Eye-Catching Ads 6 Ways to create ads that will get your customers' attention . . .and their business.

As competition within the retail and service industries growsstronger daily, each small business must actively motivateconsumers, thus bringing in more business. Advertising is crucialin attracting clients, but assistance from a full-serviceadvertising agency can often be expensive.

Many business owners design their own print ads, since they area popular and less costly form of advertising. Although some stillrely on classified department staffs to design the ads, the minimalcost associated with advertising in smaller publications is oftenreflected in the quality of the ads. Ads may look easy to produce,but unless the creator has training in marketing, they are likelyto be ineffective. Following are six valuable tricks of theadvertising trade that will help you design professional-qualityads that will get noticed and attract customers:

1. Strategically place visuals. Include a relevant visualor picture in your advertisement and you will have an advantage.Since readers' eyes are attracted to pictures before text,studies show that ads with visuals are read more often than thosewithout them.