Benefits.
- Call to action. Tell them what to do next.
Showing you how to create these elements in your own ads is what this series of articles is all about.
Every ad must start with a good headline. There are several headline elements which research shows to be successful. This is not a full-blown course, so I’ll keep it simple. If you convey a Benefit in your headline, you're off to a pretty good start. Two additional elements which are easy to employ are to Mention the Product Favorably or use “New or News.”
Here are just a few examples of the benefits she might enjoy from owning a new sofa. Comfort. Style. Pride of ownership. Enjoy home more. Cozy environment. Saving money. There are dozens but you get the idea.
The following headline examples use one or more of Benefit, Favorable Mention and New.
“Stylish new sofa adds beauty and comfort to your room.” “Why settle for just an ordinary sofa, when this comfortable beauty is on sale now.” “So plush. So comfortable. So inviting. Now so affordable.”
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Don’t you think one of these headlines is going to attract more favorable attention than just the label, Sofa? In addition to cutting through the clutter, you must separate yourself from your competition. What better way than to start running ads that really sell, rather than just present merchandise. If I stuck 10 furniture ads up on the wall and blacked out the store names, I guarantee you I couldn’t tell one from the other. When your prospect looks over the ads on a Saturday morning, there’s nothing to separate your store from the guy down the street. With nothing else to go on, she will naturally migrate toward the store with the lowest prices and the longest free financing. What do you do if you don’t have the lowest prices or the longest free financing? You use headlines like these and selling copy and other elements we’ll be talking about over the next four weeks.
In the meantime, you can discover more by going to my web site at
www.lovefurnitureprofits.com.
I know this is a lot to wrap your head around. It’s so foreign to what you’re used to and have been told your entire business life. That’s why I ask you to suspend what you think you know, and humor me.
Next week we’ll talk about why benefit-laden body copy is so important and how to do it.
David Love is the owner of Love Furniture Profits. An advertising consulting and coaching firm that shows retailers how to get more traffic, more and higher ticket sales and more profits using long-lost scientific advertising secrets unknown by about 99% of all of today’s retailers.
David is a 41 year furniture/mattress, in the trenches, industry veteran. His unmatched-by-anyone background includes retail furniture sales. Manager of a retail furniture store. 22 years on the road making money for companies like Sealy Mattress and Best Chairs. His territory and his retailers achieved sometimes remarkable sales increases due to the expert advertising and sales advice he gave. He has also owned and sold his own profitable store and was a highly regarded sales manager of a top 100 furniture store.
With his knowledge and front-line experience he has a passion for passing it on and sharing that experience to help furniture and mattress retailers cut advertising waste and maximize sales and profits.
To find out more, get your free copy (a $29 value) of his just released, breakthrough Special Report for Furniture and Mattress stores, “5 Long Lost Scientific Retail Advertising Secrets that work like magic in today’s economy for any furniture or mattress store to get you more customers, more sales, more profits.” Go right now to www.lovefurnitureprofits.com. David can be reached at david@lovefurnitureprofits.com. 707-580-3415.
Advertising That Sells
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