The approach that says that you have x for sale, so you tell the teacher you have x for sale seems logical and reasonable. But...

1. It doesn’t answer the question “why should I buy this?”It assumes the teacher can work this out, and if the teacher only looks for one second, that connection between your product and their needs might not be apparent in that amount of time.

2. It doesn’t answer the question, “why should I buy this from you?”If you really are the only person selling this and you have no rivals, this doesn’t matter - but that situation is very rare.

3. It doesn’t grab attention.

Now of course it is possible to write adverts that work without dealing with those three points, but generally this only works when you have a product or service which is exactly what teachers want, at a price they are willing to pay, and no one else is selling it. And that combination of events is difficult to achieve.

If you have got something that everyone wants and you are selling it at a price people are willing to pay, then for a while you can sell it as a straightforward announcement. But if not, then to make these sales work you need to use one of the approaches above - and the further down the list you can go, the greater your chances of success.

The problem is, however, that writing adverts, like any other form of writing, benefits from practice, and if you don’t have much experience with writing it can take quite a while to get the style right. Which is why Schools.co.uk offers support and help in this activity.