The
most important aspect of any business is selling the
product
or service. Without sales, no business
can exist
for
very long.
All
sales begin with some form of advertising.
To build
sales,
this advertising must be seen or heard by potential
buyers,
and cause them to react to the advertising in some
way. The credit for the success, or the blame for
the
failure
of almost all ads, reverts back to the ad itself.
Generally,
the "ad writer" wants the prospect to do one of
The
following:
Visit
the shop to see and judge the product for himself, or
immediately
write a cheque and send for the merchandise
being
advertised.
Phone
for an appointment to hear the full sales
presentation,
or write for further information which amounts
to
the same thing.
The
bottom line in any ad is quite simple:
To make the
reader
buy the product or service. Any ad that
causes the
reader
to only pause in his thinking, to just admire the
product,
or to simply believe what's written about the
product
- is not doing its job completely.
The
"ad writer" must know exactly what he wants his reader
to
do, and any ad that does not elicit the desired action is
an
absolute waste of time and money.
In
order to elicit the desired action from the prospect, all
ads
are written according to a simple "master formula" which
is:
Attract
the "ATTENTION" of your prospect.
"INTEREST"
your prospect in the product.
Cause
your prospect to "DESIRE" the product.
Demand
"ACTION" from the prospect.
Never
forget the basic rule of advertising copywriting:
If
the ad is not read, it won't stimulate any sales; if it
is
not seen, it cannot be read; and if it does not command
or
grab the attention of the reader, it will not be seen!
Most
successful advertising copywriters know these
fundamentals
backwards and forwards. Whether you know
them
already
or you're just now being exposed to them, your
knowledge
and practise of these fundamentals will determine
the
extent of your success as an advertising copywriter.
classified
ads
Classified
ads are the ads from which all successful
businesses
are started. These small, relatively
inexpensive
ads,
give the beginner an opportunity to advertise his
product
or service without losing his shirt if the ad
doesn't
pull or people don't break his door down with
demands
for his product. Classified ads are
written
according
to all the advertising rules. What is
said in a
classified
ad is the same that's said in a larger, more
elaborate
type of ad, except it is in a condensed form.
To
start learning how to write good classified ads, clip ten
classified
ads from ten different mail order type
publications
- ads that you think are pretty good. Paste
each
of these ads onto a separate sheet of paper.
Analyse
each of these ads:
How
has the writer attracted your attention.
What
is it about the ad that keeps your attention.
Are
you stimulated to want to know more about the product
being
advertised.
What
action must you take?
Are
all these points covered in the ad?
How
strongly are you "turned on" by each of these ads?
Rate
these ads on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the
best
according to the formula I've given you.
Now, just for
practice,
without clipping the ads, do the same for ten
different
ads from a magazine or newspaper. In
fact every
ad
you see from now on, quickly analyse it, and rate it
somewhere
on your scale. If you practice this
exercise on a
regular
basis, You'll soon be able to quickly recognise the
"Power
Points" of any ad you see, and know within your own
mind
whether an ad is good, bad or otherwise, and what makes
it
so.
Practice
for an hour each day, write the ads you've rated 8,
9
and 10 exactly as they have been written.
This will give
you
the "feel" of the fundamentals and style necessary in
writing
classified ads.
Your
next project will be to pick out what you consider to
be
the ten "worst" ads you can find in the classified
sections. Clip these out and paste them onto a sheet of
paper
so that you can work with them.
Read
these ads over a couple of times, and beside each of
them,
write a short comment stating why you think it's bad,
i.e.
Lost
in the crowd.
doesn't
attract attention.
doesn't
hold the reader's interest.
Nothing
special to make the reader want to own the product.
No
demand for action.
You
probably already know what's coming next, and that's
right. Break out those pencils, erasers and note paper
-
and
start rewriting these ads to include the missing
elements.
Each
day for the next month, practise writing the ten best
ads
for an hour, just the way they were originally written.
