Creating the Perfect Ad

man designing ads

Here’s how to get it right.

By Bruce Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

EDITOR’S NOTE: CPA Trendlines was privileged to have a long relationship with Bruce W. Marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. We are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.

At last, the perfect law firm ad campaign. Well, pretty much perfect. The 39-office, Atlanta-based law firm has been running an ad campaign that embodies every principle of good advertising.

MORE: Ten Keys to Crafting Ads | Eighteen Things Advertising Can Do for Your Firm | How and Why Client Service Teams Work | Manage Knowledge as a Marketing Tool | Secret Marketing Formula: Get One Client at a Time | Marketing a Fixed Position in a Moving World | How to Build a Marketing Culture | Have You Planned How to Service Your New Revenue? | Why Is Change So Hard for Firms? | Why Value Pricing Works | Why Competition Matters Most
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Its ad in the Wall Street Journal has a picture of a man in front of a crossroad sign as if he were choosing which fork to take. The headline, which is really a callout in the middle of the copy, is in larger type than the rest of the text, which says “where you go now” (lower case as is).