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Casual Articles - Tips On Writing a Successful Ad
High Definition Update - Paul Wheeler InterviewIn July 2005, I wrote an E-Zine with the headline “High Definition – When?” At the time we saw little demand for HDCAM equipment aside from some clients in the U.S. Seven months later, the situation has changed dramatically. We added two Sony HDW-F900 HDCAM camcorders (Sony’s top of the line HDCAM camera for television and/or cinema) to our stock in January 2006 because of growing demand and see this as the beginning of a trend. And we have just taken a booking for a multi-camera shoot in March with six HDW-F900s.Interview With Paul Wheeler – Soon Available on DVDWith this increase in demand, we recently hired Paul Wheeler BSC, a highly experienced film and digital cinematographer who wrote the book, “High Definition & 24P Cinematography”, to run some workshops for us. While he was here, I interviewed him. We are going to make available DVDs with an edit of the interview. If you’d like one, contact me at cal@procamtv.com.BBC – Drama and High DefinitionOne of my first questions to Paul was about the apparently sudden leap in demand for HDCAM. Paul’s response: “Five years ago the BBC was saying within two years everything they record will be on high definition. Three months ago they said everything we record in
We desire the feelings that we think money will bring us, whether they be happy, secure, or powerful. Yet, the word "money" may trigger the desire that triggers the feelings which we value and want to experience.
ACTION: If your reader does not take action, then you are dead in the water. How do you get your reader to act? Believe it or not this is the simplest step. Simply use a directive. Psychologists tell us that when given a directive (unless obviously harmful) our first instinct is to comply. Turn to the person in the seat next to you, and in a slightly commanding voice say, "give me your pen for a minute"... chances are they will, and usually, without question, for no other reason than "you told them to." Do
Unless companies adopt an holistic approach to security that focuses on building and fostering a culture of honesty and integrity, GAP’s will appear in their defenses and in their ability to perform their mission of selling their products and services. Once GAP’s are exposed, they can be exploited for the personal gain of the individual(s) exposing them. Once this occurs, the only question remaining will be; can you cope with the crisis being caused and to what extent is "damage control" required. Insurium has the solution www.insurium.comIn order, to adequately protect your corporate assets (People, Property, Income and Reputation), companies need to understand what they are exposed to. This requires a corporate understanding that integrates business and technological perspectives. When we speak of risks associated with assets, we need to evaluate all risks and incorporate these risks into our strategic and crisis planning. Implementing prevention strategies will ultimately reduce the risk of an occurrence. Occurrences could range from minor to major occurrences inhibiting a company from continuing its mission.The risk of disaster and mismanagement are inherent in the corporate world and therefore, upper management should be responsible to ensure that the corporation is exer
When it is critical knowledge, its presence can drive our success, while its absence may contribute to our failure. I will attempt to convey in this report some useful and practical knowledge about how to write awesome ads for the World Wide Web. It is my sincere belief that; if you act upon the suggestions that will be presented here, you may well be taking steps which will give your ad greater pulling power.
Web advertising takes many forms; web pages, classified ads, e-mail responses, news group postings, and even your signature file. No matter which form you employ unless your advertising is seen, nothing is sold. Being seen is of key importance.
However, a less considered but equally important factor is your viewing audience. Disregarding your audience results in the problem of "selling air conditioners to Eskimos." It just doesn't generate much interest. A reader who has no interest in your advertising material is not part of a qualified audience" and is not a potential customer.
Classified ads placed in the appropriate section for your product will naturally draw a qualified audience of potential customers. Ad placement within the section is the single most important factor determining whether or not your ad is seen within the section. Secondly, the content of your ad will determine which (and if) potential customers do in fact actually read your ad. When placing classified ads on the web some rules of thumb are:
- Choose classifieds that have the largest number of ads because, this is generally a good indicator of how much reader traffic there will be for your classified.
- Determine how the ads are ranked or sorted within the sections and attempt to be listed at or near the top.
- Develop reader stopping ad content.