Pick
out ten of the worst ads, analyse those ads, and then
practice
rewriting those until they measure up to doing the
job
they were intended to do.
Once
You're satisfied that the ads you've rewritten are
perfect,
go back into each ad and cross out the words that
can
be eliminated without detracting from the ad.
Classified
ads are almost always "finalised" in the style of
a
telegram.
Example
I'll
arrive at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon, the 15th. Meet
me
at Sardi's. All my love, Jim.
Edited
for sending
Arrive
2pm, 15th, Sardi's. Love, Jim.
classified
ad
Save
on your food bills! Reduced prices on
every shelf in
the
store! Stock up now while supplies are
complete! Come
in
today, to Jerry's family Supermarkets!
Edited
for publication
Save
on food! Everything bargain priced! Limited supplies!
Hurry! Jerry's Markets!
It
takes dedicated and regular practice, but you can do it.
Simply
recognise and understand the basic formula - practice
reading
and writing the good ones - and rewrite the bad ones
to
make them better. Practice, and keep at
it, over and
over,
every day - until the formula, the idea, and the feel
of
this kind of ad writing becomes second nature to you
This
is the ONLY WAY to gain expertise in writing good
classified
ads.
display
advertisements
A
display or space ad differs from a classified ad because
it
has headline, layout, and because the style isn't
telegraphic. However, the fundamentals of writing the
display
or space ad are exactly the same as for a classified
ad. The basic difference is that you have more
room in
which
to emphasize the "master formula".
Most
successful copywriters rate the headline and/or the
lead
sentence of an ad as the most important part of the ad,
and
in reality, you should do the same.
After all, when
your
ad is surrounded by hundreds of other ads, and
information
or entertainment, what makes you think anyone is
going
to see your particular ad?
The
truth is, they're not going to see your ad unless you
can
"grab" their attention and entice them to read all of
what
you have to say. Your headline, or lead
sentence when
no
headline is used, has to make it more difficult for your
prospect
to ignore or pass over, than to stop and read your
ad. If you don't capture the attention of the
reader with
your
headline, anything beyond is useless effort and wasted
money.
Successful
advertising headlines - in classified ads, your
first
three to five words serve as your headline - are
written
as promises, either implied or direct.
The former
promises
to show you how to save money, make money, or
attain
a desired goal. The latter is a warning
against
something
undesirable.
Example
of a promise
Are
You Ready To Become A Millionaire - In Just 18 Months?
Example
of a warning
Do
You Make These Mistakes In English?
In
both of these examples I've posed a question as the
headline. Headlines that ask a question seem to draw
the
reader's
attention almost as surely as a moth is drawn to a
flame. One he's seen the question, he just can't
keep
himself
from reading the rest of the ad to find out the
answer. The best headline questions are those which
challenge
the reader; that involve his self esteem, and do
not
allow him to dismiss your question with a simple yes or
no.
You'll
be the envy of your friends is another kind of
"reader
appeal" to incorporate into your headline whenever
appropriate. The appeal has to do with basic psychology:
Everyone
wants to be well thought of, and consequently, will
read
into the body of your ad to find out how he can gain
the
respect and accolades of his friends.
Wherever
and whenever possible, use colloquialisms or words
that
are not usually found in advertisements.
The idea is
to
shock or shake the reader out of his reverie and cause
him
to take notice of your ad. Most of the
headlines you
see
day in and day out, have a certain sameness with just
the
words rearranged. The reader may see
these headlines
with
his eyes, but his brain fails to focus on any of them
because
there's nothing different or out of the ordinary to
arrest
his attention.
Example
of Colloquialism
Are
You Developing A Pot Belly?
Another
attention-grabber kind of headline is the
comparative
price headline:
Three
For Only $3.00, Regularly $3.00 Each!
Still
another of the "tried and proven" kind of headlines is
the
specific question:
Do
you Suffer from these Symptoms?
