Here’s a simple ten point plan for creating advertisements that work.
First, make writing the advertisements that you are going to send to schools a priority, not something that is tucked away in the occasional moment when you have time. The adverts you create will determine your level of sales.
Second, have a person in your company who will hold you to account, asking for your new advert on the day you have promised it and then, if you haven’t delivered, push you each day until it arrives.
Third find a voice. Who is writing to your potential customers? Is she or he friendly, warm, an expert at a distance, a teacher, someone with a spot of humour, someone approachable? Once you have that voice, stay with it.
Fourth, get the feedback. Email out your advertisement and look at the number of click throughs to your website and the number of purchases thereafter. If click throughs are low, then it is the advert that is not bringing people in. If clicks are high but sales are low, you need to change the webpage you are sending people to.
Fifth, use free advice. Ask your colleagues their views and get them to justify their answers. If you wish, ask the team at schools.co.uk for their thoughts – we’ll give you our views at no cost. Details of how to do this are below.
Sixth, find a way to see what the competition is doing. You can certainly read their website, and if you know a couple of teachers you can get them to pass on emails from your rivals.
Seventh, have a plan – a way of developing your advertisements. The same advertisement does not last forever, and most firms change their advertisements far too late – long after one advert has stopped working. Be ready, for no advert works forever.
Eighth. Write something quite different from your current advert, and try it out. If you are worried that you might put people off, don’t be because people tend to ignore advertisements that don’t appeal to them. But do try out your next ideas while the current one is still working.
Ninth, long before you need it, write something radically different that you can experiment with.
Tenth, write down the phrase, “A picture is worth 10,000 words,” on a sheet of paper. Then tear it into shreds and put it in the bin. If that phrase were true, I could draw you a picture of it, but I can’t – I have to express it in words. Pictures can help, but remember, they have to be good, relevant pictures that attract the teacher, and they must not get in the way of the benefit-driven text.
If you would like to have us take a look at your advertisements, do email Stephen@schools.co.uk or to discuss any of the above call 01604 880 927. If you would like to book in a series of advertisements at very discounted prices, do take a look at our 4-Email programme.
