Copywriting That Works

Words That Bring Customers To Your Door

 In advertising, everything depends on the words you use. The right words have the power to bring huge numbers of customers to your door. That’s the goal and the responsibility of the sales copywriter. 

 Copywriting is more science than art. It can be, and has been, tested and measured. Advertising has been around a long time, and you can and you should benefit by what has been tested and measured by those who came before you.

 This is the reason, frankly, why you probably shouldn't write your own ads. Sales copywriting is a professional skill that is learned through education and hard work. Sales copywriters get paid because their writing gets a higher customer response. You should seriously consider hiring a professional to write, or at least to review, your advertising copy. There is no reason or excuse to pay to print mistakes that a professional would never make.

  If you do want to write your own copy, remember that the ability to write a great business letter, a paper, a news story, or a dissertation, does not a sales copywriter make. You may indeed be the best writer in the world, but when it comes to your advertising, you may want a little assistance. Let’s see if this chapter will help to sharpen your pencil.  

How People Read

 It is important to understand that people will not simply read your advertisement or letter. At first, people will only scan your ad or letter.

 In direct mail [or brochures], you have about eleven seconds. People will first read their own name, then the headline, the subheads, any highlighted copy, handwritten notes, captions, your signature, and the post script.  

 And yes, we know this for a fact. It has been tested and measured.

 If your prospect likes what they see, they will start over and begin to read your letter. They will read about the first 50 words, and again evaluate if they want to keep reading. If they are interested in the subject, and the information keeps coming, they may read for ten pages or more.

 With printed advertisements, people will normally read the headline and look at the graphics first. If they are interested, they will read the subheads, captions, and any pricing information, and only then will they go back and read your sales copy.

 These facts show how incredibly important your headline and your layout design are for getting people to start reading. The structure of your letter or ad is very important. You will get more information in The Elements of Advertising Design, and throughout your reading in the Professional Advertising web pages.

 We have also provided you with lots of information about how people respond to advertising and the words you use. Read over Advertising For The Human Brain, Image, Credibility, and Trust, and Pricing Strategy in Advertising for starters.

 One more note on why people read advertisements. People read for information. They expect you to educate them about the benefits of purchasing your product or service. They expect you to offer to help solve a problem. They expect to be, and consent to be, sold to. That is why they are reading your ad.  If the phrase “sales copy” makes you uncomfortable, then please reread this paragraph until you are sold on the idea of writing effective advertisements that give people what they want.

Tips For Copy Writing  

Your Headline

 What do people read in an advertisement? The headline. That's it. They will only read your headline.

 Let's say it again - all they will read is your headline. Forget everything else you know. Forget your copy. Forget your offer. Forget your pretty pictures. All they will read is your headline.

 What makes them want to read more? The headline. They won't read the copy if the headline doesn't bring them in. They won't even give you a second glance. 

 So what is the job of your headline? To get your target prospect to read the copy. How important is the headline? Easy. Bad headline - no customers.

Headlines That Work

 There are only three kinds of headlines that really work. 

 1. Appeal to the readers self-interest. Offer a great benefit that the reader wants in the headline. It is absolutely the best headline you can write, period. 

 Example: 

"Lose 10 Pounds In 10 Days"

 People are interested in themselves. Promise them what they want in the headline, and you have a winner. In this case, the prospects, [people who want to lose weight] will want to read about how to do it [in your ad copy].

 2. Write a news headline. People love news, and they want to read about it [in your ad copy]. 

 Example:

"Announcing A New Breakthrough In Household Cleaners"

 If you were in the market for household cleaners [your target audience], you would want to read this news.

3. Offer to give people information.

 Example:

"How To Lose 10 Pounds In 10 Days"

 "How To" is a magic way to get people to read your copy. Just make sure you deliver on your promise, and give them good information.

 4. There is no #4, but there are many successful combinations of numbers one, two, and three. 

 Example:

"Announcing A New Way To Lose 10 Pounds In 10 Days!"