And
of course, if you offer a strong guarantee, you should
say
so in your headline:
Your
Money Refunded If You Don't Make $100,000 In Your First
Year.
How
To headlines have a very strong basic appeal, but in
Some
instances, They're better used as book titles rather
than
advertising headlines.
Who
Else wants in on the finer things - which your product
or
service presumably offers - is another approach with very
strong
reader appeal. The psychology here being
the need of
everyone
to belong to a group - complete with status and
prestige
motivations.
Whenever,
and as often as you can possibly work it in, you
should
use the word "YOU" in your headline, and throughout
your
copy. After all your ad should be
directed to "one"
person,
and the person reading your ad wants to feel that
You're
talking to him personally, not everyone who lives on
his
street.
Personalize,
and be specific! You can throw out the
teachings
of your English teachers out of the window, and
the
rules of "third person, singular" or whatever tends to
inhibit
your writing. Whenever you sit down to
write
advertising
copy intended to pull the orders - sell the
product
- you should picture yourself in a one-on-one
situation
and "talk" to your reader just as if you were
sitting
across from him at your dining room table.
Say what
you
mean, and sell him on the product you're offering. Be
specific
and ask him if these are the things that bother him
-
are these the things he wants - and he's the one you want
to
buy the product.
The
layout you devise for your ad, or the frame you build
around
it, should also command attention.
Either make it so
spectacular
that it stands out like a lobster at a chilli
dinner,
or so uncommonly simple that it catches the reader's
eye
because of its very simplicity. It's
also important
that
you don't get cute with a lot of unrelated graphics and
artwork. Your ad should convey the feeling of
excitement
and
movement, but should not tire the eyes or disrupt the
flow
of the message you're trying to present.
Any
graphics or artwork you use should be relevant to your
product,
its use and/or the copy you've written about it.
Graphics
should not be used as artistic touches, or to
create
an atmosphere. Any illustrations with
your ad should
compliment
the selling of your product, and prove or
substantiate
specific points in your copy.
Once
you have your reader's attention, the only way you're
going
to keep it, is by quickly and emphatically telling him
what
your product will do for him.
Your
potential buyer doesn't care in the least how long it's
taken
you to produce the product, how long you've been in
the
business, nor how many years you've spent learning the
craft. He wants to know specifically how he's going
to
benefit
from the purchase of your product.
Generally,
his wants will fall into one of the following
categories:
better
Health.
more
Comfort.
more
money.
More
leisure time.
more
popularity.
Greater
beauty.
Greater
success and/or security.
Even
though you have your reader's attention, you must
follow
through with an enumeration of the benefits he can
gain. In essence, you must reiterate the
advantages,
comfort
and happiness he'll enjoy - as you have implied in
your
headline.
Mentally
picture your prospect - determine his wants and
emotional
needs - put yourself in his shoes and ask
yourself:
If I were reading this ad, what are the things
that
would appeal to me? Write your copy to
appeal to your
reader's
wants and emotional needs/ego cravings.
Remember,
it's not the "safety features" that have sold cars
for
the past 50 years - nor has it been the need for
transportation
- it has been, and almost certainly will
always
be the advertising writer's recognition of peoples
wants
and emotional needs/ego cravings.
Visualise your
prospect,
recognise his wants and satisfy them.
Writing
good advertising copy is nothing more or less than
knowing
"who" your buyers are; recognising what he wants;
and
then telling him how your product will fulfil each of
those
wants. Remember this because it's one of
the "vitally
important
" keys to writing advertising copy that does the"
job
you intend for it to do.
The
"desire" portion of your ad is where you present the
facts
of your product; create and justify your prospect's
conviction,
and cause him to demand "a piece of the action"
for
himself.
it's
vitally necessary that you present "proven facts" about
your
product because survey results show that at least 80%
of
people reading your ad - especially those reading it for
the
first time - will tend to question its authenticity.
