8 Small Business Print Advertising Tips

Print and newspaper advertising is one of the oldest forms of advertising, yet even today it's one of the favorites when it comes to promoting products and services. While there are no formulas for creating perfect print advertisements, there are principles to make them effective. Whether you deal in home furnishings or leather goods the following tips will help you to with advertising your products in print.

1. Highlight your headline – A lot of times, small business print advertisements carry logos on top, instead of the headlines. While this strategy may work well with those who know your business well, but not with new prospects. As a result, your prime focus should be on drafting and placing a good headline on top that gets attention.

2. Don't overstuff the ad space with information – Draft an advertisement that's crisp and articulately conveys the message. The fact that you've paid for the ad space, doesn't mean that you must fill it up with as much information as you can. If your advertisement appears to be messy and cluttered no one would care to even look at it, leave aside reading it. Keep your ad brief and to the point, include only the most essential services or products, even if you offer a wide range of these.

3. Your advertisement should talk personally to the reader – Remember that your potential clients, while skimming through the print ads, are only interested interested in themselves and their needs. So your ads, instead of bragging about your products should address the customers directly. For instance, instead of saying "We offer the best product/service around," you may put it as "Have you tried the best product/service in the city."

4. Don't forget to include a call to action – It's important to clearly state how you want your prospects to respond to your ad. "Call Now," "Visit Now," "Order Now" are some commonly used call to action statements. To make the call to action statements even more compelling, include special and limited offers. For instance, "Offer valid till stocks last," "Call today and get a special discount," are some common statements used to create a sense of urgency.

5. Be careful with fonts and colors – Using too many colors and too many fonts might put people off, and won't lend a sense of professionalism to your advertisements. Your ads' fonts should appear very readable and clear in print. In general, using just two different fonts is enough. The classical black and white advertisement is still a good choice for newspaper advertisements.

6. Include pictures with care – Use only good quality pictures that are relevant and complement the text message. Generally, a picture of a happy customer or a model with a product is better than that of a product alone. Try not to print text on the image, as it can subdue the effect of both the text message as well as the picture.

7. Include testimonials for credibility - Testimonials and quotes from current customers, when printed with full name and title will lend greater credibility to your claims, and vouch for the quality of your products and services. Generally, specific testimonials will serve you better compared with general comments.

8. Don't forget to proofread your advertisement – This is important because once the ad is published and distributed, you will have no option but to face the consequences. Check your ad for contact information such as the phone numbers, website URL, emails, and other information such as discounts percentages, and spellings & grammar. In addition, get trusted others to proofread the advertisement.

For more advertising tips, see: Top 9 Small Business Advertising Tips