 You have combined a news headline with a self-interest headline, and bingo - you have a winner.

 Want to do better still? OK.

 Example:

"Announcing A New Way To Easily Lose 10 Pounds In 10 Days!"

 What people want more than anything is an easy way to get hard things done. By adding the word "easily", or just by implying that your method, product, or service is easy, you have created a more effective headline.

 And that is what Professional Advertising is all about.

Headlines That Don't Work

 This could be a very long list.

1. No headline. Never, never, never do this. Always use a headline [and sub heads].

 Example:

 [Get the idea?]

 2. Curiosity headlines don't work. 

 Example:

 What Do You Get When You Mix A Greyhound And A Car?

 In the average newspaper, there are over 345 headlines. What are the odds that a headline meant to raise the curiosity of the reader will actually  find your correct target customer and bring them into your ad copy? The odds are certainly smaller than if your headline offers a benefit that your target customer actually wants to read about.

 3. No No No. Negative headlines don't work. People don't like them, and they often misinterpret those negative feelings and direct them back toward the company.

 4. Meaningless, unrelated, or off-subject headlines don't work. Saying "The Quality Of Value" or "King Henrys Favorite Fruit" or "Now Is The Time" are all pretty useless. They offer no benefit, announce no news, nor offer any information. They don't even raise curiosity. Think no one would do this? Open your newspaper and look.

 5. Hard-to-understand headlines don't work. As always, use small, simple-to-understand words. Even the smart people understand them. 

 And there are many other types of headlines that don't work. There are shocking headlines, silly headlines, and off-colored headlines. Don't be tempted by any of them, because they turn people away from reading your ad copy.   

More Headline Writing Rules

 Don't make people guess at the meaning of your headline, because it doesn't work. People are too busy to play games, and they will simply pass your ad by. Being cute or coy with your headline is a very bad idea.

 Remember, your ad may be great. Your writing may be excellent. Your offer may be irresistible. But if your headline doesn’t grab the reader, you will lose them. And leaving people guessing at the meaning of your headline will substantially decrease readership.

 You also want to target your headline at your best prospects. Mention them directly in the headline if you can. If you are going after bird lovers, then using the words “bird lovers” in the headline will be a very powerful incentive for bird lovers to read your ad.

 Be specific. Specific prices, numbers, dates, facts, and hard science are believable. Be vague, and less people will believe you. [This goes for your headline and your entire ad copy]. 

Example: 

"Earn more money with training from the Computer Training School"  

versus

"I Earned $33,467 MORE this year with training from the Computer Training School"

 The second headline is specific, and thus much more believable. It is also reasonable. If it read "You can earn $120,000 this year with our training", no one would believe it, and response would be very low.

 Remember to suggest that your product or service makes life easy for the customer. Take away the pain, and offer the benefits. People are attracted to, and want to read about, the easy way of getting things done.

 Promise them free information with "How To..." headlines. You will get your prospect's attention, and they will read your ad copy.

 Make sure you clearly capture your entire message in your headline, even if you must use 20 words or more. Remember, your prospects may only read your headline. If you don't capture your whole message there, many prospects will pass you by. Longer headlines sell better than shorter headlines anyway.

 Your headline is the most important part of your ad. Think about that. If you don’t grab your readers with your headline, they will never get to your offer, and they will never get to your store. For something this important, spend all of the time you need to get it perfect. Really. It has to be great.  

More Things To Think About:

Make An Offer

 What do you say in your headline or introduction? Nothing is more important to success in advertising than the appeal of your offer to your prospective customers. Nothing.

 Let's make sure this is clear. You have many options for the type of offer you can make to your customers. You can:

 Offer a discount. Or a superior selection. A better guarantee. A longer warrantee. Financing. Cash discounts. A better return policy. A nicer store. 

 A more convenient location. Longer hours. Delivery. Personalized service.

 How about better customer service? More knowledgeable employees. Faster service. Guaranteed service. Emergency service.