So,
the more facts you can present in the ad, the more
credible
your offer. As you write this part of
your ad,
always
remember that the more facts about the product you
present,
the more product you'll sell. People
want facts as
reasons,
and/or excuses for buying a product - to justify to
themselves
and others, that they haven't been "taken" by a
slick
copywriter.
it's
like the girl who wants to marry the guy her father
calls
a "no good bum". Her heart -
her emotions - tell her
yes,
but she needs facts to nullify the seed of doubt
lingering
in her mind - to rationalise her decision to go
ahead
with the wedding.
In
other words, the "desire" portion of your ad has to build
belief
and credibility in the mind of your prospect.
It has
to
assure him of his good judgement in the final decision to
buy
- furnish evidence of the benefits you've promised - and
afford
him a "safety net" in case anyone should question his
decision
to buy.
People
tend to believe the things that appeal to their
individual
desires, fears and other emotions. Once you've
established
a belief in this manner, logic and reasoning are
used
to support it. People believe what the
"want" to
believe. Your reader "wants" to believe your
ad if he has
read
it through this far - it's up to you to support his
initial
desire.
Study
your product and everything about it - visualise the
wants
of your prospective buyer - dig up the facts, and
You'll
almost always find plenty of facts to support the
buyer's
reasons for buying.
Here
is where you use results of tests conducted, growing
sales
figures to prove increasing popularity, and "user"
testimonials
or endorsements. It's also important
that you
present
these facts - test results, sales figures, and/or
testimonials
- from the consumer point of view, and not that
of
the manufacturer.
Before
you end this portion of your ad and get into your
demand
for action, summarise everything you've presented
this
far. Draw a mental picture of your
potential buyer.
Let
him imagine owning the product. Induce
him to visualise
all
of the benefits you've promised. Give
him the keys to
seeing
himself richer, enjoying luxury, having time to do
whatever
he'd like to do, and with all of his dreams
fulfilled.
This
can be handled in one or two sentences, or spelled out
in a
paragraph or more, but it's the absolute ingredient you
must
include prior to closing the sale. Study
all the sales
presentations
You've ever heard - look at every winning ad -
this
is the element included in all of them that actually
make
the sale for you. Remember it, use it,
and don't try
to
sell anything without it.
As
Victor Schwab put it so succinctly in his best selling
book,
How to Write a Good Advertisement:
Everyone
one the fundamentals in the "master formula" is
necessary. Those people that are "easy" to
sell may perhaps
be
sold even if some of the factors are left out, but it's
wiser
to plan your advertisement so that it will have a
powerful
impact upon those who are the "hardest" to sell.
For,
unlike face to face selling, we cannot in printed
advertising
to come a "trial close" in our sales talk - in
order
to see if those who are easier to sell will welcome
the
dotted line without further persuasion.
We must assume
that
we are talking to the hardest ones - and that the more
thoroughly
our copy sells both the hard and the easy, the
better
chance we have against the competition or the
consumers
money - and also the less dependent we will be
upon
the usual completely ineffective follow-through on our
advertising
effort which later takes place at the sales
counter
itself.
ASK
FOR ACTION! DEMAND THE MONEY
Lots
of ads are beautiful, almost perfectly written, and
quite
convincing - yet they fail to ask for, or demand
action
from the reader. If you want the reader
to have your
product,
then tell him so and demand that he sends his money
now. Unless you enjoy entertaining your prospects
with your
beautiful
writing skills, always demand that he completes
the
sale now, by taking action now - by calling a telephone
number
and ordering, or by writing his cheque and rushing it
to
the post box.
Once
You've got him on the hook, land him!
Don't let him
GET
away!
Probably
one of the most common and best methods of moving
the
reader to act now, is written in some form of the
following:
All
of this can be yours! You can start
enjoying this new
way
of life immediately, simply by sending a cheque for XXX!
