Classified Ads

Do you use "classified ads" for your product/service? -Newbie

I tried it briefly, without a single response. But in fairness, I cannot say I gave it much of a chance after the first time. Maybe I should have tried a different ad or a bigger ad or a different media...etc...But you can go broke experimenting. Here's a slightly untraditional but effective way of testing the waters without going broke:

I've contacted other advertiser's and asked them about their results. Some won't respond, but usually if someone had very good results, they will take the time to tell you, and if someone has had a TERRIBLE response, they will take the time to tell you.

I was thinking about using a banner ad on a website because the website was so well tailored to my market, but would have had to stretch myself to cover the cost because I had already allocated my marketing funds for that particular quarter. I decided to contact another company whose banner was all over this target site to see if was bringing them a good amount of business. Much to my surprise, they responded by saying that now they knew at least ONE person (me) had actually noticed the ad. Needless to say, I was happy to have dodged that bullet.;) -RainMaker

when you Say Classified Ad's do you mean on the internet or newspaper? if you mean Classified Ad's in News Paper i had good Responce to those -Sanddollar

I would use a garden-variety direct response ad, as opposed the typical image ad.

Here is why…

It's worth recounting the story of Max Hart (of Hart, Schaffner, & Marx) and his advertising manager, the late George L. Dyer. They were arguing about the validity of the long copy in advertising. To clinch the argument, Mr. Dyer said,

"I'll bet you $10 I can write a newspaper page of solid type and you'll read every word of it." Mr. Hart scoffed at the idea, "I don't have to write a line of it to prove my point," Mr. Dyer responded. "I'll only tell you the headline. That would be... 'This page is all about Max Hart!'"

And here is a short section from Claude Hopkins' legendary masterpiece, Scientific Advertising, one of the gold standards of marketing and advertising. Read and re-read it carefully...

"Remember the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interests or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising. Ads say in effect, "Buy my brand. Give me the trade you give to others. Let me have the money.


That is not a popular appeal.

The best ads ask no one to buy. That is useless. Often they do not quote a price. They do not say that dealers handle the product.

The ads are based entirely on service. They offer wanted information. They site advantages to users."

If we understand and follow this basic fact, which most of our competitors don't, then we can beat our competitors like a double-bottomed drum.


Call me an anal-retentive engineer, but I prefer to know how my investment is performing. Would you open a bank account that doesn't allow you to track your debits, credits and balance? That's retarded.

What's the difference here?

Image advertising


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This is a typical image ad: "Look at me and admire my skills." And the ad agencies argue that if the ad is exposed many times to the market, people get "brand awareness" and the advertiser company gains "mind share". And it's a waste of money. Thus the majority uses it. Earl Nightingale once said, "The majority is always wrong." Advertising is the same. The majority is doing the wrong - traditional - things.

Here is a good description of image marketing in action.

Fred is looking for a wife. So he flies to the city where exceptionally beautiful women live. He turns up in front of the local hairdresser shop, shuts his eyes, drops his trousers, flashes his naughty bits (his logo per se), pulls up his trousers, goes away and flies back home. And he repeats his "bit dangling" act of logo exposure as often as he can afford it, hoping that one day one woman will pay attention to his act.



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Here you have a specific headline, with a sort of bait. It defines exactly who will respond to your ad. And it defines a specific problem. You must remind people of their problems before you give them solutions. -Bald Dog

I haven't used classified ads yet. Our small town only has a weekly newspaper and many people don't suscribe to it. I haven't decided if it would do me much good to advertise in that manner. -ozzie