how to advertise

lighthouse_3

I am selling property along with the furniture. The furniture is only 4 months old and its all luxurious. As a carer for my mum I now need to move in, her needs have changed and she needs much more care and support. Can anyone offer advise as to how I can word my advertisement that will draw attention.

Savvy_Sue

I can only give advice based on adverts I've placed or looked at in local papers, most recently for jobs, but I'm sure the principles are transferable! You want people to be able to match your advert to what they're looking for, so think about what people are looking for as they skim through, and how you can get them to spot your advert.

Start by looking at similar ads. The first thing is to make sure you place your ad in the right category or categories. What categories does the paper use? Does it list adverts alphabetically within each category (repeating great chunks to fill the space if not enough ads were placed that week)?

If the ads are sorted alphabetically, choose your first word carefully. I learnt to start my job adverts with the words PLAYWORKERS WANTED because those are the words I wanted to grab people with, not the name of the Club, and certainly not 'A' or 'THE' ...

If you're planning to sell a house or flat without using an estate agent there have been other questions about that, but these are the principles I'd use for advertising in the local paper. If flats are listed separately from houses, then you don't want your first words to be 'FLAT FOR SALE'. Also, if there are lots of '1-BED FLAT' listed, you probably don't want that to be your first word either. 'AFFORDABLE' might be a good way to start, or 'CONVENIENT' or 'LUXURY' - if you can think of another word which would draw attention and be a selling point then use that.

It's less clear to me how to advertise furniture: some people put the make first, others the main item. If you're using the 'freebies' section of your local rag there's usually an upper price limit (quite low) but you can put multiple adverts in, or you may find it simpler to pay for your advert.

Having chosen your first word, spend time working out how many others you need. Give as much information as you can without rambling: giving the size will avoid people phoning to ask and then saying it's too big, too small etc. An indication of colour may encourage people or put them off.

Definitely say if you only want people to phone at certain times, and if you have a mobile, I'd use that in preference to a home phone so you can switch it off when you definitely don't want calls! If the paper covers a wide area it might help avoid time-wasters if you give a clue as to where you are. 'Buyer Collects' is up to you, but I'd always put that! Be realistic about what price you will get for the furniture, however luxurious it is, but some people say how much it was new - no idea if that works or not!

Get quotes for different layouts of adverts: paying a little more to get a box round your advert will help it to stand out, and will possibly work as well as a full quarter page advert at a fraction of the price. But try cheapest first.

Putting postcards in newsagents windows is another way to sell things, with the advantage that you can add photos of what you are selling, cut from catalogues etc.

Also check out the Benefits, Tax Credits and Jobseeking part of the board to get support in other areas!

All the best.