 How about you can make them better looking. Sexier. Richer. Healthier. Smarter. Thinner.

 Make them live longer. Live better. Live with more security. Live without worries. Live an exciting life style. Live like a king. 

 Hide that ugly mark. Cover that bad breath. Get rid of that dandruff. Whiten those teeth. Erase those lines.

 One of these offers, and only one of these offers, will get you more customers than any of the others. Clearly there are many, many different offers you can make. The trick is to find the one that works the best.

 Novice copywriters are often worried about eloquence. Look, in advertising, how you say something doesn't really matter. It's what you say that counts. Your offer is what matters. And one offer will do better than all of the others.

 Let's do some math. If one offer gets you twice as many customers as another, then your marketing costs are cut in half. That's pretty easy math. But what does it mean? It means that you should invest upfront to discover what the most effective offer is. Then use that best offer, and enjoy the higher customer response for the long run. That's smart business, and that is what Professional Advertising is all about. 

 The only way to do this is to test your ads. It's cheap, it's fast, and it works. Read Testing and Tracking Ads to find out more information. This is the best piece of advice we can give you about advertising.

Emotion In Advertising

 Your advertising objective is to get people to respond. You want them to call, or make contact, or walk in the door.

 People are far more likely to respond if your ads create an emotional response or desire within them. Emotions are stronger than logic. You don’t want to make a logical argument in your ads. You want to generate an emotional response. The stronger the emotional response you can get from your readers, the higher the response rate you will get from your ads.

 And your advertising must be significant to each individual customer if you want them to respond. It must be significant, involving, and intriguing. It should be interesting and entertaining to read, and is should leave them wanting [or needing] more.  

 This does not mean that facts don't sell. Facts are critical to the believability of your ad. But cold facts and blanket statements alone do not sell. Your facts must point out and prove the benefits which will generate an emotional reaction in your prospects. That's how it's done.

 Advertising can make people laugh, cry, sing, scream, lust, get angry, get happy, long for days gone by, or any other human emotion. It’s in the words that you use. And those words had better be aimed at the emotions of your customers.

 What’s the best way to stir this emotional pot of gold? You help people to picture themselves blissfully enjoying the benefits of owning your product or service. Benefits generate positive emotions. Features do not.

Benefits Versus Features

 You knew this was coming – but don’t skip this section. Let’s just make sure that you are not mistakenly listing features instead of benefits in your ads.  

 The extra strong motor on your new vacuum cleaner is a feature, not a benefit. The fact that all the dirt will be removed from your carpet is the benefit.

 Now let's get a little more complicated.

 A low price is a feature, not a benefit. What your customers can do with the money they save is the benefit. 

 Example: If you just say "save money", you have not given your customers anything to think about. But if you say "Save Enough Money To Take An Extra Vacation", you have really given them something to think about - A Great Big Benefit. 

 A great guarantee is also not a benefit. The security and peace of mind that your guarantee provides is the benefit.  

 You want your ad to get your customers to think about what they get out of the deal. A "one year guarantee" is fine, but not worrying about being stranded at the side of the road on a dark and stormy night because your car won't start is the benefit.

Find The Benefits

 Make a list of all the features of your products or services. Now pretend you are the customer, and ask the question “What does this do for me?” for each feature. The answer is the BENEFIT to the customer.

 People buy benefits, not features. People get emotional over benefits, not features. “Saves Three Hours” is a feature. “Three Hours To Relax In The Hammock” is a benefit.

 It is easy to mistake features for benefits. So look at your offerings and ask:

1. What does this do for the customer?

2. How significant is this to the customer?

3. How interesting and entertaining is this for the customer?

4. How intriguing is this to the customer?

5. Are they left wanting more information?

Your Unique Selling Position

 In your advertising, you want to clearly and concisely tell people about what makes you special and different from your competition.

 We have provided you with many strategies for differentiating yourself in the marketplace. Please read Beat Your Competitors, Image, Credibility, and Trust, and Pricing Strategy in Advertising for more.

