The two main components of ads are: (a) copy – the headlines and stories that tell your readers why they should buy, and (b) graphics – the type style, layout, illustrations, and photography designed to punch through the clutter. Let’s look at each separately.
Copy that sells Advertising legend, Herschell Lewis, judges copy by posing four questions:

1. Is the reader immediately aware of what you’re selling?
2. Can someone unfamiliar with wireless understand it?
3. Have you motivated the reader to buy from you?
4. Does the reader know what to do to buy from you?

Consider these actual retail headlines, the most important part of the copy, the top six carriers ran one weekend in a major-market newspaper:

-Buy one at $19.99. Get 3 free
-two for the price of one. Buy one E90, Get one free!
-Get a free phone every year.
-Fast & free. Only from Carrier Sample.
-$49.99 for 2 lines. Up to 5 phones free
-Buy one Carrier Brand Name Phone. Get one free.

Which headlines make you immediately aware of what they are selling?
Which can you understand, even if you were unfamiliar with wireless?
Which motivate you to buy from their stores instead of the competition?
Which of these free offers is the best free offer?
Do these six real-life headlines say, ‘Me, too,’ to you?
Each carrier then lists their dealer and company stores. Other than the convenience of the location, why should customers buy from any one specific store listed? Check them again, find one that is fresh and upbeat, one that grabs your attention, one that compels you to buy, and email your finding to me at ed@hownet.com.

Below you’ll find 15 new headlines for a ficticious store we call, Wireless Town (‘WT’ in the headlines that follow). The challenge these headlines address is how to stimulate sales for a $249 phone, designed to increase your gross profit and bring in qualified custom¬ers. To create your own headlines use any that you like or use your own words to improve them.

-The $249 phone the other guys don’t want you to buy
-WT’s ideal $249 phone. Is it worth it?
-Why WT says that for $249 this phone is ideal.
-Buy WT’s $249 ideal phone by May 15th, and dinner’s on us
-Would you pay $249 for the ideal wireless phone?
-Why buy a phone from WT for $249
-Which phone is right for you? Test WT’s $249 ideal phone first
-Wanted: Customers to test drive WT’s $249 ideal phone
-Advice: Test drive WT’s $249 ideal phone before you buy
-‘I saw the free phones, but I bought WT’s $249 ideal phone.’
-Don’t buy a phone until you test drive WT’s $249 ideal phone
-Moms: Can WT’s $249 ideal phone reduce your worries?
-Mobile pros: Can a $249 phone make you more productive?

What works & what doesn’t work in advertising?  Here are some questions that may help you judge your ads’ visual qualities: Does your ad have a focal point? What is it? Does the art look like your place of business? Does it project your personality? Does the eye follow from element to element naturally? Is the ad trying to tell too many stories? Is the company name and logo easy for readers to see? Can you read the type? Would the graphics attract your attention?

But beware, some ads make for great art, but lousy advertising. Legendary adman David Ogilvy offers this warning: ‘The vast majority of people who work in agencies, and almost all of their clients, have never heard of [the factors that work in advertising.] That is why they skid helplessly on the greasy surface of irrelevant brilliance.’
ads that sell,  small frequent, hard working ads can keep your name and your offer in front of the ever-changing pool of new wireless customers who buy phones and service every week. Don’t worry about repeating the same ad. If you’re fortunate enough to find one that really works, continue to run it until it ceases to attract buyers. Remember, the ad may be old to you, but it’s new to the customers who make up the current week’s pool of buyers. Consider this example:

Does long copy sell? John Caples says, ‘You should jam your space full of copy … a few words or a slogan does not pull inquiries as well as long copy packed with facts … the more you tell, the more you sell.’
From David Oglevy’s foreword for John Caples’s,
Tested Advertising Methods (Prentice- Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1974)

For more insight into "New Profits in Wireless Retailing"  visit www.hownet.com
 ©2005 by The Edmond-Howard Network