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Place:
This leg of the 4 P's is
sometimes called placement, ie. how and where the sale is presented.
There are multiple placements in the horse world; word-of-mouth, a horse
viewed at your facility, horse shows or trail rides, and various types
of advertising. Online advertising offers a far wider range of
exposure, and a good ad can be a solid snapshot of what you have to
offer. Your ad has a brief moment to attract a viewer's attention,
so it's worth doing the best job possible to catch eyes. Since
BAEN's "place" is online, let's talk about online *PRESENTATION*.
Photos. In a word, photos, good photos, excellent photos!
Our stats show that BAEN's photo ads are viewed more than ten times more
often than text-only ads. Over and over we see clients upgrade to
a photo ad from a text ad, and then before long a SOLD! icon appears on
the ad. A good quality photo jumps out at a viewer looking for a
particular type of horse, saddle, trailer, or item.
It's worth examining photo ads to analyze what looks best. You'll
see that high-quality action photos of trained horses draw your
attention, as do correct conformation shots of well-presented horses.
For their photo session, horses should be bathed, groomed, have their
feet in good condition, and be stood up correctly for their breed or
type. Wearing whatever gear is appropriate to their discipline
makes them look "dressed for success". A correctly fitting halter
or bridle, suitable to the horse, adds to the right look. The
background is preferably green, clean, and free of distractions. Good
lighting, slightly indirect, works best. The camera angle should
usually be straight and level. With digital cameras it's easy to
experiment. Photos taken on some cell phone cameras may be too
small and low-resolution to look good online. Saddle photos look
best in good light, taken fairly closely, without background
distractions, and with the saddle clean and level. Watch our Horse
Lover's 2-Minute Video
"How to take great
pictures of your horse" for
helpful advice from a professional equine photographer.
Ad Text. Now
that your photos have caught viewers' interest, your next best shot at
getting them to call or email is your ad text. Clear, descriptive,
and thorough text works best. If there is a great deal to say,
pick the most important aspects that will fit the description parameters
(800 characters for text-only ads, 1200 characters for Photo ads). If
you're not comfortable with writing, ask someone to help you, just as
with photos and training. "Good for farrier and vet, stands tied", and
similar statements are overused. These basics are expected of most
horses; your ad text is better used for a specific description of the
horse's unique plusses. If disclosures of soundness or training
issues need to be made, this is the place to do so.
Correct measurements are important; this comes up frequently.
Whether seat size on a saddle, blanket size, trailer height, or the true
height of a horse, it's important to know how to measure correctly so
you don't disappoint a potential buyer. Standard conventions in
horse measurement are easy to learn; "15.5 hands" in an ad instantly
pegs the advertiser as a novice. Buy a height tape or measuring stick
and follow the instructions. |
 Understanding
the way ad text is searched is essential in writing an ad that
will be found by buyers searching for what you are offering.
The majority of buyers use BAEN's Advanced
Search, so it pays to know how it works.
When a visitor searches by price, height, sex, color,
discipline, temperament, etc., BAEN's advanced search feature
looks at these specific fields on the ad's submission form, not
at the ad text. For example, if a buyer is searching a
price range (very popular search option!) and your ad's price
field is blank (see red arrow in illustration at right), your ad
will not come up in search results even if it matches other
search criteria.
There's no need to repeat information in your description text
that you've already entered in your ad's searchable fields.
The more searchable fields you use, the greater the probability
of your ad coming up in searches.
Keywords are valuable in ensuring
your ad is found by those searching with this feature. The
individual key words or phrases are "seen" by the system as
units separated by a space and a comma. Putting everything
you can think of that a potential buyer might use in a search
function is smart. For instance, rather than enter "very
nice TW trail horse" in the keyword field, use "trail, trail
horse, TWH, gaited, gaited horse, Tennessee Walker, Tennessee
Walking Horse," etc. Any time you need help generating key
words, please email us at
info@bayequest.com,
we're happy to help. |