 You know your prospects will only give you a few seconds of their time. If you can’t deliver a strong message that offers something special, your advertising will fail.

 You need to take the most significant benefit your company offers that makes you unique in the marketplace, and capture it in a simple, exclusive, easy to understand message. In advertising it’s called a Unique Selling Position (USP). It’s what differentiates you from all of your competitors, and it makes you special.

 Let’s repeat a (USP) example given in our Advertising Planning chapter:

 USP Example: Dominos pizza – “Free Delivery”

 That’s it. Dominos differentiated themselves by offering free delivery, and they repeated that one message over and over and over. The message is clear, concise, and easy to understand. The benefit is self-evident and real.

 Your message needs to be just as clear, concise, and easy to understand. The benefit you offer needs to be just as desirable.

 Make a list of the benefits you offer that make you unique in comparison to your competitors. Now:

1. What benefit is most important to your customers? [Ask them].

2. What benefit is hard for your competitors to copy?

3. What benefit can be clearly communicated to your customers? Is it easy to understand? Is the benefit really desirable to the customer?

 Remember – you can compete on price, quality, geographic location, services or products, knowledge, implementation, follow up, targeting, doing something better than the next guy, and many other ways.

 The key to success with your advertising is to pick the strongest one benefit that makes you special. Unless you have a very big advertising budget, you will only be able to communicate one message to your customers. Make sure it is the strongest one you can.

 And where do you announce your USP benefit? Right up front – preferably in the headline. 

Body Copy – Interest & Desire

 You got your prospect's attention with your headline and graphics. Now they will read the subheads in your ad, and maybe the first fifty words. You have precious little time, so get to the point. Your ads or letters should never be wishy-washy or build to a climax. Start with the climax, and then build on it.

 You need to grab your reader and never let go. Build an excitement and desire that they can feel. Your offer must be hot to the touch, from start to finish. Remember, you are working on the emotions of your prospects, not their logic. For a lot of information on how to do this with letters, please read Direct Mail Advertising.

But your print ads also need to follow the same format. Start with the climax, and add to it. Build excitement until they can’t resist contacting you. Scream. Jump up and down. Hug them. Grab them. And don’t let go. Words that build excitement will bring you customers.

 This is one reason why larger ads work better than smaller ads do. Yes, they get more attention because of their size, but the larger space also allows you to list more exciting benefits.

 With a bigger ad you can present a complete, emotion-building sales pitch. You can give your readers all of the information they need to make a contact decision. Remember, if you don’t provide the required information, your advertising will fail.

 Your customers want and need that information, and they have questions. You want to answer their questions as convincingly as possible, while you let them feel the silky softness of the fabric. When you start talking about research and development, you've lost them. Talk about swinging in the hammock and the warm summer breeze as you answer their questions. Build trust with your facts, but create warmth with your ideas. Let them picture themselves enjoying a perfect life. And don’t let go.

Call To Action Copy - Action

 Never assume that your customer will take any action unless you explicitly tell them what to do. Maybe it sounds a little silly, but if you don’t tell people to call now – they won’t. You must ask for their business.

 And make no mistake here. People won’t respond if you don’t tell them to. Now here is a warning: It is estimated that sixty-eight percent of professional sales people never ask for the sale during a presentation. They never ask. Don’t make this mistake.

 You absolutely must ask for the order. Give explicit directions telling your customers what to do. Tell them exactly how to place an order. Tell them to come to your store today. Tell them to call right now.

 And while we are on the subject, please bookmark our web page, right now. Then pick up your phone, and call Professional Advertising to discuss how we can improve your advertising and get you more customers. Nothing will increase the profitability of your company like more effective advertising will. So call right now, and let’s get started on your future. Professional Advertising – We actually get it done for you.

 Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? Ask for the order in your ads. Train your salespeople to ask for the order in their presentations. It is critical to increasing the effectiveness of your advertising.

