subject: Direct Response Advertising For Your Spa [print this page] The only type of advertising you should be doing for your spa is direct response advertising - which goes "directly" to a target market, where the whole purpose of the ad is to elicit a specific "response" - hence the name, direct response.
A good direct response ad will always contain the following:
-A compelling headline that strongly communicates the biggest benefit of interest to a specific target audience
-A killer offer that should make the target audience think "I'd have to be stupid not to do this" (note: a discount is not a great offer)
-Scarcity: either a deadline to respond by a certain date, or some other sort of limitation, like a limited quantity available.
-Testimonials - preferably from others who have experienced measurable positive results from the product or service you're selling in the ad
-A guarantee to take away all risk to the buyer.
In essence, it should look like mail order advertising. Here's why: mail order companies "live and die" by their advertising. They don't have storefronts. Their advertising either converts to dollars-in-the-bank or they go broke. So, the best ad writers (direct response copywriters) in the world traditionally have always worked for mail order companies.
It only makes sense that if you're going to copy any advertising technique for use in your spa, you would copy direct response - a style that, by its very nature - is held accountable for results.
So what does an effective direct response ad for a spa look like?
You would probably be shocked that an effective direct response ad doesn't look a bit like the "pretty" ads everyone in this industry uses.
You may even think it's ugly. I'll admit - it is ugly! That is, at least compared to the ads you're (and everyone else) used to seeing coming from a spa.
It has a big bold headline that speaks specifically to a target audience who should be particularly interested in their offer. And guess what...for example, it's being mailed to a specific target audience - husbands. Not just "anyone" who might be interested in a nice spa treatment.
And here's the kicker. If you were to see the rest of the ad (target audience are husbands) mentioned above, you would see that it's 4 pages long! That's right! Now you may be thinking, "who in the world would read a 4 page ad for a spa?" Well, the answer is - only a person who is very interested in your offer ... and if they are interested, they will read every word.
Here's the key: This particular ad (mentioned above) is of particular emotional interest to husbands. The text in the ad, let's say, presents a compelling emotional reason why husbands should treat their wives to this particular offer. Remember - appealing to emotions is what sells. Only after you've made a compelling case emotionally why your target audience should buy what your selling do you then back it up with "logic".