DESIGNING AN AWESOME CLASSIFIED
The four essential ingredients of an awesome classified are:
ATTENTION - INTEREST - DESIRE - ACTION
If your ad is missing any of these it is not an AWESOME Ad!
ATTENTION: You must first get the readers attention. Picture him scanning the section of the classified page in which your ad is listed. For him or her it is much like which ride at the amusement park to take next. Something about your ad must grab their attention, to directs their focus toward your product.
Since classified ads usually lack graphics, it then comes down to something about the words you use, or about the way you use them. Some web advertisers seem to think that if you use lots of !!! (exclamation marks)or *** (asterisks) or maybe MAKE IT ALL CAPS that this will draw their attention. The problem here is that:
Everyone knows it's glitter and meant to get your attention. This may often interfere with the readers ability to take your words seriously. Subconsciously he may even expect your ad to be some kind of gimmick. Right or wrong, stereotype or not, my advise is let your words speak for themselves and steer clear of such tactics. We will discuss guidelines for choosing the right words later.
INTEREST: The ad must have appeal. This is a good place to state the benefits or some attractive features of your product. Knowing the demographics of your readers or the category section your ad is placed in, helps in nderstanding their interests. What benefits of your product or service is most likely to appeal to this group? Develop a mental picture of some of the customers who would come from this demographic group, and will buy your product. What kinds of jobs do they have, cars do they drive... are they young, old, single, married...
Having a mental picture of your audience is important when you want to understand their interests and know what benefits of your product you should spotlight.
DESIRE: But appealing to their interest is not enough. The ad must then "further stimulate your reader." While interest can generally be obtained by the practical properties of your product, desire needs sparking by a more emotional reaction. Is there something about your product that will make them feel good, excited, confident, secure, hoperul or powerful? Think about what other emotions your product can ignite. Does your product appeal to a particular sense. Can the reader taste, hear, smell, see or hear your product. Realize that most actions which we take are sparked by desire and most desire is stimulated by feelings. We don't really desire money.
We desire the feelings that we think money will bring us, whether they be happy, secure, or powerful. Yet, the word "money" may trigger the desire that triggers the feelings which we value and want to experience.
ACTION: If your reader does not take action, then you are dead in the water. How do you get your reader to act? Believe it or not this is the simplest step. Simply use a directive. Psychologists tell us that when given a directive (unless obviously harmful) our first instinct is to comply. Turn to the person in the seat next to you, and in a slightly commanding voice say, "give me your pen for a minute"... chances are they will, and usually, without question, for no other reason than "you told them to." Don
Human beings share six tendencies that allow us to be persuaded.None of us is immune to these tendencies, which is what makes them so useful to those of us who want to sell products over the Internet. These six tendencies are... Scarcity Authority Reciprocation Social validation Friendship Consistency This article takes a brief look at each of these six tendencies, and discusses how to use them in your online business.For a more in-depth discussion see Dr. Robert Cialdini's brilliant book Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion.ScarcityWe tend to want something more if it's hard to get. This tendency harks back to a time when everything worth having (food, clothing, shelter) was in short supply.Most people in the western world no longer have to struggle to provide food, clothing, and shelter so our focus has shifted toward luxury items. And our tendency to place value on scarce items has shifted with it. That's why people are prepared to pay huge sums of money for the works of dead painters. After all, once an artist is dead there will be no new works.You can take advantage of this tendency in your advertising. The easiest way to impose scarcity is to
Classified ads placed in the appropriate section for your product will naturally draw a qualified audience of potential customers. Ad placement within the section is the single most important factor determining whether or not your ad is seen within the section. Secondly, the content of your ad will determine which (and if) potential customers do in fact actually read your ad. When placing classified ads on the web some rules of thumb are:
- Choose classifieds that have the largest number of ads because, this is generally a good indicator of how much reader traffic there will be for your classified.
- Determine how the ads are ranked or sorted within the sections and attempt to be listed at or near the top.
- Develop reader stopping ad content.
DESIGNING AN AWESOME CLASSIFIED
The four essential ingredients of an awesome classified are:
ATTENTION - INTEREST - DESIRE - ACTION
If your ad is missing any of these it is not an AWESOME Ad!
