Are your business-to-business ads working for you? If they are not making sales, are they at least generating interest in your company? Are they making an impression on your potential customers by making you stand out in a crowd? If not, then you should take a look at this article and get those ads working hard for you.

Don't just fish for customers, catch them!

1. ALWAYS include your company name in the first sentence, preferably as the first word. Don't start out with 'we'. And briefly state what you do right away. For example: "Solinc designs plastic injection molds." You want them to know who you are right away. Also, many B2B sites don't allow visitors to view the total ad without paying or registering. You want everybody to at least be able to search for you on the Internet. This can also help your ad to appear on some search engines.

2. You need a 'hook' to reel in your readers. There are probably plenty of other ads right next to yours so you need to get them within the first sentence or two. Use some great adjectives. Which is better: "Solinc designs injection molds." Or "Solinc expertly designs high quality, precision injection molds." Now they know who you are, what you do, and why you are special.

3. Ask a question about why your reader should choose you and answer it. Questions such as "Do your customers demand high quality?" "Are you looking for a total solution package?" Then tell them that's what you deliver, you've got what they need.

4. Clearly state what you do step-by-step. Use bullets, numbers or short dedicated paragraphs. Make a list of your products and services. Then tell a little bit about them. Don't forget to use your adjectives here. Give them a 'line' to find the bait.

5. Give them some food for thought. It's time to ask them another question. This time ask them about a problem they might have that you can solve. For example, "Are you completely satisfied with your current supplier?" "Are you frustrated with late deliveries?" "Are you looking for faster and more reliable service?"

6. Give them a call to action. This is your 'sinker'. Offer them the answer to their questions by contacting you today. Don't let them get away.

If you follow these steps you are on your way to catching some customers. But you need a few more pieces of bait to land the big catch.

• Include your keywords and company name throughout the text. This can help your ad land in the search engines. Avoid using the words 'we' and 'it' and 'our product'.

• Use 'you' often. It pays to include your potential customer in your ad.

• Be entertaining or subliminal, but don't be boring! This can be a bit tricky in some areas of business, especially manufacturing. A good trick is to use a product noun as a verb and couple it with an adjective. An example would be for injection molds. Not the most entertaining subject, but: "Inject some speed into your production with high quality molds by Solinc." And you've got a line with pull.

• Be sneaky. Some B2B sites don't allow you to put in your email address or URL in the ad copy. However, if you spell out "dot" or "at" in your addresses your potential customers can find you.

• And finally, be polite. Never use all caps or more than one exclamation point at a time, be careful of poor grammar or bad spelling. Show your potential customers you care.

Don't forget, practicing and proofreading lead to good ad copy, which leads to good sales.

Steve Koons works in the marketing department of Solinc Die and Mold and lives in Seoul, Korea. To read more of his stuff visit his blog: http://www.injection-molds.blogspot.com.