Print isn’t dead, and your hard work pays off online, too

The end of print has been predicted, pretty accurately, for years now. Iconic vehicles like The New York Times have hinted at their future demise, while seemingly immortal printed pubs ranging from Newsweek to Macworld to even the Encyclopedia Britannica simply no longer exist as ink on paper. Local papers are struggling to stay in print, too.

So why on earth should you care about writing a good print ad?

Lots of reasons. First, print still isn’t dead, so if you’re writing an ad for a go-to trade pub or local paper, you can’t afford to do anything less than a stellar job. Second, lots of the same rules for print apply to online, so a grabber headline can still grab, and great copy can still compel. Your effort will hardly be wasted. To the contrary: you can most likely leverage it and make it pay off multifold.

That said, let’s dive into the details. Some may be obvious, others not so much:

Consider the venue. Traditionally, magazines tried to focus on niche audiences (remember George Carlin’s great joke about Walking magazine? [“Hey, here’s a great article: ‘Putting One Foot In Front of The Other!’”]), so you can often safely assume a certain level of domain knowledge in a trade publication’s audience that you can’t in a general-interest publication. Similarly, if the particular issue is event-themed (annual industry round-up, or prep for a big trade show), you won’t need to devote too much space/effort to bringing your audience into the right frame of mind. They’ll already be there, so take advantage.

Consider the purpose. This will reflect upon your advertising strategy (you have one, don’t you?), so you’ll know whether it’s branding, maintenance, hard-sell, event-driven, etc. Given the size of your company and the venue in which it will be appearing, consider how much the audience recognizes your company name/logo/brand… or not. (These same rules apply for rotating banner ads online, which can be even more fun to write.)

Consider the visuals. Yes, some ads work with nothing more than text. But if you’ve got a key visual you’re using, develop synergy around it. Don’t describe it; don’t make a slide show. Offer an intriguing counterpoint. Don’t state the obvious. Force the reader to stop, think, and engage. Other “mandatory” visuals—color themes, web address, disclaimers, taglines, etc.—must all be considered… but in their proper context. Remember, you’ve got maybe one or two seconds to grab your reader, so prioritize properly.

Go nuts on the headline. And by “nuts,” we mean go for volume. Write a dozen versions. Don’t pre-judge. Just keep at them. Then do more. Create and use a keyword list as we’d suggested in our “Tagline” blog post to help get the juices flowing. Walk away. Come back. Try again. You’d be surprised how often the simple act of turning a fresh mind to the assignment yields a plethora of great ideas.

Subheads next. Not every headline requires a subhead. Depends on the headline, the message you’re conveying, and sometimes, simply, the amount of space you have. Once you have your short list of headlines, this will be easier. But remember: the subhead, just like the headline, is not the end of the ad. It conveys information but still keeps the reader moving ahead, to…

The body copy. Again, message and space constraints will be big dictators here. But more than anything, have fun. Engage your reader as if they’re sitting across from you. Don’t draw them in with a cool visual and headline, only to bore them with the body copy. That would be tragic. Your brand should have an established voice and tone, so be sure to adhere to them; this should actually make your job easier. Feel free to challenge, to provoke, to set up and pay off surprises. Reward the reader for following your story.

Consider the call to action. The CTA, as it’s known, is the “closer.” It’s the point at which the reader simply must get in touch with your business in order to learn more/accomplish more/save money/whatever. If you’ve been building your logical argument, step-by-step, throughout this process, this will actually come pretty organically. Look back at your visual and headline for possible “payoff” wordplay that “buttons” the copy cleverly—but please don’t force it. Better to simply get your message across than appear pretentious by trying to make something clever when it isn’t.

Consider getting help. Some people find working on print/display ads to be a liberating and mind-expanding pursuit. Others consider it a daunting task. If you’re one of the latter, or simply want to keep your time free for core activities, consider bringing in expert help. The results will be the best you can get, and the investment will pay strong dividends. Contact us and let’s get a quote in your hands.