ATTENTION: You must first get the readers attention. Picture him scanning the section of the classified page in which your ad is listed. For him or her it is much like which ride at the amusement park to take next. Something about your ad must grab their attention, to directs their focus toward your product.
Since classified ads usually lack graphics, it then comes down to something about the words you use, or about the way you use them. Some web advertisers seem to think that if you use lots of !!! (exclamation marks)or *** (asterisks) or maybe MAKE IT ALL CAPS that this will draw their attention. The problem here is that:
Everyone knows it's glitter and meant to get your attention. This may often interfere with the readers ability to take your words seriously. Subconsciously he may even expect your ad to be some kind of gimmick. Right or wrong, stereotype or not, my advise is let your words speak for themselves and steer clear of such tactics. We will discuss guidelines for choosing the right words later.
INTEREST: The ad must have appeal. This is a good place to state the benefits or some attractive features of your product. Knowing the demographics of your readers or the category section your ad is placed in, helps in nderstanding their interests. What benefits of your product or service is most likely to appeal to this group? Develop a mental picture of some of the customers who would come from this demographic group, and will buy your product. What kinds of jobs do they have, cars do they drive... are they young, old, single, married...
Having a mental picture of your audience is important when you want to understand their interests and know what benefits of your product you should spotlight.
DESIRE: But appealing to their interest is not enough. The ad must then "further stimulate your reader." While interest can generally be obtained by the practical properties of your product, desire needs sparking by a more emotional reaction. Is there something about your product that will make them feel good, excited, confident, secure, hoperul or powerful? Think about what other emotions your product can ignite. Does your product appeal to a particular sense. Can the reader taste, hear, smell, see or hear your product. Realize that most actions which we take are sparked by desire and most desire is stimulated by feelings. We don't really desire money.
We desire the feelings that we think money will bring us, whether they be happy, secure, or powerful. Yet, the word "money" may trigger the desire that triggers the feelings which we value and want to experience.
ACTION: If your reader does not take action, then you are dead in the water. How do you get your reader to act? Believe it or not this is the simplest step. Simply use a directive. Psychologists tell us that when given a directive (unless obviously harmful) our first instinct is to comply. Turn to the person in the seat next to you, and in a slightly commanding voice say, "give me your pen for a minute"... chances are they will, and usually, without question, for no other reason than "you told them to." Do
A reverse vending machine is a device that accepts used (empty) beverage containers and returns money to the user (the reverse of the typical vending cycle). The machines are popular in places that have mandatory recycling laws or container deposit legislation in Europe.In some places, bottlers pay funds into a centralized pool to be dispersed to people who recycled the containers. Any excess funds were to be used for general environmental cleanup. In other places, such as Norway, the state mandated that a vendor pay for recycled bottles, but left the system in the hands of private industry. The dominant vendor of reverse vending machines in Europe (with 90% market share) is Tomra of Norway.Reverse vending equipment automates beverage container recycling by accepting containers directly from the consumer, accounting for each container processed, and refunding the deposit to the consumer.Reverse vending machines were first introduced in to reduce the supermarket retailers' burden of manually redeeming and accounting for empty beverage containers. Beverage industry studies have shown that reverse vending is less expensive compared to the cost of manual, primarily because of space and labor savings.Reverse vending alleviates the sanitation problems associated with
Since classified ads usually lack graphics, it then comes down to something about the words you use, or about the way you use them. Some web advertisers seem to think that if you use lots of !!! (exclamation marks)or *** (asterisks) or maybe MAKE IT ALL CAPS that this will draw their attention. The problem here is that:
Everyone knows it's glitter and meant to get your attention. This may often interfere with the readers ability to take your words seriously. Subconsciously he may even expect your ad to be some kind of gimmick. Right or wrong, stereotype or not, my advise is let your words speak for themselves and steer clear of such tactics. We will discuss guidelines for choosing the right words later.
