With your SuccessWebsite, you are given ten very successful editorial-style ads that are being used regularly. These ads have proven themselves over and over again in practically every market in North America and have been responsible for generating literally hundreds of thousands of leads for SuccessWebsite users.
Basically what you’re doing with this type of advertising is offering your prospects valuable information (rather than trying to sell them something), and making it look like news (and NOT like advertising). If you do it right and can make your ad look like the editorial which surrounds it, you have a good chance of flying under the reader’s advertising radar and compelling them to read your ad. And once they start reading it, they are motivated to continue because you’re talking about issues that matter to them, and offering them free, easily accessible answers to questions they want to know the answer to.
You’ve earned their attention. You’ve got them reading. Don’t blow it with vague, empty babble. Get right to the heart of the matter.
- concentrate on setting up the problem/solution formula
- make a specific offer
- make a complete and compelling case for the information you are offering
- prove to your prospect that the information you are offering will solve some problem they care about or provide them with a valuable benefit
Correct Look and Location of Editorial Ad:
Because we are trying to fly under the prospect’s radar, where your ad runs and what it looks like is very important. Please don’t underestimate the importance of the following points. They can quite literally make or break your response.
Look
Try to get the publication to use the exact same type size and font style as they use in their own editorial. To make your headline look exactly the same as their headlines. What you’re trying to do is disguise your ad to look like editorial – to entice prospects into reading your ad because it does NOT look like an ad. You want them to think it is an objective article run by the publication.
By law, you may need to add a thin border around your ad in addition to mice type at the bottom which identifies you. If you don’t have to add these disclaimers which, of course, make the ad look more like an ad and less like editorial, then don’t (check first with the appropriate authorities in your area).
Location
Not only should your ad look like an editorial it should also be placed to run on a page surrounded by editorial, NOT on a page surrounded by a bunch of ads.
You should also always request a right hand page as close to the front of the publication as possible since study upon study proves that most people read a publication from front to back and they normally read the top right first.
7 Things That Can Go Wrong When Running Your Editorial Type Ad
For every single ad you run, keep a close watch on the following items so you can understand your result.
Environment
Are you on a page with other editorial or surrounded by ads? If your editorial style direct response ad is surrounded by other ads, your prospect will not read it because they will assume it too is an ad.
Border
Does your ad have a big thick border which makes it look like an ad? If the publication mandates that you must have a border, very clearly specify that it must be a thin "hairline" border. The thicker the border, the more it will look like an ad. Also, avoid leaving a lot of white space between border and copy.
Paid Advertisement
Try to avoid this labeling at all costs. You may be able to avoid this label being slapped onto your ads by agreeing to put a border around them, and a mice-type disclaimer at the bottom. If you cannot talk your paper out of the label "Paid Advertisement", make sure they put these words in 6 or 8 pt mice-type italics preferably at the bottom. If they dictate that it must go on top, have them put it top right.
Copy Size / Font Style
The rule of thumb here is to make sure that your ad mimics the editorial style run in the publication. If they run 10 pt Times with an 18 pt bold headline, have them run your ad with these same specifications. What you don’t want to do is stand out as different.
Positioning
Request far forward right reading positioning. page 3 or 5 or 7 or 9 – these are great pages to be on. The further forward you are in a publication the better. Always specify that you want to be on a right hand page, preferably at the top. The further back your ad is in the publication, the worse it will do. A right hand page will most often out-perform a left hand page. It’s possible that your publication will tell you that they cannot guarantee positioning and this may be true. Many newspapers are laid out by computer these days meaning that your individual rep really doesn’t have a say over where your ad goes. But you must make it known that you want this, and you should keep complaining about it.
Publication
Some publications will perform better for you than others.
Day of the Week / Section
In exactly the same way that one publication can work better than others, some days (say Tuesday vs. Saturday) or sections (e.g. real estate section vs. the regular section of a newspaper) can work better or worse.
Test different publications with the exact same ad (but with a different domain name) so you can see which one does better for you. (Note: Multiple domain names can be pointed at the same site using a technique known as domain parking. More information on this exciting strategy can be found by clicking here).
Make sure you consider all of the factors discussed above in your analysis when deciding how well your ad worked.
Editorial Type Ad Sample:
Here is the copy for one of the ten very successful editorial type ads that you receive with your subscription to the Success Website. Remember that prospects are able to order this (and many other) reports online when they visit your website. All you need to do is run the ad. No further work is required from you.
To achieve proven results, you should run the ad exactly as shown below. Remember to replace "YOUR TOWN", "YOURDOMAIN", "AGENT" and "COMPANY NAME" with your information.
27 Quick & Easy Fix Ups to Sell Your Home Fast and for Top Dollar
This report is courtesy of (AGENT, COMPANY NAME). |