Your advertising is the lifeblood of your business. But, what do you do when it's not working? What can you do to fix a broken advertising campaign to drive more traffic and achieve more sales? A lot of times when you're not reaching a desired response from your current advertising program you don't need to scrap the entire thing. It might just need a simple change for a dramatic, and in most cases instant, increase in visitors that are ready to buy. There are three very simple "fixes" to achieve those increases. What do you want? If you take a look at your advertising materials and ask yourself that question do you get a clear answer? Can you see your Most Wanted Response (MWR)? Because if you aren't clear about what you want to happen as a result of reading an ad, article, free report, or even Pay per click ad, chances are the person reading the ad won't have a clue either. Even the most expertly crafted ad won't do anything unless there is you project the response you want from the person reading it. It just sits there. Often, when a prospective client comes to me with questions about improving their advertising, I will ask what they are using for ads now. If, after reading the ads, I don't feel like I "want" to do anything with this ad or have no desire for more information then there is no clear call to action. The ad has no direction, therefore the person reading the ad has no direction. And a "click here for more information" is not a Most Wanted Response. Every ad, article, web copy, pop up, PPC ad, email signature, or any other ad material should be built entirely around the response you want to happen. Do you want a more subscribers for your opt in list? More downloads of your free report? The reader to watch your video? Whatever it is make sure it's very plain. Who's seeing your ads An advertising campaign is only as good as the people who see it. Besides no Most Wanted Response within your ads, the second critical factor that stops your advertising campaign before it gets started is lack of targeting. I have "fixed" so many advertising campaigns just by simply making sure the right people see the ads. Yes, we hear a lot about "targeting" and "qualified" prospects and leads, but very few people are actually doing it. Why? 9 times out of 10 it's because of the ease of submitting your ad, article, sales letter, free ebook to a directory, or co-operative service, and letting it sit there. Targeting means work. And lots of it. There is no substitute for researching websites, ezines, and joint venture partners to advertise with. By specifically selecting a target audience, or niche, for your ad you are substantially increasing the effectiveness of your online advertising campaign. In a targeted campaign the people who are seeing your ad are more susceptible to your MWR and already have an emotional desire for your product. Is your ad left all by itself Do your advertising materials work together? This is a common mistake. Mostly because a lot of people don't know that this concept even exists. Advertising is a lot like sports. Even though I live in New England I have never really been a fan of the New England Patriots football team. I don't know why. Maybe because everyone else around here is, I had to be different. But, in the last couple of years that has changed. When the Patriots won their first Superbowl in 2001 they proved to the world that teamwork, and not individual spotlighting, should be the top priority for a Championship season. Everyone has to work together. Your individual advertising materials must have the same synergy about them also. Have you ever read an ad, got real excited about the product, visited the site and lost immediate interest? That's because the ad did not work with the web copy to finish the sale. Please note: The word "ad" should be all encomassing, and representative, of all your advertising materials no matter what they are. Your "ads" will never make the sale all on their own. Just like it takes more than a star quarterback or linebacker to make a championship team. The person reading your ad, if there is MWR and has been painstakingly targeted, will almost always click to your website. But, if the sales copy is not on the same page with the ads, or vice versa, then you've lost that sale. Probably for good. When putting together an advertising campaign from scratch I always start with the ads. Then the articles, then a short autoresponder course, then a report, then the web copy. It's a progressive thing. Put into action Take a look at what you're using for ads and see if you do have a Most Wanted Response. Begin researching for your target audience and build relationships with JV partners. Begin to build synergy among all your advertising materials. Doing these three things will improve your current advertising campaign without having to create all new advertising materials. --------------------------------------------- Tim Bossie is the owner of Guaranteed-Ads.com and puts together highly profitable advertising packages and campaigns for online businesses. Would you like to start selling more with powerful ads and highly targeted campaigns? Take a look at how easy it is to get your own campaign started quickly.