Just like TV commercials, print ads have to work hard to get our attention. On average, readers of engineering journals (or any magazine) spend less than 2.5 seconds looking at print ads. You spent more time than that reading this post. So what do you have to do to get people to pay attention to the story you are trying to tell?
Here's three critical things.
1. Be relevant. When you go to the grocery store, you don't stand in the aisle wondering what product might jump out and grab you. You went because you wanted to buy specific items: bread, milk, cat food, etc. So you'll be focused on cat food brands, not curried chicken or olives. Unless those brands are really good at Step 2.
2. Be interesting. Ads work on the principle of interruption. You pick up a journal because there is a really fascinating article you want to read. I need to interrupt your reading (Spaghetti Cat) with a really startling and compelling ad. To be effective, the ad must grab and hold your attention with something that jolts you out of your train of thought.
3. Be brief. Edit your copy. Then edit some more. No one reads ads. No one. (Except you if you placed the ad.) If you fill your ad with paragraphs of text, I'll get bored and move on. Tell me one thing. I'm more likely to remember that. (But give me a link to your website so I can learn more if I want.)
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