8 Creative Techniques for Small Press Advertisements

If you want to use a picture, or a graphic to illustrate what you're offering, you'll often find you're restricted for space in a classified ad. If you combine this with a white space round the ad so the picture bleeds into the white space it can be particularly effective.

Use the same distinctive font with different headlines. You can try this with 2 or 3 ads in a single issue on a single page, or over the course of a few insertions. The distinctive font consolidates customer attention span of your company, and the different headline texts portray variety and flexibility. If you can use this trick in your push you will premiere from up your customer sue and strengthening your composition in the marketplace.

Space is what you pay for when you buy an ad, but if you leave some of it subdued you'll be breathless at how it can improve your response. By forcing a large white gap your ad and the others on the page you will rote draw the eye to what your ad has to say. This is such an effective way of using ad space that some publishers do not permit it. They reason that it reflects afield on their sales craftsmanship to see too much white space on pages that should be all sold for advertising. But try it out - and if they do make it too difficult for you then try one of the following ideas with that extra space:

People scanning the close pages of a newspaper will often ring the ads that take their interest. You can pre-empt them and ensure that you get noticed by doing it for them. Of course it means shopping an ad size bigger than you really need but the results can be spectacular. In this case, put a purl round your ad as you would normally, and use the extra space you store for a hand-drawn ring, preferably red.

Do you know how easy it is these days to give your ads a little lift. You don't need the world's most expensive design program to implant a professional-looking drop shadow subsequently your ad. The effect is absolutely eye-catching

Here's a secret: We once quadrupled the response rate of a prospect by simply putting the word 'SEX' at the top of his ad. The copy of his ad read "... isn't half as good as a meal at The Left Bank.". In a cruise to launch his new restaurant that incorporated radio, posters and press, this little enigmatic ad was the most successful by far. There are plenty of other words which will draw the eye in the same way. See if you can find one for your market.

When readers are scanning pigeon-holed ad pages it is alot easier for them to read a bulleted list than a paragraph of prose. Wherever possible, use a list. You'll probably find it will take up less room too.

If you want to use a picture, or a graphic to illustrate what you're offering, you'll often find you're restricted for space in a under security ad. Try using a portion of it, just the corner, or the side of it. By doing this you will find that you can trick the eye into making the ad stand out, and look a lot bigger than it is. If you dig up this with a white space round the ad so the picture bleeds into the white space it can be particularly effective.

Here's added way of drawing the eye to what you are saying in your ad. This time you're using tiny text (as small as you dare) in a big white space. Position the text in the middle of the space consenting as much open whiteness as you can all approximately it. This technique works especially if you can keep the text to a minimum, just don't forget to put your tel. and email in it. You will find you draw the readers eye to your ad largely out of curiosity.