To all entrepreneurs and small business owners - 4 basic principles to consider when developing your next big ad

In a large metropolitan area, like my adopted hometown of Los Angeles, it's extremely hard to stand out from the crowd. Especially advertising. Whether it's outdoor, in print or online - all mediums have one thing in common - they have just a few seconds to compete for your attention. They have to be memorable and persuasive. Every advertiser seeks to accomplish one thing - get you to the website and from there convince you to buy what they are selling.
I tell my clients all the time - keep it simple. Nobody is going to buy your product or service, or visit your website unless they are intrigued and understand what it is you are selling.
As a branding guy I am always sensitive (and opinionated) to the advertising directions companies take. Some obviously work well. Some not so well.
This blog is aimed at entrepreneurs and small business owners who are not as visually minded and do not want to hire an agency for their ads.
So what determines a good ad and is guaranteed to give you the proper exposure for your company?
First of all, nothing is guaranteed. But one must always strive for the best possible outcome.
In my opinion there are four factors you should always consider.
I am certain there are many more, but these are good starters.

Medium
Audience 
Emotion
Simplicity

Medium

Is your ad going to be featured in a magazine? A billboard? A black and white newspaper?
You must always consider - Size of the copy, hierarchy of information, fonts, text and above clarity of the image you maybe using. Is that color image you took going to translate well to black and white? Just because that image of your product looks good on your ipad does not mean it's going to look good on a billboard or in a magazine. You must make sure that the resolution is high enough (300dpi) so as to render properly without any fuzziness or pixelation. If an image is fuzzy, you lose all credibility. It conveys amateurish work and reflects negatively on your brand. Use detail shots if you don't have access to crisp well proportioned photo compositions.

The font you use should always be consistent throughout your visual communication.
I do not recommend using cursive fonts for any titles or taglines. Use sans serif fonts that are clean and read well. If you are using the font Gotham for example,  in all your other marketing materials, don't substitute it, adapt it - use a larger, bolder version of it. But don't cram words and make them as big as possible. Let them breathe. White space is like oxygen on a page. Use witty taglines that encompass the ethos and stir emotion for your product. Car companies are great at one liners.

This is a classic by Carmichael Lynch for Porsche a few years back.

Audience

You better know the audience you are preaching to. If you think that small ad you used for a local newspaper in small town USA is going to work for a national high end magazine, think again. Only a professional advertising agency with a proper well thought out strategy, can translate and adapt ads accordingly. The essential lesson is, if you start with something good then you can do anything with it, or conversely garbage in garbage out.

What NOT to do. This was seen in a recent issue of a high end interiors magazine here in Los Angeles. I am sure the company has great products, but do you honestly think this ad connected with the intended audience?  Maybe if they were seeking more energy?!

I once had a client who refused to listen to me and had his assistant / secretary design his full page print ad for a high end magazine using Microsoft Word®. The assistant had no basics in design or a semblance of her audience in mind. She just put an out of focus photo onto a document slapped their logo and contact info over it and called it a day. No proofs, no preflight testing, nothing. After it came out, I looked at it in print and I honestly felt bad for the guy. He hurt his company by doing that. It was horrendous and the guy has great product. Complete disconnect. Many companies fail because their advertising and marketing efforts simply do not reflect the caliber of their product.

 

Emotion

Keep it simple, eye catching and a little provocative. Be brave and be bold. Remember the old saying - a picture is worth a thousand words. Show don't tell. And remember bigger is not always better when it comes to font size.

Bigger is not always better. Large font sizes are not necessary when the image is so arresting. 

Brilliant campaign for PETA Fish under professor Frank Anselmo, of the School of Visual Arts. 

Simplicity

Be clear in what you are trying to sell. You do not have to put all the services and list all the products you sell in the whole ad - that's what your website is for.
Keep it simple.
Simple is better.