Marketing - News Print
I came from the newspaper industry and worked many years in that industry. Everything is relative when working up a newspaper ad. Utilize white space as much as possible. I’ve seen many ads that have a lot of white space (blank area) and few print or pictures. These ads work great because
the rest of the paper is made up of words and black print so something with blank area will be attractive the the readers eyes.
Another way to lay out an ad effectively is utilizing reverse (turning the background black). This will also make the ad stick out more because it is the only full black thing on the page hopefully. Be careful because many other advertisers might do the same thing.
These types of ads will only be effective if you have a decently sized ad as well. If you are putting in a small 1 to 5 column inch ad then you are not going to get enough out of it. To get the best bang for the buck with this type of layout you will need to something bigger.
For your layout put a header up top…no not your name. People are looking for something catchy. Put your slogan or a funny but short one-liner to feed into the ad. It must catch their attention. After that get boring if you want but remember to K.I.S.S. You must get them to pick up the phone to call you or come out to see you so make it attractive.