What can some of the best copywriter’s in history teach us about writing persuasive ads and creating successful campaigns?

• Ogilvy on Advertising
• The Copywriter’s Handbook
• Adweek Copywriting

There are some powerful concepts in all of these books, which I’ve been studying for the full year.

 

Understanding The Customer (And Their Relationship With The Service/Product)

The best way to sell your service online?

Understanding your customer.

And not only that.

You should understand their relationship to your product or service.

Details of features of your service/product may not be enough.

It’s connecting those features to the benefits for your customer.

Steve Jobs didn’t sell us “a phone with the internet.”

He sold us the dream of being connected to the globe, while we were on-the-move.

And the “smart phone” was born.

The world hasn’t been the same since.

Think about the relationship between the customer.

And the product.

 

Advertising Is Sales

It might be surprising to know…

Three years of studying marketing with accredited and reputable providers of education in the field…

I’ve yet to hear this simple yet effective message:

Advertising is sales.

Guess what?

• How creative your project is.
• How many people see your advertisement.
• How many people message or call.
• How many people complement you on the ad.

It means nothing if people don’t buy your product.

When you spend money on advertising, it should be profitable.

 

Divide Copy Into Subheaders

This may seem obvious for blogs.

The same rule applies for advertisement copy.

You should have sub-headers to divide your advertisement copy into relevant sections.

It is what is called the ‘slippery slope.’

Each paragraph should encourage readers to to read on.

Towards the end of the advertisement, the intent is for them to be intrigued enough to take action.

Even old, classic ads are written with this format.

Most are long-form copy, which is advertisements over 1500 words.

The purpose?

Arousing curiosity and rewarding the customers for reading the advertisement.

The reward at the end?

Your discount and call to action.

On the way down, each sub-header is another reason to continue reading… and answer any questions your customer may have before making their purchasing decision.

Usually ending with a money-back guarantee and a clear ‘call us today to get started.’

Yes… this is the game.

Marketing.

It’s a science.

 

Research, Research, Research

All of the greats know the one thing…

Research is what separates the professionals from the amateurs.

Writing good content?

It is all about the  research.

Research about the product or service you are advertising.

It is often about that one little detail that you can notice, that will assist in differentiating your product or service.

It could quite easily end up being the ‘world’s first…’ something… if you look hard enough.

Any good book about writing (in advertising) cannot emphasise enough the importance of research.

All of the greats mention how neglected it is within the industry.

If you want your advertising to work, you should spend more time researching than anything else.

 

The Incubation Period

This was my favourite.

Sugarman explained the process in his book, “Adweek Copywriting.”

“The incubation process is the power of your subconscious mind to use all your knowledge and experiences to solve a specific problem, and its efficiency is dictated by time, creative orientation, environment, and ego.”

We use the process in our content:

• Outline the topic
• Write key thoughts on topic
• Consider how the article will serve our audience
• Write first draft
• Proof-read and rewrite
• Proofread
• Restructure
• Rewrite
• Proofread
• Publish
• Revisit every 1-2 weeks to improve upon published content over time

Assimilating all that information?

You wouldn’t believe how much of that is done in your subconscious.

Let your subconscious do the work.

Set the intention.

Come back to the blog over time.

Then let the magic happen.

As a marketing agency, we stay 6-weeks ahead of schedule with content.

This ensures we have time to proof-read…

And go away for long periods of time for the “incubation period” to hit us with more inspiration.

Come back to your blog once a week, and let the magic happen.

Do that multiple times before you publish every article.

You wouldn’t believe the difference.

 

Copy Is King

Illustrations are great.

Being creative is great.

But Copy is King.

You know why?

Your copy, that is the words you write to advertise your business, is the one determining factor the success of your marketing.

They either inspire people to take action.

Or they don’t.

Take away all the graphics.

A well written advertisement will sell on its own merit.

If you take away the text, the illustration will rarely sell alone.

Does your advertisement generate a profit?

If the answer is no, your ad copy isn’t written effectively.

 

Headlines… They’re Important

More than four times as many people browse your headline than read the copy of your ad.

You know what that means?

80% of your money is spent on your headline.

Your advertisement’s headline has a purpose.

A well-written headline should:

• Promise a benefit
• Select an audience
• Appeal to the reader’s self-interest

Even poor advert can still sell with a great headline.

