I talked in an earlier post about the need to have “Something Good To Say” in your marketing and to be able to provide definite proof to your customers and prospects as to why they should choose you.

The above ad is one I did for a painting contractor client that eliminated all his competitors and let’s go through each element of this ad to see why it was so effective.

All the other competitive ads just had pictures of houses and painters and were full of platitudes like “free estimates” best quality” and so on.  No ads provided any reason as to why to choose that advertiser to to do your painting job.

We talked to customers and determined what the biggest concerns were and then innovated Rick’s business so he was demonstrably better than everyone else.

The Headline

It all starts with a headline to grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read more.  If you are looking for a painter, the “4 mistakes” headline will grab your attention and make you want to read more – that’s the headline’s only job.

The Sub-Head

Telling the reader that we will make sure you don’t make those mistakes keeps them engaged and wanting to know more.  That’s the subhead’s only job.  They can see the body copy of the ad has a numbered list addressing each of those issues.

Body Copy

The body copy addresses each of the customers “hot button concerns” individually and educates them as to how we will address each concern.

Point # 1 – deals with doing the job right and not mislead or trick you.  Most painting contractors are not members of the BBB – which assures the customer of an honest company and a dispute resolution system.

On top of that, very few painters are members of the PDCA trade association that specifies how the surface preparation and painting job itself is to be done to assure a quality result.

Out of the 477 painting contractors in the Denver only 10 contractors are members of both – my client is one of those 10.  We got rid of 467 competitors already!

Point # 2 – deals with a pet peeve of many homeowners who hire contractors – them showing up on time.  Many don’t even show up on the right day, much less the right time.

So how do we assure our customers we are different?  How about a $50 cash payment if we are more than 30 minutes late?  Absolutely nobody in the market would do that – we are now established as the best choice already – but we have more . . .

Point # 3 – How about painters who bait and switch and whose final bill is much higher than their bids?  We not only guarantee that will not happen but we also offer a 3 year quality guarantee and if an additional coat is needed we didn’t include in our bid, we will do it FREE!

Point # 4 – Another big complaint from customers – painters who leave trash and cigarette butts in the yard, play loud music or are rude to the homeowners or use crude language.  Our stated quality standards point out these things and assure the homeowner our painters will not do any of those things.

Point # 5 – Another outstanding benefit nobody else offers – how about a free interior decorator to advise the homeowner on paint colors and textures!  We got this done at no cost to the client either because the decorators were happy to do that for free in hopes of getting a more in depth consult.  A true win – win.

If you were looking to hire a painting contractor, would you choose anyone else?  Most people didn’t and this marketing campaign took a flat lined sales curve to double in just one year.

Call-To-Action – The forth component of any good ad is a call to action that captures the prospects information so we can market to them ongoingly if they are not ready to buy today.  The FREE Report with 15 point checklist to help a homeowner evaluate a contractor worked very well for that.

We also included the owners photo to build trust and the logos of the BBB and the PDCA.

Do you have a lot of competitors?  Need to differentiate yourself from them and become the obvious choice for your prospects?  Get in touch and let me explain how this process can help your business no matter what industry you are in.

Call or text me at 303-884-0859 or email joemcvoy@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: advertising, call-to-action, copywriting, marketing