Print Ads Big Enough To See

Businesses and professionals spend a lot of money on newspapers, shoppers and specialized magazines. Many times the ad salesperson, in hopes of making a sale, does not share enough information about the requirements to make an ad work.

I always ask buyers, "what attracts your attention to read an ad" and "what could you do to make your ad easier to read and understand"? Many will step back as they look at their own ad and start to see things that should be changed in order to get the most results from their investment.

One thing that always comes up is the size of the print. Usually headlines of an ad are readable but many of the features and finer points are in very small print. So small in fact that a truly interested party may be required to get their reading glasses just to read it. And the usual result is that the truly interested reader is not in a position to "get their glasses" and move on to the more readable ad.

Real estate agents are usually the guilty parties on this rule. In order to list the maximum number of properties in their ad, they reduce the print and pictures so small they are virtually unreadable to a large segment of the population. And part of their ploy is to create a phone call from the interested party. However, it should be noted that studies have shown that many would be interested parties simply move on to the next ad.

So when you place your ads, stand back and inspect them closely. Be sure it's an ad that would capture your attention AND if it did you would be able to glean the details of the offer with a quick glance - without your glasses.

It's a shame that so many print advertising dollars are wasted because of poor quality ads. Ads that don't attract or keep readers attention.