In a way, they are right.

Take yellow pages and newspaper advertising. If you were to consider plunking down some cold hard cash for a yellow pages ad or a newspaper ad, I would advise you to WAIT! (At least until you’ve learned a few things.)

Learned what, you ask? OK, you’re about to learn what you need to know:

When it comes to ads, remember these two key elements:

1. Offer

2. Call to Action

You see, if you were to advertise in, say, the yellow pages, and you were to take a look at the way most other ads looked, your instinct might be to design your ad the same way. But you must stand out.

Make your ad more than a blown up business card. Design it so it stands out!

Your offer will be something you’ve come up with that gives value to your targeted prospect.

Figure out who your targeted prospect is, in detail. Then create a product, a service, or a piece of information you can give away for free as anincentive for the prospect to respond to your ad.

Your offer must be valuable. It must be unique. But it doesn’t have to cost you any money.

It could be a free report, a guide, a warning book, a consultation, or a pony ride.

I’m kidding about the last one, of course, but it’s good to think out of the box. You can read more creative offer ideas here: Construction Marketing Resources.

Next, on to your call to action. This is where you get you get your prospect to respond.

This can be as simple as asking or telling your prospect what he or she should do next. Give them instructions.

Tell them to “call now,” or “click here,” or “reply with this postcard.” Whatever you want them to do, make it so clear and easy a 4 year old could do it.

That may sound obvious, but flip through your yellow pages once. See an other builders or contractors doing this stuff? Yeah, not many. Be the first.

Read more about Construction Marketing.