customers' most important needs. Try to do it in a simple but interesting way. Don't make the mistake of making the advertisement confusing and boring by trying to communicate too much - keep to the most powerful messages.

Desire

If you have managed to capture their attention long enough and the message is powerful enough, then the potential customer should feel the need to purchase the product.

Action

Finally the advertisement should include some aspect that will encourage the customer to come to you and make the purchase. Many advertisements seek to do this by using such phrases as: limited o

What do you want your potential customers to do?

Deciding on the message you wish to send to your customers is not as easy as it first appears. First, you must decide what you want them to do and, second, what will have to be in the message to persuade them to do what you want.

What you want them to do is really your set of specific objectives for the sales promotion. To help you promote your business start-up, in response to the message you send, do you want your customers to:

1. note your existence?
2. visit your premises?
3. make requests for further information?
4. make an order?

How are you going to persuade your potential customers to respond in a positive manner to the message? As we have stressed throughout, for products and services to sell they have to have genuine benefits for potential customers. Therefore your best chance of getting potential customers to do what you want is to point out the benefits of becoming one of your customers.

To do this you need to stress more than just the benefits of the actual product or service being offered for sale. The customer services offered by the business must also be stressed, as in the earlier example of the convenience store: the actual product did not contain the key selling points, it was the opening times and accessibility of the store to its customer that were the appealing benefits.

This persuasive message, once identified, should become the basis for building an image, something you become known for, such as:

1. friendly personal service
2. speed and reliability of delivery
3. excellent after-sales service and backup.

This should be promoted at all times. Good advertisements and sales promotion about follow what has now become commonly known as AIDA formula. For an advertisement to have a chance of success it must attract customers' Attention, gain their Interest which, in turn through the message being communicated, generates Desire to take the Action of going out and buying the product.

Attention

Most prospective customers scan over poor advertisement without paying attention. You need to stop this browsing with something that will focus their minds. Clever use of graphics, colours or bold headlines can sometimes achieve this

Interest

The next step is to gain their attention long enough to transmit the central message. Concentrate on trying to relate to what your research has identified as your customers' most important needs. Try to do it in a simple but interesting way. Don't make the mistake of making the advertisement confusing and boring by trying to communicate too much - keep to the most powerful messages.

Desire

If you have managed to capture their attention long enough and the message is powerful enough, then the potential customer should feel the need to purchase the product.

Action

Finally the advertisement should include some aspect that will encourage the customer to come to you and make the purchase. Many advertisements seek to do this by using such phrases as: limited of

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How are you going to persuade your potential customers to respond in a positive manner to the message? As we have stressed throughout, for products and services to sell they have to have genuine benefits for potential customers. Therefore your best chance of getting potential customers to do what you want is to point out the benefits of becoming one of your customers.

To do this you need to stress more than just the benefits of the actual product or service being offered for sale. The customer services offered by the business must also be stressed, as in the earlier example of the convenience store: the actual product did not contain the key selling points, it was the opening times and accessibility of the store to its customer that were the appealing benefits.

This persuasive message, once identified, should become the basis for building an image, something you become known for, such as:

1. friendly personal service
2. speed and reliability of delivery
3. excellent after-sales service and backup.

This should be promoted at all times. Good advertisements and sales promotion about follow what has now become commonly known as AIDA formula. For an advertisement to have a chance of success it must attract customers' Attention, gain their Interest which, in turn through the message being communicated, generates Desire to take the Action of going out and buying the product.

Attention

Most prospective customers scan over poor advertisement without paying attention. You need to stop this browsing with something that will focus their minds. Clever use of graphics, colours or bold headlines can sometimes achieve this

Interest

The next step is to gain their attention long enough to transmit the central message. Concentrate on trying to relate to what your research has identified as your customers' most important needs. Try to do it in a simple but interesting way. Don't make the mistake of making the advertisement confusing and boring by trying to communicate too much - keep to the most powerful messages.

Desire

If you have managed to capture their attention long enough and the message is powerful enough, then the potential customer should feel the need to purchase the product.

Action

Finally the advertisement should include some aspect that will encourage the customer to come to you and make the purchase. Many advertisements seek to do this by using such phrases as: limited o

actual product did not contain the key selling points, it was the opening times and accessibility of the store to its customer that were the appealing benefits.

This persuasive message, once identified, should become the basis for building an image, something you become known for, such as:

1. friendly personal service
2. speed and reliability of delivery
3. excellent after-sales service and backup.

This should be promoted at all times. Good advertisements and sales promotion about follow what has now become commonly known as AIDA formula. For an advertisement to have a chance of success it must attract customers' Attention, gain their Interest which, in turn through the message being communicated, generates Desire to take the Action of going out and buying the product.

Attention

Most prospective customers scan over poor advertisement without paying attention. You need to stop this browsing with something that will focus their minds. Clever use of graphics, colours or bold headlines can sometimes achieve this

Interest

The next step is to gain their attention long enough to transmit the central message. Concentrate on trying to relate to what your research has identified as your customers' most important needs. Try to do it in a simple but interesting way. Don't make the mistake of making the advertisement confusing and boring by trying to communicate too much - keep to the most powerful messages.

Desire

If you have managed to capture their attention long enough and the message is powerful enough, then the potential customer should feel the need to purchase the product.

Action

Finally the advertisement should include some aspect that will encourage the customer to come to you and make the purchase. Many advertisements seek to do this by using such phrases as: limited o

it must attract customers' Attention, gain their Interest which, in turn through the message being communicated, generates Desire to take the Action of going out and buying the product.

Attention

Most prospective customers scan over poor advertisement without paying attention. You need to stop this browsing with something that will focus their minds. Clever use of graphics, colours or bold headlines can sometimes achieve this

Interest

The next step is to gain their attention long enough to transmit the central message. Concentrate on trying to relate to what your research has identified as your customers' most important needs. Try to do it in a simple but interesting way. Don't make the mistake of making the advertisement confusing and boring by trying to communicate too much - keep to the most powerful messages.

Desire

If you have managed to capture their attention long enough and the message is powerful enough, then the potential customer should feel the need to purchase the product.

Action

Finally the advertisement should include some aspect that will encourage the customer to come to you and make the purchase. Many advertisements seek to do this by using such phrases as: limited o

customers' most important needs. Try to do it in a simple but interesting way. Don't make the mistake of making the advertisement confusing and boring by trying to communicate too much - keep to the most powerful messages.

Desire

If you have managed to capture their attention long enough and the message is powerful enough, then the potential customer should feel the need to purchase the product.

Action

Finally the advertisement should include some aspect that will encourage the customer to come to you and make the purchase. Many advertisements seek to do this by using such phrases as: limited offer, while stocks last, free trial, and so on.

Others offer money-off coupon, or make suggestion such as 'come down next week on our late opening night' or encourage the potential customer to give them a telephone call straight after seeing or hearing the advertisement. In fact any ploy can and should be used to instill action in the customer.