My position is that first, your ad copy must be short, to point and have no spelling or syntax errors. Well, in a recent article, I goofed. I wrote - "I try to keep articles around 700 words, as ones much longer seem to drag, and quickly loose readers interest. What I meant to say was "lose readers interest". This was a case of "fat fingers", and of course spell check didn't find it.

I usually have my articles proofed by someone else, but was running late that week. I read it over several times, but once you make an error, odds of finding it diminish with each reading. I guess this all goes to prove, that concept of having someone else read your copy, is really best idea.

Let's talk about some of things you must take into account. You need to ensure your message is read, otherwise you are simply wasting your time and advertising dollars. In order to do this, your copy must stand out from rest. There are a number of ways to do this, and contrary to what many of "pundits" say, there really is no magic formula.

If you are in business, you should subscribe to a number of ezines. Take care to read ads, and see which ones get your attention. There are some very good copywriters, and you could do well to learn from them. Keep an electronic scrapbook of ones you feel are worthwhile.

You might wonder why a targeted campaign is a better choice. Coca Cola or McDonald's, for example, are both companies that pitch their products to anyone who will listen whole world over, right?

Au contraire. You might notice that different commercials for these companies are aired at different times of day. Versions of their commercials are targeted at certain age groups or "targeted markets".

Smaller companies and businesses most likely need to look for one or two specific audiences to target to, considering their budget is not nearly large enough to even try to market to masses.