Tips for Writing a Classified Ad for Your Business

Posting a small, classified ad in the local newspaper can bring a considerable source of customers for many home-based businesses. Even a tiny three-line ad can provide you with customers who need your product or service immediately. If the ad is run on a regular basis, it establishes you as a reputable business and familiarizes your name in the neighborhood.

This doesn't mean you can simply write a few lines of text, put it in the paper and become wildly successful. Even a well-planned advertisement that's put in the wrong publication (or, conversely, in the right publication but under the wrong category) you won't generate a lot of attention. And if you write a mediocre ad, even if it's well-placed it will produce the same result. Writing an effective classified ad is deceptively simple, but you need to keep a few things in mind when creating it:

First and foremost, you must know your target consumers. You can sell a wide variety of products to an equally wide variety of customers, but not every customer is going to need the same thing and your simple three-line ad will have to meet those needs. Figure out what the specific needs are of the customers you're trying to reach, and write the ad copy geared towards those needs.

Next, make sure you're choosing the right publication for the ad. If you're running a business that caters to the needs of people with a high income, it wouldn't make much sense to run the ad in a circular or other weekly magazine in a lower income area. An ad that offers a unique business opportunity would do much better in a publication read by middle-class workers than in an area inhabited mostly by rich retirees. You also need to keep in mind that people do read the classified ads in several different publications, but they often read each with a different goal or frame of mind; the average business owner will read one magazine for business purposes, but read a regional or local publication for an entirely different reason.

Try to examine ads that appear in your target publication every week. What about them is eye-catching? Do they offer a benefit to the reader, or are written in a way that sets them apart from the other ads? Do they come right after a category heading so they're more likely to be spotted? Think about how you can use this information to make your own ad stand out.

Treat the first few words of your ad like the headline of an article. They have to grab the reader's attention and prevent their eyes from wandering further down the page, usually by emphasizing some benefit to the reader for doing so. The rest of the text must be short, concise in its wording and compelling. You need to inform the reader who you are, what you're sell, why they need to buy it from you, and your contact information, all within a few lines of text. At the same time, be careful not to cut too many words down, or your message will lose its meaning in the confusion. When you've finished writing the ad, make sure you've included your contact information on it. Ask a trusted friend or family member to proofread it for you, because the publication probably won't.

Next, you need to make sure the wording makes your ad believable. Consumers in today's society are more jaded and far more educated about consumer products and services than they were twenty years ago. If you come across too eager or if your ad sounds too good to be true, most consumers will assume it is too good to be true and move along. As with any quality ad copy, you need to sell your reader on the facts and benefits, not "fluff"-filled words.

If possible, advertise your company in the same publications that your competition does. Get your hands on back issues for the previous six to nine months to see if your competitor has reliably advertised in each issue; if they have, it's a safe bet that they've been successful at it, making it a good idea for you as well. Also, try testing your advertisement in two or more publications to see which one is more effective. You may find a better response with one than with the other, and the only way to determine which one is the better choice for you is to perform a test run in each. Just make certain you use the same ad in each publication, or you may find your customers (and yourself) getting confused.

Lastly, don't expect the classified ad to make you an overnight success. Make sure you run the ad long enough to see what it can really do for you, but keep your outlook realistic. It's a good way to bring in extra customers to your business, and appearing regularly in a publication is a sure-fire way to increase trust and recognition of your company.