Competitors' Lessons Introduction Graphics Headlines Other Elements ----Type ----Logo ----Prices ----Ad Size ----Run Dates ----Coupons ----Overall feel Take our ad effectiveness course. Learn what you need to know to get a great response the first time you run. Just $59 • Get more readers seeing your ad • Get more readers reading your ad • Get more readers responding

First, take a look at the dominant graphic in your competitors' ads. If yours is the kind of business that sells a variety of products, the graphic that your competitors lead with may provide you with insight into what product your target customers are most interested in, or at least which one attracts the most readers.

If your business is centered around a service, determining the best dominant graphic to use can be more difficult, since often there's no obvious product to show in your ad. Again, the graphic your successful competitor has chosen is most likely based on what their research found attracts the highest amount of their target customers, which, hopefully, are your target customers as well.

Whether you're selling a product or service, make sure you also take note of the quality of and amount of graphics in your competitors' ads. Several photographs in their ads may indicate that your target customers care very much about quality or that it's important for them to see the finer details of each product.

Along the same lines, if the photographs are in color rather than black and white, your competitors might have figured out that, in their industry at least, showing prospective customers color photographs makes a difference significant enough to be worth the additional color charges.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is a business such as Home Depot, who doesn't use any photographs at all in its comic book-style promotional pieces, but instead uses very basic line drawings. Even the typefaces look handwritten. It's clear that their research shows that their target customers respond better to these graphics than photographs.

The amount of products your competitors' ads contain should also be noted. If there are many items, it may mean that your target customers believe that being able to choose from a large selection is important when choosing where to buy the products. In a case like this, if you have a solid selection, but not as large as your competitors, often you should still present yourself as having plenty of selection. If not, when your busy prospective customers are making a list of places they'll visit, yours might not be on it.

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