We artsy-crafty people do not love marketing. But it’s a necessary evil of having your own small business. It needs to be done well and often, and most of us are not good at it. The fact that we don’t necessarily enjoy it just makes it that much more difficult. But there are many lessons on how to market your business online in Australia, Canada, or any country with internet just from watching and learning from watching commercials on TV. Your reasearch has already begun, you know more than you think!

Getting Ready to Write Your Ad

Think of it this way… you need to have a brief message that moves the reader to buy your items. So how do you do it? There are a few things that don’t work; I know I’ve done them and you probably have too. Posting to social media, “Gee, nobody’s bought this yet. Doesn’t anybody want it?” is not effective – it’s desperate! Posting “shop handmade at my store” doesn’t work either – it’s not specific enough. So how do you get the message across?

The lesson learned from professionally-produced ads is that you need to create excitement about your item regardless of what it is. You need to be specific and capture the reader’s attention immediately. You need to give the audience a reason to pay attention to what you’re saying and then move on the suggestion you’re making (purchase your product).

Getting Your Thoughts Aligned

When you’re constructing an ad for your product, answer these simple questions first:

1. What am I selling?
2. Why does anybody want it?
3. What’s it good for?
4. How long will it last?
5. How is it priced – is it expensive – is it affordable – is it going on sale?

Once you’ve answered all these questions, you’re in a much better position to write a compelling ad for items that you have for sale. Marketing is the only way to get to more people, customers or viewers, this resource is essential for any type of business, starting company, a service or just for a simple product.

Run Your Ad Multiple Times!

Now that you have written this compelling ad, don’t run it just once! Run it several times – not every 10 minutes, but at least once a day for a while – say a week or so – or even every other day over the course of the month, and don’t forget to learn how to run Facebook ads as well. People are sheep and they need to be reminded that this is out there. The more they see it, the more they’ll remember it and the more they will start believing that they want it or need it. Think of how many times you see the same commercial for the same car. They don’t sell Toyotas by making a commercial and running it once!

Yes we all hate marketing, but the sooner we get good at it the more successful we will all be.

This content was originally published here.