But the best of ads will not sell anything with a poor headline.

Think about what I said above for a moment…

80% of the money you spend on your advertisement is on your headline.

Doesn’t that sound important to you?

 

The You-Orientation

Writing with the reader in mind.

Speak to the reader.

To further illustrate the power of the ‘You-orientation’ – take a read:

Company orientated speech:

Bank Plan is state-of-the-art in user-friendly, sophisticated financial software for small-business accounts receivable, accounts payable, and general ledger applications.

 

Customer orientated speech:

Bank Plan can help you balance your books. Manage your cashflow. And keep track of customers who haven’t paid their bills. Best of all, the program is easy to use—no special training is required.

Quote directly from The Copywriter’s Handbook

Practice using ‘you’ in your writing.

It will change the way you write content.

Nobody cares about your business.

They care about their needs.

Speak to your audience when you write any advertisement, blog, article, social media post.

 

Be Concise

It’s not about your ad being short.

It is about your ad being the right amount of words to sell the product.

No more and no less.

As a general rule, long-form copy sells better than shorter ads.

You should be aiming to write longer content…

But with a more purposeful use of your words.

No excessive words or redundant phrases.

Being concise is a little more than just getting rid of words.

It’s also about delivering a precise message that values your audience.

Don’t forget that…

 

Be Curious

They say great copywriters are curious.

Writing good content requires you to be curious about the topic.

To delve into the subject in ways other people haven’t.

And to be able to convey that to an audience with words.

But if you are not curious about the subject…

You will never find those “finer details” that may be used in your marketing, to make you stand out.

What makes you unique?

It is quite often your perspective.

And to have a unique perspective, that takes a lot of thought and effort.

And without being naturally curious, it is often hard for copywriters to find the real attention to detail to do a good job from separating your product or service from the competition.

Being curious allows us to explore new topics with enthusiasm.

It allows us to see things in ways others may not.

And that’s what makes us write advertisements that persuade.

 

Be Colloquial

Being colloquial means writing like you speak.

Ironically, it’s removing phrases such as “be colloquial.”

You are not writing for academics.

You are writing to persuade.

There’s a difference.

People read an ad as though they are being spoken to one-to-one.

The best way to put this into practice is to read your advertisement or content out loud.

Have the choice of being ‘grammatically correct’, or having a natural flow?

Always choose the natural flow.

 

Remove the ‘ly’

Remove all adjectives.

They don’t need to be there.

They dilute your message.

Get your point across.

Then get out there.

Nobody cares about your descriptive words.

They want action.

 

Bonus:  Tell Stories

Storytelling.

It’s an art in itself.

And to use it in your marketing is a genius move.

Think about it.

What makes us care about a subject more than a well-crafted story?

We all have our favourite movies, books and tv shows.

All of these have one thing in common.

Story.

Stories are based on adversity.

They are built on conflict.

You have your protagonist, the hero of the story.

You set the scene, we show you their lives.

Everything is going well…

Until something happens, around half-way through.

This is the “all is lost moment,” or the “point of no return.”

The antagonist comes.

Our heroes life is often never the same again.

They have to push through the boundaries of the world they knew, into the unknown.

And they come out of it the other side, stronger and often with a new perspective.

Imagine that used, as a tool in your marketing?

How can you do that?

Stories about employees.

Stories about your customers.

Stories about your engagement with the local community.

Write your case studies in a way that is story-driven.

Using stories in your writing, they further your connection with your audience, turning something “real” and making it more emotional.

You’ll be amazed at the results.

 

 

We hope that these can assist your small business, when you are writing content to represent your organisation.

It can be a daunting task to look at best practices for your advertising efforts.

Writing is something that everyone can do.

But writing to persuade and effectively selling a service with words?

That’s hard.

Don’t waste your advertisement spend on poorly crafted advertisements.

Ensure you do the research.

Continue to improve on your advertisement.

Test the results.

Prospect27 offer managed websites for our customers…

But we have been known to assist in their advertisement and content writing from time to time.

We wanted to offer this advice to those who are looking to advertise their service with ‘advertisements’… and in the hopes it can assist customers (and other visitors) in creating content that engages their audience.

Think about where you post content…

Facebook.

Instagram.

LinkedIn.

Your website.

Consider how you can use the above tips when you are post on each of those platforms.

Each platform may need separate attention and a different approach.