This is the second article of a three-part series. I'm 
illustrating the marketing challenges of a small business, 
PrescottWeddings.com.

Our goal was to both build the PWC brand and drive traffic to the 
Web site. Advertising regularly was essential. Yet it was also 
essential to keep our costs down. So we leveraged our monthly 
newspaper advertising to stretch our marketing dollar as far as 
we could.

How did we do that? We "thought small."

We bought one inch by two column inch ads (a column inch in this 
particular publication is approximately 1.88 inches). The ads 
were one inch high and almost 4 inches long.

To reflect the small ad, the copy also had to be short and sweet. 
Like so:

www.PrescottWeddings.com. Everything you need to say "I do."

Just the name of the business and the slogan.

We put the name in large type and made the tagline much smaller.

Did it work?

The first day this ad ran, we garnered 350 hits on the Web site 
and several phone calls from business owners who wanted more 
information.

And that was just the beginning. Hits steadily grew during the 
campaign, and every time it ran we always noticed a jump.

Not bad for a little ad.

Conventional wisdom says bigger is better. And while it is true 
that big ads stand out (after all, they do take a big chunk of 
real estate on the page) it doesn't mean big is the only way to 
go. Small ads can pack a punch too.

Why did the PWC ad work? First of all, it got noticed because it 
stuck out (yes, small ads can stick out). It had an odd shape --
long and thin, not a square like so many other ads. The name was 
big -- bigger than many other fonts surrounding it. (But not so 
big that the ad lacked sufficient white space.)

But probably the biggest reason it worked was because the message 
was simple. This is clearly a Web site about having a wedding in 
the Prescott area. Therefore if you're involved with weddings, 
whether as a business or on a more personal level, and you're 
also associated with Prescott, then this is a Web site clearly 
worth taking a peek at.

People instantly got the message. And they got it even if they 
only scanned the paper. It was quick and painless for them --
something all ads should strive to be.

What's also interesting is how this ad hit its target market. 
I've spoken to people (mostly men) who have no interest in 
getting married and have never seen the ad even though they read 
the paper. Conversely, businesses in the wedding industry and 
brides have said they see the ad all the time.

Now, you may have a business name that doesn't capture your 
business' products or services as well as PrescottWeddings.com 
(my business name for example). In this case, why not think of a 
catchy tag line you can use in those small ads to drive people to 
your Web site?

Web sites can be huge, wordy, information-stuffed selling tools. 
So use short, sweet one-message statement to get people to go 
look and learn more about your business rather than try to shove 
everything in an ad. Don't forget to include your business name 
and logo for branding purposes. 

Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, 
a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two 
free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their 
creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting 
principles to become more successful at attracting new 
clients, selling products and services and boosting business. 
She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com. 
Copyright 2005 Michele Pariza Wacek.