INTEREST: The ad must have appeal. This is a good place to state the benefits or some attractive features of your product. Knowing the demographics of your readers or the category section your ad is placed in, helps in nderstanding their interests. What benefits of your product or service is most likely to appeal to this group? Develop a mental picture of some of the customers who would come from this demographic group, and will buy your product. What kinds of jobs do they have, cars do they drive... are they young, old, single, married...
Having a mental picture of your audience is important when you want to understand their interests and know what benefits of your product you should spotlight.
DESIRE: But appealing to their interest is not enough. The ad must then "further stimulate your reader." While interest can generally be obtained by the practical properties of your product, desire needs sparking by a more emotional reaction. Is there something about your product that will make them feel good, excited, confident, secure, hoperul or powerful? Think about what other emotions your product can ignite. Does your product appeal to a particular sense. Can the reader taste, hear, smell, see or hear your product. Realize that most actions which we take are sparked by desire and most desire is stimulated by feelings. We don't really desire money.
We desire the feelings that we think money will bring us, whether they be happy, secure, or powerful. Yet, the word "money" may trigger the desire that triggers the feelings which we value and want to experience.
ACTION: If your reader does not take action, then you are dead in the water. How do you get your reader to act? Believe it or not this is the simplest step. Simply use a directive. Psychologists tell us that when given a directive (unless obviously harmful) our first instinct is to comply. Turn to the person in the seat next to you, and in a slightly commanding voice say, "give me your pen for a minute"... chances are they will, and usually, without question, for no other reason than "you told them to." Do
You may have started your cleaning company part-time and thought that as the business grew you could quit your "day job" and put more time into the business. But as your cleaning business grows you may find you can no longer manage all the tasks you need to handle, no matter how much time you devote to it. If you do not have time to market your business or to keep in contact with your clients regularly, it may be time to think of adding an employee. Hiring help not only allows you to keep your cleaning business growing, but also allows you to take some much needed and hard earned time off.Start your hiring process by making a list of the tasks needed in your cleaning business and then decide on those you want (or need) someone else to do. Your first employee should be more than just someone who takes the extra work off your shoulders. This individual should be able to help with the overall growth of your cleaning business by helping not only with cleaning responsibilities, but by making sure they provide great customer service.As you start the hiring process, decide on the job title and prepare a comprehensive job description. This will help you to focus on the responsibilities you want your employees to have, and then when you hire your first employee, he or she will know wh
Having a mental picture of your audience is important when you want to understand their interests and know what benefits of your product you should spotlight.
DESIRE: But appealing to their interest is not enough. The ad must then "further stimulate your reader." While interest can generally be obtained by the practical properties of your product, desire needs sparking by a more emotional reaction. Is there something about your product that will make them feel good, excited, confident, secure, hoperul or powerful? Think about what other emotions your product can ignite. Does your product appeal to a particular sense. Can the reader taste, hear, smell, see or hear your product. Realize that most actions which we take are sparked by desire and most desire is stimulated by feelings. We don't really desire money.
We desire the feelings that we think money will bring us, whether they be happy, secure, or powerful. Yet, the word "money" may trigger the desire that triggers the feelings which we value and want to experience.
ACTION: If your reader does not take action, then you are dead in the water. How do you get your reader to act? Believe it or not this is the simplest step. Simply use a directive. Psychologists tell us that when given a directive (unless obviously harmful) our first instinct is to comply. Turn to the person in the seat next to you, and in a slightly commanding voice say, "give me your pen for a minute"... chances are they will, and usually, without question, for no other reason than "you told them to." Do
Anyone in the business of manufacturing electronic or computer products can attest to the fact that making the actual product is really the easy part when it comes to supplying electronics to end users. Preparing the product for shipping and making sure it arrives at its destination undamaged can be a much trickier undertaking.In the past, electronics manufacturers had to rely on standard corrugated paper packaging materials to house their products during shipment. But paper corrugated is fundamentally inappropriate in applications such as these because not only is it weak and readily susceptible to damage, but it also does not offer any conductive or anti-static properties, a factor which could prove detrimental in the shipping of electronics.Plastic corrugated, on the other hand, offers an advantageous alternative to the traditional paper packaging that once dominated the manufacturing and shipping industries. Corrugated plastic is formed when two plastic liners are fused together on either side of a sheet of wavy plastic known as fluting. Together, these three layers create a weather- and chemical-resistant material whose properties offer a superior alternative to traditional packaging methods.The unique fluted design of plastic corrugated provides excellent shock a
We desire the feelings that we think money will bring us, whether they be happy, secure, or powerful. Yet, the word "money" may trigger the desire that triggers the feelings which we value and want to experience.
