Secret creative advertising
tips the pros know


Do you need some creative advertising tips?

Ever been frustrated trying to pull loose ends together so you can create an ad that attracts attention and gets results?

Creative types know that it is pretty rare to turn on their creative minds like a faucet and lots of ideas just come tumbling out.

Instead, they know that the creative process actually starts by eliminating ideas that are not relevant to the project at hand.

Three Creative Advertising Tips

Here are a three special advertising tips, techniques and observations to help you along the way to building an action-getting ad.

1. Recognize that the creative process is not just one act.

It actually is a series of little acts that culminate in making a propsed ad. When that ad mock-up is shown to other people for evaluation, they may find one element that doesn't seem to fit. For the creative person, the fix is a simple change of just one piece of the ad.

2. Over the years, many highly creative people have built their personal "swipe file". If you play any part in creating your own ads, you should have one too.

The "swipe file" consists of samples of ads, direct mail, promotional pieces, etc., creatives have admired. It could be a headline they like, a particular style of art direction, the way a subject was promoted... really anything they think might inspire them on future assignments.

They get their samples from reading magazines, their own direct mail, trade magazines, tv ads, whatever. And they will check the files when doing research for a new project.

For those in franchise situations, you'll find this information readily available in "case history" presentations at national or regional franchisee meetings.

3. When creating your ad, be sure to look at it two ways.

First, evaluate how it looks all by itself. Say it is a 2 column by 4" deep ad for the newspaper. You want to make sure all the elements are there and that they look great.

Next, make a laser print of that ad, cut it out to the exact size and place it on the pages of the publication or web page where it might appear. You have no control over where the publication or web site will place your ad. So doing this exercise can point out improvements you can make to help your ad stand out even more. You'll find other creative advertising ideas by clicking here.

These are just a few of the secret creative advertising tips the pros know. Now you do too!


Want more tips?

  Click Here to Access Your Free Checklist: "11 Steps To Focus Your Advertising and Make More Profit"

• Go to our Site Map to see a directory of titles and topics for over 40 original small business advertising articles.


Back to the top of the creative advertising tips page