1. Deliver on what you promise

Customers hate it when they feel like they’ve been misled. It’s good to offer great things, but make sure they are promises you can keep.
The customer who comes to you and is disappointed probably won’t come back and will most likely tell someone about why they were disappointed. Keep it honest and you will not only get customers, but keep them too.

2. Keep consistent with your brand

If your brand is stylish, you should advertise that way. If your brand is big and loud, then advertise that way. Your brand is what makes your business unique and gives customers an idea of what to expect from your product or services. If your print advertising conflicts with your brand, it gives a confused impression to the public. As the old formula goes: Consistency = Reliability = Trust = Returning customers.

3. Keep things simple and focused

It’s tempting to want to cram everything you can offer and everything that is great about your business into each advertisement. However, to get the greatest results from your print campaign, your message must be simple and concise. If there is too much information, people are less likely to finish looking over your ad and retain the information. Keep the image simple and give the viewer less to remember. Your contact details should also be easy to read. Don’t make the viewer work harder than they need to and they will be more likely to act on your offer.

4. Make sure you are offering something of value

If you’re spending money on getting potential customers’ attention, make it count. Give them a great incentive to choose your products or services. If you’re advertising specials that are not very special your campaign can do more harm than good.

5. Don’t skimp on quality for the sake of saving a small amount of money

The quality of your advertisements, regardless of the message, gives a potential customer an impression of your business. People often want to save money by going down a cheaper route when producing their print advertisement only to find it looks terrible and prints even worse. The customer response to a poor production is generally just as terrible and the whole campaign becomes a waste of time and money. Think ahead and understand that paying a little extra to get an effective print design becomes more valuable and saves you money in the long run.

6. Track the response

Use techniques such as coded vouchers, unique reply email addresses, unique phone numbers, or verbal referrals with key words for your customers to mention on your advertisement to track how well your print is working. By doing this, you can work out the returns from advertising investment versus returned sales and keep refining the process until you find a formula that works perfectly for your unique business and industry.

7. Use a great headline

Your print headline can sometimes be the only part of your print ad that gets read. Don’t waste this important aspect of your design and make sure it encapsulates your main message, offer or point of difference.

8. Include graphics or pictures

Pictures and graphics not only get people’s attention and make a design look great, they can sometimes be more effective at getting your message across than the words themselves. Make sure you use high quality, well composed photos and graphics and use colour wherever possible.

9. Advertise on the right hand side

When reading a magazine in the western world, we look at the right hand page first when turning a page. This is due to the way the western world reads from left to right (unlike Japan for example, which read right to left). By placing your ad on the right hand page of a magazine layout, you increase the chances of getting your print seen even if someone is just skimming through.

10. Get someone who doesn’t know your business to check your design

Someone who doesn’t know your business or industry can be quite useful when refining your print design. These people are great to get feedback from as, like the potential customers who will be seeing your print ad, they are only making their opinions from the design and overall message itself. Not all people have a great opinion, that’s just life. However, an effective print ad can gain a lot from these constructive criticisms before the final design is locked off and sent to print.