ACTION: If your reader does not take action, then you are dead in the water. How do you get your reader to act? Believe it or not this is the simplest step. Simply use a directive. Psychologists tell us that when given a directive (unless obviously harmful) our first instinct is to comply. Turn to the person in the seat next to you, and in a slightly commanding voice say, "give me your pen for a minute"... chances are they will, and usually, without question, for no other reason than "you told them to." Don't say... "will you give me your pen for a minute" because now they have to think, and if they have to think they may refuse. In your ad simply say: "call this number now", "email me for details", "go to our website" etc. If the first three ingredients (attention, interest, and desire) have been well done, and the reader is a qualified customer.... they will most likely take the action you direct them to take.
WHAT TYPE OF AD SHOULD YOU USE
There are three ad types:
Qualified - Partially Qualified - and Blind
The qualified ad is specific and includes more detail about the product you are selling. Some products lend themselves to qualified ad content better than others. Hair pieces for men is an example. If your product is particularly "person dependent" use this type. Qualified ads will receive the least response but more of the responses which are received will result in sales.
The partially qualified ad offers a special benefit, such as money or self- improvement. The readers have some idea of what you are offering, but don't know the specifics. If they are interested and desire your product they will follow your directive and send for more info. If you know where a partially qualified ad response comes from, you may be able to tailor your response to increase the percent of resulting sales.
Blind ads offer only a few details, they are short, and bring in the largest response. However, blind ads produce the lowest percentage of actual orders per reponse, they are often answered just out of curiosity.
ADDING WORD POWER TO YOUR CLASSIFIED AD
Some words are more powerful than others. Saying, your ad must "spark your readers interest," is more powerful than saying, your ad must "get the readers attention." Why? because by using "spark," you can see something igniting within the reader, flaming their interst, and sense they are feeling some excitement. Yes, getting them to have feelings about your words is what you want to accomplish. It is the feelings that are attached to the words that give them power. Look at the list of words below and see if you can recognize the feelings behind the words, that give them power. If you are haveing trouble finding power words to use in your ad, it is probably because you are conce trating to hard on what words you want to use instead of what sorts of feelings you want the reader to feel. Decide on the feelings first and then experiment with the words that best convey them.
Researchers at Yale University say that the twelve most POWERFUL words in the English language are:
- DISCOVER
- EASY
- GUARANTEE
- HEALTH
- LOVE
- MONEY
- NEW
- PROVEN
- RESULTS
0 SAFETY
- SAVE
- YOU
- FREE - ( I just had to add this one in ! )
The above list contains the type of attention getting words that you should try to include in your classified advertising ad title. Scan a bunch of classifieds (as many as necessary), picking out other such words from the title of the ads that attracted your attention. Do this until you have a list of about 50 words. Try to pick out the individual words and not the phrases. Phrases will come later. Keep this list at hand when you are designing your classified ad. Glance at the list occasionally while writing down possible titles for your ad. The title is the most important part of the ad. You may need to spend 90 percent of the time it takes to design your ad, just on the title alone.
Now write down every word that you can possibly think of which describes a particular feature or benefit of your product. What do you always tell the customer about your product? Benefits - benefits -benefits! Features - features- features!
Verbs and adjectives are great. Verbs because they show action and adjectives because they are descriptive. Active and descriptive words tend to have more enertia and cause us to react with feelings.
Now let's put it all together and create a simple classified car ad.
Want a Dependable Used Car that Looks Fantastic and Drives Great? 1994 Olds Cutlass - low mil
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