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:
a)
Visit the store to see and judge the product for himself, or immediately
write a check and send for the merchandise being advertised.
b)
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 this 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 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:
1) Attract
the "attention" of your prospect.
2) "Interest"
your prospect in the product
3) Cause
your prospect to "desire" the product
4) Demand
"action" from the prospect
Never forget the basic rule of
advertising copywriting: If the ad is
not read, it won't stimulate any sale; 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 practice 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 the 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 in condensed form.
To start learning how to write good
classified ads, clip ten classified ads form ten different mail order type
publications - ads that you think are pretty good. Paste each of these ads onto a separate sheet
of paper.
Analyze each of these ads: How has the writer attracted your attention -
what about the ads keeps your interest - are you stimulated to want to know
more about the product being advertised - and finally, what action must you take? Are all of 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 thing with ten different ads from a Wards or Penney's
catalog. In fact, every ad you see form
now on, quickly analyze it, and rate it somewhere on your scale. If you'll practice this exercise on a regular
basis, you'll soon be able to quickly recognize 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've 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
classifieds sections. Clip these out and
paste them onto a sheet of paper so you can work on them.
Read these ads over a couple of
times, and then beside each of them, write a short comment stating why you
think it's bad: 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 scratch paper - and start rewriting these ads to
include the missing elements.
Each day for the next month,
practice writing the ten best ads for an hour, just the way they were
originally written. Pick out ten of the
worst ads, analyze 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
"finalized" 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 on 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
recognize and understand the basic formula - practice reading and writing the
good ones - and rewriting 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 a 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 you 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 your 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 attract the reader's attention
almost as surely as a moth is drawn to a flame.
Once he's seen the question, he just can't seem to keep himself from
reading the rest of the ad to find out the answer. The best headline questions are those that
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 priced magazine
headline: Three For Only $3,
Regularly $3 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 $100,00 Your First Year.
How To headlines have a very strong
basic appeal, but in some instances, they're better used as book titles than
advertising headlines. Who Else wants in
on the finer things - which your product or service presumably offers - is
another approach with a 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
possible 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 the teachings of your English
teachers out the window, and the rules of "third person, singular" or
whatever else 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 your 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 lobster at a chili 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 are trying to present.
Any graphics or artwork you use
should be relevant to your product, it's use and/or the copy you have 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 are 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 lone you have
been in business, nor how many years you've spend learning your craft. He wants to know specifically how he is going
to benefit form 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, success and/or security.
Even though you have your reader's
attention, you must follow through with an enumeration of the benefits you 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 of transportation - it has been, and almost certainly always will be the
advertising writer's recognition of people's wants and emotional needs/ego
cravings. Visualize your prospect,
recognize his wants and satisfy them.
Writing good advertising copy is nothing more or less than knowing
"who" your buyers are; recognizing what he wants; and then telling
him how your product will fulfill 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 the 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 have not
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 to nullify the seed of doubt lingering in her mind - to rationalize
her decision to go on 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 judgment in the final decision to buy - furnish evidence
of the benefits you have 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 have established a belief in this
manner, logic and reasoning are used to support it. People believe what they "want" to
believe. Your reader "wants"
to believe your ad if he has read it through this far - it is up to you to
support his initial desire.
Study your product and everything
about it - visualize the wants of your prospective buyers - 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
view, and not that of the manufacturer.
Before you end this portion of your ad and get into
your demand for action, summarize everything you've presented thus far. Draw a mental picture for your potential
buyer. Let him imagine owning the
product. Induce him to visualize all of
the benefits you have promised. Give him
the keys to seeing himself richer, enjoying luxury, having time to do whatever
he would 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 is the absolute
ingredient you must include prior to closing the sale. Study all the sales presentations you have
ever heard - look at every winning ad - this is the element included in all of
them that actually makes the sale for you.
Remember it, use it, and don't try to sell anything without it.
As Victor Schwab puts is so
succinctly in his best selling book, How To Write A Good Advertisement: Every one of the fundamentals in the
"master formula" is necessary.
Those sitting across from him at your dining people who are
"easy" to sell may perhaps be sold even if some of these factors are
left out, but it's wiser to plan your advertisement so that it will have a
powerful impact upon those who are "hardest" to sell. For, unlike fact-to-face selling, we cannot
in printed advertising come to 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 for the consumer's dollar - 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 form the reader. If you want the
reader to have your product, then tell him so and demand that he send his money
now. Unless you enjoy entertaining your
prospects with your beautiful writing skills, always demand that he complete
the sale now, by taking action now - by calling a telephone number and
ordering, or by writing his check and rushing it to the post office.