Copy Format 

 Here are some tips for the format of your copy. Please also read our chapters that cover your choice of media for more specific format ideas, and don’t forget to read The Elements of Advertising Design.

 1. Keep sentences and paragraphs short. Really.

 2. Vary sentence and paragraph length. Eight words per sentence will get the highest readership. [Remember all of this stuff has been tested].

 3. Use simple, everyday language. Don’t use technical jargon. You will lose way too many readers.

 4.  Editorial style advertising increases readership by over 50%. With editorial style advertising, the copy is laid out like a regular news story. The word "advertisement" always appears above the copy. If you have a story to tell, think about using editorial style advertising.

 5. Your ad should be easy to look at and easy to read. Poor use of capitalization, bolding, or italics will decrease reading comprehension by 50%. Bad sentence structure will also reduce comprehension.

 6. Use only serif typeface for copy.  It boosts reading speed, and can increase comprehension by up to 300% over other fonts. Use #12 font for copy. Use #14 font if your customers are senior citizens.

 7. Use subheadings under your headline and throughout your ad or letter to increase comprehension and readership. Just like a headline, a subhead will stop the the quick glance, and start the reading.

 8. Reversed copy gets attention, but it is hard to read. If you use it, keep the copy very short, and the font very big.

 9.  A smaller ad should have a single focus – one problem for one solution.

 10. Use benefit captions under your photos. These will get read.

 11. Word your offer carefully and clearly. Your offer is a promise about the level of service you will deliver to your customers. Your offer will set your customer's expectations, so you want to be very clear.

 12. Always use the grammar and spellchecker on your computer. Proofread your copy by reading one word at a time, from right-to-left, out loud. Don't forget that your spellchecker is not perfect. You really want a friend, or a professional editor, to carefully read the copy.   

 13. Have several people review your copy, and LISTEN to their comments. Have someone read your copy out loud to you, and watch to see if they clearly understand what you are saying, or if they have to reread the copy.  

 14. Use blue ink for your signature, and print out your name underneath it. Write legibly so that your signature can be read [it’s a matter of trust]. And any handwritten notes on your letter should be in the same writing as your signature.

 15. Go through your ad or letter and eliminate as many of the references to yourself as possible. State everything in terms of benefits for your clients.

 16. Always use a PS in a sales letter. Read Direct Mail Advertising for lots of tips on sales letters.

 17. For your headline, start every word with a capital letter. Do not use all capitals unless it is a very short headline, and don’t use a period. You may also want to enclose your headline in quotations.

 18. Normally a longer headline will get you better results than a shorter headline. Using six to twelve words is better than using two to five words.  

Tips For More Effective Copy

 We have provided you with lots and lots of ideas for creating more effective copy in the Newspaper Advertising, Direct Mail Advertising, Yellow Page Advertising , and Effective Brochure Design chapters.

  If you really want ideas for writing more effective copy, read all of those chapters. There are literally hundreds of tips on effective copywriting there. The ideas overlap and reinforce each other. Every medium is unique, yet you can learn how to better use any one medium by studying the others. 

 So we are only going to offer one idea here. The job of the copywriter is to sell. Sell the excitement. Sell the thrill. Sell the desire. List benefits, and ask for the order. List more benefits, and ask for the order. List more, and ask again. Make sure that your ad or letter is a complete, exciting sales package that delivers everything the customer needs to make the desired reaction, and ask for them to take that action. Sell, sell, sell.  

Ask For Help

 You could follow every single tip and strategy for effective advertising that we offer on all of our web pages, and still get a poor response to your ads if your copywriting is not excellent. 

 Sales copywriting is a professional specialty. You really, really, really want a sales copywriter to review your ad copy. Thirty minutes worth of editing could double the effectiveness of your ad. Nothing is more important than the words you use. 

 Copywriting is a big subject, and it’s easy to go wrong. A second opinion from a professional is an investment worth making. Please contact Professional Advertising for these services and additional assistance.  

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