Creating Your Advert

Last Updated: August 22, 2009

Creating an Advert

The process of creating an advert can be very difficult if you do not have any experience at it; it is very easy to make a bad advert, and very difficult to make a good one.

You will need to be able to use graphics software (such as Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Fireworks) to put the advert together; and will need to have a good head for creative thinking (as well as entrepreneurial thinking!). An advert must always look professional; and a good way to get an idea on the quality of your advert is to get the opinions of people in and close to your business.

The following are several areas you should consider when putting an advert together. Even if you do not create the advert yourself, you should still understand these areas so you are in a better position to judge what an external company produces.

Does Your Advert Match Your Aims ?

Does your advert succeed in getting the message that you want across to your customer s? If not, then the advert is unlikely to achieve the aims that you set.

Does the Advert Match Your Company ?

Does your advert match your company image? If the advert uses different colours or a different style of writing it could affect the way people view your business.

e.g. If your colour scheme is red, do you want an advert that is bright blue?

Is Your Advert Interesting ?

Will your advert catch the attention of viewers? If a viewer is bored by or doesn’t notice your advert, they are unlikely to remember it, and even less likely to act upon it.

Features that catch the eye include:

An Interesting picture (e.g. The product).

A catchy headline, also known as a ‘tagline’ (e.g. ‘The Most Trusted Mechanics in the Area!’).

An attractive price suggestion (e.g. ‘Only £19.99′ or ‘Reduced to Clear!’).

An interesting new product (e.g. ‘New’ or ‘Coming Soon’) to get people’s attention.

Larger adverts often use humour to get peoples interest, although this is rarely used by smaller businesses; although whether they should use it more is open to debate! After all, think of the adverts you remember most; odds are they will all feature humour, an interesting image, or a bold tagline.