Don't
put it off, then later wish you had got in on the
ground
floor! Make out that cheque now, and "be IN on the
ground
floor"! Act now, and be an
"early bird" buyer, we'll
include
a big bonus package - absolutely free, simply for
acting
immediately! You win all the way! We take the risk!
If
you're not satisfied, simply return the product and we'll
quickly
refund your money! Do it now! Get that
cheque on
its
way to us today, and receive the big bonus package!
After
next week, we won't be able to include the bonus as
part
of this fantastic deal, so act now! The sooner you act,
the
more you win!
Offering
a reward of some kind will always stimulate the
prospect
to take action. However, in mentioning
the reward
or
bonus, be very careful that you don't end up receiving
primarily,
requests for the bonus with mountains of requests
for
refunds on the product to follow. The
bonus should be
mentioned
only casually if you're asking for product orders;
and
with lots of fanfair only when you're seeking enquiries.
Too
often the copywriter, in his enthusiasm to pull in a
record
number of responses, confuses the reader by
"forgetting
about the product", and devoting his entire
space
allotted for the "demand for action" to send for the
bonus. Any reward offered should be closely related
to the
product,
and a bonus offered only for immediate action on
the
part of the potential buyer.
Specify
a time limit. Tell your prospect that he
must act
within
a certain time limit, or lose out on the bonus, face
probably
higher prices, or even withdrawal of your offer.
This
is always a good hook to get action.
Any
kind of guarantee you offer always helps to produce
action
from the prospect. And the more liberal
you can make
the
guarantee, the more product orders you'll receive. Be
sure
to state the guarantee clearly and simply.
Make it so
easy
to understand that even a child would not misinterpret
what
You're saying.
The
action you want your prospect to take should be easy -
clearly
stated - and devoid of any complicated procedural
steps
on his part, or numerous directions for him to follow.
Picture
your prospect, very comfortable in his favourite
easy
chair, idly flipping through a magazine while "half
watching
" TV. He notices your ad, reads
through it, and"
he's
sold on your product. Now what does he
do? Remember,
he's
comfortable - you've "grabbed" his attention, sparked
his
interest, painted a picture of him enjoying a new kind
of
satisfaction, and he's ready to buy ...
Anything
and everything you ask or cause him to do is going
to
disrupt his aura of comfort and contentment.
Whatever he
must
do had better be simple, quick and easy!
Tell
him without any iffs, ands and buts, what to do - fill
out
the coupon, include your cheque for the full amount, and
send
it to us today! Make it as easy for him
as you
possibly
can - simple and direct. And by all
means, make
sure
your address is on the order form he's supposed to
complete
and mail in to you - your name and address on the
order
form, as well as just above it. People
sometimes fill
out
a coupon, tear it off, seal it in an envelope and don't
know
where to send it. The easier you make it
for him to
respond,
the more responses you'll get!
There
you have a complete short course on how to write ads
that
will pull more orders for you - sell more of your
products
for you. It's important to learn
"why" ads are
written
in the way they are - to understand and use, the
"master
formula" in your own ad writing endeavours.
By
conscientiously studying good advertising copy, and
practice
in writing ads of your own, now that you have the
knowledge
and understand what makes advertising copy work,
you
should be able to quickly develop your copywriting
abilities
to produce order pulling ads for your own
products. Even so, and once you do become proficient in
writing
ads for your own products, you must never stop
"noticing"
how ads are written, designed and put together by
other
people. To stop learning would be
comparable to
shutting
yourself off from the rest of the world.
The
best ad writers are people in touch with the world in
which
they live. Everytime they see a good ad,
they clip it
out
and save it. Regularly, they pull out
these files of
good
ads and study them, always analysing what makes them
good,
and why they work. There's no school in
the country
that
can give you the same kind of education and expertise
so
necessary in the field of ad writing.
You must keep
yourself
up to date, aware of, and in the know about the
other
guy - his innovations, style changes, and the methods
he's
using to sell his products. On the job
training -
study
and practice - that's what it takes - and if you've
got
a burning ambition to succeed - you can do it too!
QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS
1. what's the most profitable way to use
classifieds?
Classifieds
are best used to build up your mailing list of
qualified
prospects. Use classifieds to offer a
free
catalogue,
booklet or report relative to your product line.
2. What can you sell "directly" from
classifieds?
Generally,
anything and everything, so long as it doesn't
cost
more than $3.00 which is about the most people will pay
in
response to an offer in the classifieds.
These type of
ads
are great for pulling inquiries such as:
Write
for further information. Send $3, get
two for the
price
of one.
Dealers
wanted, send for product information and a real
money-makers
kit!
3. What are the best months of the year to
advertise?
All
twelve months of the year! Responses to
your ads during
some
months will be slower in accumulating, but by keying
your
ads according to the month they appear, and a careful
tabulation
of your returns from each keyed ad, you'll see
that
steady year round advertising will continue to pull
orders
for you, regardless of the month it's published.
I've
personally received inquiries and orders from ads
placed
as long as 2 years previous to the date of
publication.
4. Are mail order publications good advertising
buys?
The
least effective are the adsheets. Many
of the ads in
these
publications are "exchange ads", meaning that the
publisher
of adsheet "A" runs the ads of publisher "B"
without
charge because publisher "B" is running the ads of
publisher
"A" without charge. The
"claimed" circulation
figures
of these publications are almost always based on
"wishes,
hopes and wants" while the "true" circulation goes
out
to similar small, part-time mail order dealers,
therefore
most of the people who receive a copy are
"sellers".
With
mail order magazines, it depends on the quality of the
publication
and its business concepts. Some mail
order
magazines
are nothing more than expanded adsheets, while
others
strive to help the opportunity seekers with on-going
advice
and tips he can use in the development and growth of
his
own wealth building projects.
A
complete guide to British Mail Order Opportunity Magazines
and
Adsheets is published by John Pooley, 27 Carey Street,
Reading,
Berks, RG1 7JS, and is priced at just $2.50.
A new
edition
is published 3 times a year and each edition has
about
21 A4 pages.
5. How can I decide where to advertise my
product?
First
of all, you have to determine who your prospective
buyers
are. Then you do a little bit of market
research.
Talk
to your friends, neighbours and people at random who
might
fit this profile. Ask them if they would
be
interested
in a product such as yours, and then ask them
which
publications they read. Next, go to your
public
library
for a listing of the publications of this type from
"British
Rate and Data", this contains current information
on
nearly all papers and magazines in Britain, including
their
advertising rates, it also classifies periodicals by
their
areas of interest.
Make
a list of the addresses, circulation figures and
advertising
rates. To determine the true cost of
your
advertising
and decide which is the better buy, divide the
total
audited circulation figure into the cost for a one cm
ad,
e.g.
$10
per cm with a publication showing 10,000 circulation
would
be 10,000 into $10 or $1 per thousand.
Or $15
per cm with a circulation of 42,500 would be 42,500
into
$15 or about 35p per thousand.
Obviously
your best buy would be the second example because
of
the lower cost per thousand.
Write
and ask for sample copies of the magazines you've
tentatively
chosen to place your advertising in.
Look over
their
advertising - be sure that they don't or won't put
your
ad in the "gutter" which is the inside column next to
the
binding. How many other mail order type
ads are they
carrying
- you want to go with a publication that's busy,
not
one that has only a few ads. The more
ads in the
publication,
the better the response the advertisers are
getting,
or else they wouldn't be investing their money in
that
publication.
To
"properly" test your ad, you should let is run for at
least
three consecutive issues of any publication.
If your
responses
are small, try a different publication.
Then, if
your
responses are still small, look at your ad and think
about
rewriting it for greater appeal and pulling power. In
a
great many instances, it's the ad and not the
publication's
pulling power that's at fault!
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