I was asked last week to tell a client how to create his advertisements.

 “Don’t tell me all the theory, and all the options, I’m 25% down on last year and I want to get it right”.

 And so, I had to cut everything down to a couple of lines, and this is what I said.

 1: Grab attention.   99% of postal direct mail, and email advertisements don’t do this.  They assume you will read.

 2: Be different.  If everyone else is doing it, don’t do it.  Do something else.

 3: Hold attention, by taking the whole thing forward in a way that doesn’t let the reader drift away.

 Thus I argue: when you have written your advert do a review – and ask yourself

 a) how have I grabbed attention?

b) am I really being different from everyone else?

c) what am I doing to hold attention.

 If you are interested in how and why some adverts work and some don’t, you might enjoy the regular emails from the CreativeDirect newsletter.  To join that just send an email to CreativeDirect-subscribe@yahoogroups.com     

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 Tony Attwood

Hamilton House Mailings Ltd reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB.  Phone 01536 399 000.