A Look Into What it Means to Partner with Strictly Business: Creating an Effective Advertisement

At Strictly Business, we are continuously introducing ourselves to new readers and clients, so I wanted to take this opportunity to address some of the questions we are frequently asked by people who are new to the magazine.

People often ask how running an ad in our magazine works or how to get an article published. There are so many different parts that make up Strictly Business. As you flip through, you’ll see ads of all sizes and various editorial pieces. This month, I want to focus on the actual advertisements and free ad design services we offer.

I’ll start by posing the question, what makes an advertisement effective? To answer that, I looked to David Ogilvy, a man that dedicated so much time to researching the art of advertising that he earned himself the reputation as the “Father of Advertising.” He has many well-known quotes floating around in the world of marketing, but one that stands out to me is, “There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50% more readers.”

Ogilvy said this many years ago, so things have changed a little since then because the average consumer has changed. Attention spans have become shorter and shorter with each scroll. Editorial-heavy ads don’t have the same affect. I may not be the expert on the topic, but I know someone who is. In her experience as a graphic designer, our Art Director Katherine has familiarized herself with the best practices of ad design. I asked Katherine what it takes to make a good ad.

“An ad needs to be visually appealing to be effective and that usually means the simpler the better,” she shared. “If an ad is too busy with different elements and has too much text on it, you’re going to lose your audience’s attention and even confuse them. You still want it to be eye-catching, though. This requires balance. When I make an advertisement for a client, I go through a little checklist in my head. It goes like this:

• Does the headline standout and grab people’s attention?
• Is there enough white space?
• How many different fonts are being used?
• Is the client’s branding and message clearly presented?
• Is there a call to action?

By asking myself these questions, I’m able to create appealing and effective ads for different businesses, regardless of the industry. At Strictly Business, we are proud to offer ad design for clients at no extra cost—it’s all a part of the added value businesses get when they partner with us! There are also many talented advertising agencies in Omaha that can take your ad design to the next level. We actually give a discount to businesses who run their marketing through an agency.”

That all being said, there is still truth to Ogilvy’s message, and it’s a truth that Strictly Business embraces as a content marketing publication. While you don’t want your ad to be jam-packed with full-on paragraphs, there is still a demand for storytelling. So, how do you nicely fit your entire story as a business or introduce the key people on your team within ad space that is a couple inches by a couple inches? Well, you don’t. You need a different avenue for all that content, and that is exactly what we offer to our clients who advertise with Strictly Business. We go beyond the ad space they purchase by including their content in our press section, River City Six columns, spotlights, and feature stories—all for free.

Next month, I will go into what each of our value-added editorial pieces are and how they can be utilized. My hope is that more people understand our magazine better so that they get a clear picture of what partnering with us for advertising looks like.

Let Strictly Business help you lock in your status as The Expert in your industry, utilizing print, the internet, and social media. Find out how by contacting Paige at (402) 466-3330.