Posted by Mike on May 25, 2010 under Copywriting | 
Okay, you’re ready to write the ad of a lifetime. The one that will pull like crazy and leave them begging for your product like Somalians for food. So, do you whet their appetite with a short and sweet ad? Or write a long-copy ad that’s stuffed with information?
The 80-20 rule says 80% of the people only read the headline (and maybe a caption, if you have one). But the fact is, readers will read a long-copy ad. One McGraw-Hill study looked at 3,597 ads in 26 business magazines. What they discovered was that ads with 300 or more words were more effective that shorter ads in creating product awareness, inducing action and reinforcing the decision to buy.
Another ad for Merrill Lynch crammed 6, 450 words into a single New York Times page. It pulled over 10,000 responses even without a coupon! The truth is, the reason people read ads has nothing to do with copy length.
Nobody reads long ads and other urban ad legends
People shun too many of today’s ads long or short because several misleading myths have stubbornly remained with us. Things like negative headlines are a downer since people want to feel good when reading your ad. Or show the product or they’ll never know what you’re selling. Then there’s the stuffy axiom, there’s no place for humor in business advertising. Or the ubiquitous saw, all your ads should look the same, blend in or be swallowed up. Read more of this article »
Posted by Mike on May 21, 2010 under Copywriting |
One of the biggest challenges you need to overcome in order to create more sales in your business is getting people to trust what you say. Now you may very well have a great deal of integrity and be very trustworthy when it comes to your business (and I’m sure you are). But do your customers know that? And how can you make sure that they do?
‘Lack of trust’ is a big problem in advertising. You probably don’t realize how many customers DON’T believe what you say or claim in your advertising. In fact, the best rule of thumb to go by, is that NO ONE BELIEVES YOU. We often see on TV current affairs shows, people who get ripped off by businesses. And it might only be 1 in 1000 businesses in that particular industry, but of course it’s that one that will always get the headlines.
Then the general public see this and make a broad judgement on that industry to protect themselves, and then they become wary of every business. So it’s not enough to just tell people that you have this fantastic, well-respected reputation… and so therefore you’re the company to choose. It just doesn’t work that way anymore, you need to go much further these days. Read more of this article »
Posted by Mike on May 19, 2010 under Copywriting |
Obviously, if you’re paying to advertise your business, you want people to read your whole ad, so they know what you’re offering and can make an informed decision about whether to do business with you, don’t you?
Here’s a few ideas you can use in your advertising to keep your reader interested:
- Conversational short sentences
- Sub-headings
- Break up long text into short paragraphs
- Using bullets to speed the reader through your copy
- Problem-solving copy the reader identifies with
- Talking in “What’s in it for me?” terms
- Educational copy
- And not revealing the price till the end.
Firstly, you need to be aware of the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) concept. What that means is you need to constantly tell your customer what’s in your ad for them, because if they’re reading your ad it’s only to find out something that they want to know about.Your ads need to be the ones that reward them (while your competitors’ BORE them). This also means you should understand the difference between benefits and features. Read more of this article »
Posted by Mike on May 5, 2010 under Copywriting |
The headline is undoubtly the most crucial factor of the sales copy. You could have the best sales copy ever written but a poorly written and not thought out headline will almost single handly ruin your business. The following points should insure your headline is quality and will force to read on.
1. Ultra Specific
You need to be as specific as possible. For example. Instead of “how an ebook author make thousands every month”,change it too “how an ebook author makes $2,678.85 every month”. Its more specific and a lot more believable.
2. Keep It Unique and Original
You really need to come up with your own original headline. For example I’m sick of seeing this headline. “Finally,the simple way to get free traffic to your site. It’s this word “finally”, its been totally overused.
3. Keep The Urgency
This really forces the reader to view the sales page further. Give the headline a sense of urgency. For example, giving a special offer for reading on, deadline dates or total amounts available.
This techniques have personally been proven by myself, they work some better than other, the key is to keep tweaking and testing with the above points always in mind.
Always make sure your headlines grab the attention of your readers/
Posted by Mike on April 15, 2010 under Copywriting |
Copywriters often disagree on whether a short sales piece with lots of white space is better or whether long and detailed is the way to go. The long and short of the debate is this what type of buyer are you targeting?
There are basically 2 kinds of buyers.
1. The Impulsive Buyer
This is the kind of guy with places to go and people to see and not a whole lot of time to do it in. Typically, he’ll skim the headlines and subtopics, glance at the photos and captions, and make a snap decision.
2. The Analytical Buyer
This group of buyers believes that the proof is in the details. They’ll read everything including the fine print.
It stands to reason that successful copy will address the needs of both buyers regardless of length. Let’s look at what you need to do to reach both buyers. Read more of this article »
