US Hispanic Marketing

Entrepreneur - What works in ads doesn't always make intuitive sense, so follow these basic guidelines to create an ad that gets and keeps you in business.

Numero Uno - A print ad commands only a tiny slice of the reader's time and attention. Expecting it to represent your business, explain your offerings and instantly build a buy-sell relationship with your prospects is about as reasonable as asking your customers to accept a proposal from a perfect stranger.

Numero Dos - Your most important message is the answer to the question all your prospective customers will be asking: "What's in it for me?" So put it where people look first-in your headline or in a caption for your visual.

Numero Tres - Write for eyes, not brains. You never read the ad sections of the paper word for word. Neither will your customers. At most, they'll skim over the page, and their brains will activate only when their eyes are captured by a key word, phrase or image.