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Are your business-to-business ads working for you? If they are not making sales,
are they at least generating interest in your company? Are they making an impression
on your potential customers by making you stand out in a crowd? If not, then you
should take a look at this article and get those ads working hard for you.
Don’t just fish for customers, catch them!
1. ALWAYS include your company name in the first sentence, preferably as the
first word. Don’t start out with ‘we’. And briefly state what
you do right away. For example: “Solinc designs plastic injection molds.”
You want them to know who you are right away. Also, many B2B sites don’t
allow visitors to view the total ad without paying or registering. You want
everybody to at least be able to search for you on the Internet. This can also
help your ad to appear on some search engines.
2. You need a ‘hook’ to reel in your readers. There are probably
plenty of other ads right next to yours so you need to get them within the first
sentence or two. Use some great adjectives. Which is better: “Solinc designs
injection molds.” Or “Solinc expertly designs high quality, precision
injection molds.” Now they know who you are, what you do, and why you are
special.
3. Ask a question about why your reader should choose you and answer it. Questions
such as “Do your customers demand high quality?” “Are you looking
for a total solution package?” Then tell them that’s what you deliver,
you’ve got what they need.
4. Clearly state what you do step-by-step. Use bullets, numbers or short dedicated
paragraphs. Make a list of your products and services. Then tell a little bit
about them. Don’t forget to use your adjectives here. Give them a ‘line’
to find the bait.
5. Give them some food for thought. It’s time to ask them another question.
This time ask them about a problem they might have that you can solve. For example,
“Are you completely satisfied with your current supplier?” “Are
you frustrated with late deliveries?” “Are you looking for faster
and more reliable service?”
6. Give them a call to action. This is your ‘sinker’. Offer them
the answer to their questions by contacting you today. Don’t let them get
away.
If you follow these steps you are on your way to catching some customers. But
you need a few more pieces of bait to land the big catch.
·Include your keywords and company name throughout the text. This can
help your ad land in the search engines. Avoid using the words ‘we’
and ‘it’ and ‘our product’.
·Use ‘you’ often. It pays to include your potential customer
in your ad.
·Be entertaining or subliminal, but don’t be boring! This can be
a bit tricky in some areas of business, especially manufacturing. A good trick
is to use a product noun as a verb and couple it with an adjective. An example
would be for injection molds. Not the most entertaining subject, but: “Inject
some speed into your production with high quality molds by Solinc.” And
you’ve got a line with pull.
·Be sneaky. Some B2B sites don’t allow you to put in your email
address or URL in the ad copy. However, if you spell out “dot” or
“at” in your addresses your potential customers can find you.
·And finally, be polite. Never use all caps or more than one exclamation
point at a time, be careful of poor grammar or bad spelling. Show your potential
customers you care.
Don’t forget, practicing and proofreading lead to good ad copy, which
leads to good sales.
About the Author:
Steve Koons works in the marketing department of Solinc Die and Mold and lives
in Seoul, Korea. To read more of his stuff visit his blog:
http://www.injection-molds.blogspot.com
http://www.solinc.net |
