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10 Steps to Creating Effective Ads

Make your ads work for you, not against you. By knowing what makes an ad persuasive and credible, it can help you avoid unforeseen mistakes and begin moving your marketing effort in the right direction. A powerful ad can lead to increases in sales, reach new customers and communicate positive feelings about your restaurant. But creating an effective ad takes careful planning and detailed work, so Design by Appetite has developed the 10-Step Powerful Result Program to navigate you through the process.

Understand the Brand
Your patrons are looking for more than just physical benefits. They are looking for an emotional connection. A strong brand will meet the needs of both.

Select the Audience
Your restaurant cannot be all things to all people! Focus on your brand to fit our target patrons rather than what you "should" be providing for everyone else.

Determine the Objective
Each ad should have an objective, whether it is to invite the reader to try something new or to take action. What is the message you want to give your target audience? How do you want them to respond? How do your goals for this ad relate to your overall marketing strategy?

Choose a Style
Develop a style for communicating with the patrons based on your brand. Consistent communication has powerful effects and leverages the value of your brand. Logos, slogans, and similar advertisements are all effective in doing this and building recognition and credibility.

Write like a Professional Copywriter
Copywriters use methodical techniques for writing ads. The text in an ad is called the copy. It is the single most powerful element in an ad.

Create the Layout
The layout consists of the spacing, size and arrangement of items within an ads. Strategically organizing these items will make the ad easy to follow and read.

Add a Splash of Colour
Colour attract attention to convey emotion, mood and help create an identity. The different hues, tones, intensities, and contrasts between the colours play a vital role in conveying your message. An easy tip is to choose one dominant colour and a few secondary colours.

Put it All Together
Placing all the elements of the ad together takes knowledge, expertise, and creativity. The elements must be interesting and consistent with your brand. All elements should be visually appealing, be easy to follow, grab attention, and reinforce your brand.

Review and Revise
Revise, revise, and revise. Go back and review your plans outlined in Steps 1 -3. Does it fit your final draft? Do you need to re-evaluate your plan or adjust the final draft? Get a second opinion to review your design. Think: If you were your patron, how would you react to the ad?

Publish the Ad
Work closely with your printing supplier to learn exactly how the ad will turn out, and ask for a proof before the final job is printed. Printing mistakes can be very expensive. It is based on precision and technicality, so make sure your supplier is knowledgeable and experienced.

 

Your brand.
Why should patrons visit your restaurant?
What do you offer better than other restaurants in the area?
How do your patrons feel when they visit your restaurant?
What is the image of your restaurant?
What do you want the image of your restaurant to be?
How is your restaurant positioned relative to your competitors?


Your audience.
Who are your patrons?
What are their characteristics?
What are they looking for?
How can you best communicate with them?
What is the best way to get their attention?


Your message.
Surprisingly, 80% of readers only read the headline. The first step is to grab attention with the headline to buy-in the reader to your message.
1. How is the headline creating attention? Does it present an opportunity to the reader or does it present a benefit?
2. Is the headline focused on the correct audience? Does it filter in potential customers
3. Does the headline deliver a complete message?
4. How is the headline drawing the reader into the main text?
5. Does the main text fulfill the promise of the headline?
6. Is the main text simple to read and understand?
7. How does the main text initiate action?


Your layout
Good layout must:
• Use adequate white space
• Guide the reader
• Attract the reader to important elements
• Grab attention from afar
• Make the ad easy to follow
• Entertain the eye
•Create a mood


Your design
These are the main principle of designing an ad. Following these rules will help guide you while you plan your ad.

• Unity or Harmony. Objects or things belong together. An ad that achieves unity is comfortable to look at. To achieve unity, consider the placement, repetition, rhythm and continuation of items.
• Balance. Ads that achieve balance appear to have equal weight between all four sides of the ad
• Focal Point. Select one focal point and ensure that it draws the most attention. Multiple focal points tend to complicate and confuse.
• Dominance. Larger elements create more dominance. Ads that achieve dominance will draw more attention.
• Flow. Also known as movement or direction, this element helps guide the reader through the ad.
• Proportion. The elements in the ad must be proportionate to each other and the overall size of the ad page.
• Coherence. The overall visual relationship of all the elements. The big picture: does the ad work as a whole?

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