Are you maximizing all of the resources at your disposal? Are you prioritizing them properly?

Assuming you want to grow your consulting practice both vertically (expanding your work/relationship with existing clients) and horizontally (reaching out to, and securing, wholly new clients), there are several ways to go about it. It’s not hard to get a zillion hits for such an objective by searching online.

But assuming that your resources aren’t exactly infinite, the key word here is prioritization. In this article, we’ll review some of the manifold ways in which you can promote your independent consulting business; more importantly, we’ll talk about how you can weigh which options are most (and least) important for you—what’s known as the “media mix” in the advertising world.

Let’s make some other quick assumptions here. Let’s assume that vertical growth is easier to attain that horizontal growth, since you’ve already got your foot in the door. (Indeed, we’d already posted an article in this series about getting follow-on business and growing your practice with existing clients, so we won’t belabor that here.)

Let’s also assume—just for now—that 1) you’re going to be focusing your efforts via online channels (as opposed to, say, postal mailers or cable TV spots), and 2) your target clients are so mobile-connected that they’ll most likely be learning about you from the confines of a cellphone screen or tablet, and less likely a laptop or (heaven forbid) desktop computer.

With all those assumptions in mind, here are some of your options for self-promotion, some more obvious than others, along with some thoughts for maximizing each:

Commit to your online social presence. The big word here isn’t “social”; it’s “commit.” Sure, you’re probably already on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter (if not more), but how are you using those channels? We recently worked with a client whose LinkedIn overview and profile were totally outdated; are yours? When’s the last time you made a post? Your posting history is available for all to see; if they see that you post in sporadic bursts every few months, it won’t exactly help your cause.

Blog wisely. This is a hot-button topic for us here at Copel Communications. We’ve seen so-called “big ad agencies” soliciting bloggers to write “thought-leading articles,” for supposed “Fortune 500 clients,” replete with original research, image searching, keyword tags, and CMS (content management system) work… all with a budget of $15 per blog post. Honestly. You could probably advertise for—and even find—similar resources (maybe even for $14!), but do you think that that would establish you as a thought leader?

Okay, it was an easy question. But the fact is, you’re smarter than any “production blogger” you could hire, and the search engines (read: “Google”) are continuously getting way smarter at distinguishing repurposed/aggregated “click-bait” from genuinely useful information. That’s great news for you. (Even if it’s not the best news for those poor McBloggers out there.) You are already a subject-matter expert, so write about what you know! It can be as easy as talking about what you know, so make those blog posts count. (Even if you just want to feed your topics, ideas, and input to a professional writer, that’s a good way to proceed.)

Exploit your content. Work smarter, not harder. Just because you know you’re posting the same content on different sites/in an e-newsletter, etc., doesn’t mean your prospects are reading them all and comparing them. Keep your bases covered and maintain consistency; you’d be missing opportunities if you don’t. And the added work of “repurposing” is minimal; think of it as a force-multiplier.

Your website is great, isn’t it? If you felt an uh-oh as you read that question, move this paragraph to the top of your to-do’s. Not hard to prioritize when you see it as a checklist item, is it?

Approach deeper-dive channels with caution. Whitepapers can be incredibly powerful—but are they your first line of attack? Are they what clients seek first? Ditto for, say, podcasts. We love podcasts! But that doesn’t mean they’re at the top tier of your media mix. If they are, great, but be sure they’re properly placed in your hierarchy, since they require time, effort, and production resources.

Consider getting help. Following the above best-practice guidelines will maximize your odds of success. But they often require specialized skills which may not overlap your strengths. Fortunately for you, we have the unique combination of consulting, marketing, and creative skills which have let us help independent consultants and boutique agencies to boost their billing for more than 15 years. Best of all, we’re fast, efficient, and surprisingly affordable, given the value we provide. Contact us right now and let’s talk about growing your business as quickly and productively as possible.