To be effective, advertising must be interruptive—that is, it must make you stop thumbing through the newspaper or thinking about your day long enough to read or hear the ad. Advertising must also be credible, unique, and memorable in order to work. And finally, enough money must be spent to provide a media schedule for ad frequency, the most important element for ad memorability.

Advertising Checklist:

• Communicate a simple, single message. People have trouble remembering someone's name, let alone a complicated ad message. For print ads, the simpler the headline, the better. And every ad element should support the headline message, whether that message is "price," "selection," "quality," or any other concept.
• Stick with a likable style. Ads have personality and style. Find a likable style and personality and stay with it for at least a year, to avoid confusing buyers. Be credible. If you say your quality or value is the "best" and it clearly is not, advertising will speed your demise, not increase your business. Identifying and denigrating the competition should also be avoided. It is potentially confusing and distracting and may backfire on you by making buyers more loyal to competitors.
• Ask for the sale. Provide easily visible information in the ad for potential customers to buy: location, telephone number, store hours, charge cards accepted.
• Make sure the ad looks professional. If you have the time and talent, computer graphics and desktop publishing software can provide professional-looking templates to create good-looking print ads. Consider obtaining writing, artistic, and graphics help from local agencies or art studios who have experienced professionals on staff, with expensive and creative computer software in-house. Electronic ads (e.g., TV, radio, Internet) and outdoor ads are best left to professionals to produce.
• Be truthful. Whatever advertising medium you select, make sure your message is ethical and truthful. There are stringent laws regarding deceptive practices and false advertising.
• There's an old adage that holds that at least 50 percent of all advertising is a waste of money. It's probably true—and if you can figure out which half of your ad budget is useless, you'll save a bundle. But until you achieve this wisdom (which has so far eluded most marketers), you'd be wise to continue advertising full tilt and not take a chance on eliminating something that just might work.