The success of any business or organisation depends on the impact their words have. In today’s world, you must at all costs succeed in attracting the attention of your potential customers in order to remain relevant in the marketplace.
Few of us are born talented copywriters. Most of us need to constantly learn new sales and communication techniques to succeed in writing good copy that sells.
“How to Write a Good Advertisement: A Short Course in Copywriting” manages, in just over 200 pages, to explain the basics of effective advertising. The author shows us:
- How to attract attention with better texts
- How to get credibility from our readers
- How to build successful texts and choose the right size for them
- How to test the effectiveness of ads
- How to turn prospects’ questions into sales
- How to make special offers that dramatically increase sales and responses from potential customers
At the same time, this book presents several examples of powerful text titles that have been successful, and offers explanations as to why these titles have worked so well.
According to the author, there are 5 fundamental elements in writing a good ad:
- Catching attention
- Presenting a benefit of the product or service you are promoting
- Proof that the product or service is as you present it
- The power to persuade potential customers to take advantage of that benefit
- Soliciting a response from them.
There are two tried and tested ways to get attention:
- Regardless of how innovative the product or service you are promoting is, you can choose to present it with strong, unusual or dramatic copy, so that you capture the attention of your potential customers, despite competitors or numerous banal advertisements for similar products or services.
- Another way to grab attention is to promote your product or service in an extremely simple way that makes readers curious about it.
Another interesting point made in the book is that the one thing people want to know, above all else, is this: what will the product you are promoting do for me. At this point, after you’ve drawn attention to the product with your unusual title, it’s essential to present an advantage of the product. To get the results you want with a text, link the advantages of your product to the personal desires of your potential customers. What do they want? It’s simple:
- Health, the possibility of a longer life
- More comfort, luxury
- More money to spend or save
- More time for travel, hobbies, rest
- More popularity, a more attractive personality or more achievements
- Beauty, style, cleanliness
- Professional development, a better job, higher salary
- Independence and freedom in old age
- Social acceptance
- Praise from others
Another important point made in this book is that in order to be successful with your advertising, you need to demonstrate to your potential customers the value that your product or service has. Why do you need to demonstrate its value? Nothing could be simpler: most people nowadays question the veracity of advertising. In addition, they need evidence they can use as an excuse and motivation to buy a product or service, as decisions are based on emotion alone.
The next step in writing successful copy is the power of convincing potential customers to take advantage of the benefit you have just presented. Create a summary for your readers explaining how they will benefit from your product or service and how easy it is for them to get it.
Finally, the last step is to solicit feedback from your potential customers. Nowadays, many advertisements end without even trying to get the reader to materialize the interest, desire and conviction that the advertisement itself has aroused.
Whatever form of action you ask for from the reader, make sure it is simple, easy and as specifically presented as possible.
If you want to read the book, you can order it HERE.