Once you have 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 check for $XX!
Don't put it off, then later wish you had gotten in on the ground
floor! Make out that check now, and
"be IN on the ground floor!"
Act now, and as an "early-bird" buyer, we'll include a big
bonus package - absolutely free, simply for acting immediately! You win all the way! We take all the risk! If you are not satisfied, simply return the
product and we will quickly refund your money!
Do it now! Get that check 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 a part of this fantastic deal, so act now! The sooner you act, you more you win!
Offering a reward of some kind will
almost 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 are asking for product orders; and with lots of fanfare only when you
are seeking inquiries.
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 sending 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 the withdrawal of your offer. This
is always a good hook to get action.
Any kind of guarantee you offer
always helps you produce action from the prospect. And the more liberal you can make your
guarantee, the more product orders you will receive. Be sure you state the guarantee clearly and
simply. Make it so easy to understand
that even a child would not misinterpret what you are 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 favorite easy chair, idly flipping through a magazine while
"half-watching" TV. He notices
your ad, reads through it, and he is sold on your product. Now what does he do?
Remember, he's very comfortable -
you have "grabbed" his attention, sparked his interest, painted a
picture of him enjoying a new kind of satisfaction, and he is ready to buy...
Anything and everything you ask or
cause him to do is going to disrupt this aura of comfort and contentment. Whatever he must do had better be simple,
quick and easy!
Tell him without any ifs, ands or
buts, what to do - fill out the coupon, include your check for the full amount,
and send it in to us today! Make it as
easy for him as you possibly can - simply and dirert. And by all means, make sure your address is
on the order form he is 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 it, a complete short
course on how to write ads that will pull more orders for you - sell more of
your product for you. It's important to
learn "why" ads are written as they are - to understand and use, the
"master formula" in your own ad writing endeavors.
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 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 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 is using to
sell his products. On-the-job training -
study and practice - that's what it takes - and if you have got that burning
ambition to succeed, you can do it too!
QUESTIONS
& ANSWERS
1. WHAT'S THE MOST PROFITABLE WAY TO USE
CLASSIFIEDS...
Classifieds are best used to build
your mailing list of qualified prospects.
Use classified to offer a free catalog, 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 five dollars which is about the most
people will pay in response to an offer in the classifieds. These types 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 info
and a real money-maker's 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 will
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 the response!
4. ARE MAIL ORDER PUBLICATIONS GOOD
ADVERTISING BUYS...
The lease effective are the ad sheets. Most of the ads in these publications are
"exchange ads," meaning that the publisher of ad sheet "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. Very poor medium for investing advertising
dollars because everybody receiving a copy is a "seller" and nobody
is buying. When an ad sheet is received
by someone not involved in mail order, it is usually given a cursory glance and
then discarded as "junk mail."
Tabloid newspapers are slightly
better than the ad sheets, but not by much!
The important difference with the tabloids is in the "helpful
information" articles they try to carry for the mail order beginner. A "fair media" for recruiting
dealers or independent sales reps for mail order products, and for renting
mailing lists, but still circulated amongst "sellers" with very few
buyers. Besides that, the life of a mail
order tab sheet is about the same as that of your daily newspaper.
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 ad sheets, while others - such as BOOK BUSINESS MART - 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. Book Business
Mart is not just the fastest growing publication in the mail order scene today;
it's also the first publication in more than 20 years to offer real help anyone
can use in achieving his own version of "The American Dream" of
building one's own business form a "shoestring beginning" into a
multi-million dollar empire!
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, neighbors 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 the Standard Rate
& Data Service catalogs.
Make a list of the addresses,
circulation figures, reader demographics and advertising rates. To determine the true costs of your
advertising and decide which is the better buy, divide the total audited
circulation figure into the cost for a one inch ad: $10 per inch with a publication showing
10,000 circulation would be 10,000 into $10 or 10¢ per thousand. Looking at the advertising rates for Book
Business Mart, you would take 42,500 into $15 for an advertising rate of less
that THREE TENTHS OF ONE CENT PER THOUSAND.
Obviously, your best buy in this case would be Book Business Mart
because of the lower cost per thousand.
Write and ask for sample copies of
the magazines you have 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 it run through 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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