Today I want to talk about fourteen tips to make sure that your advertising copy works. Ideas that, although we have had the concepts thrown at us many times, we sometimes overlook the obvious. Ensuring that you follow these guidelines will increase the response to your marketing and generate more profit per dollar invested.
Tip #1: Translate Features into Benefits. Don't just give information and assume the reader
will correctly interpret what you meant. For example, front wheel drive on a vehicle
is a desirable feature. The advertising has to go on to explain the benefits of front
wheel drive - safety, improved cornering, improved braking, better gas mileage - and
so on.
Tip #2: Write From the "You" Perspective, Not the "I/We" Perspective. Say, you will benefit
greatly from extraordinary durability." Don't say, "We build the most durable product".
Think about it a minute: if you were selling a widget, and YOU didn't think it was the most
durable product, if you sold it anyway you would ultimately earn a reputation of being
dishonest. Convey that which you believe in most.
Tip #3: Communicate Credibility. Credibility can be communicated with length of time in the
business, the size of your company, the number of customers served (think McDonalds!),
testimonials from satisfied clients, your memberships and influential associations,
guarantees and warranties and all of these things combined.
Tip #4: You Can Use Dramatic License. You should not deceive or misrepresent anything but
you can dramatize it. Here's an example you're familiar with: Remington's former president,
Victor Kiam, used to say in their commercials, "I liked the shaver so much, I bought the
company". Think about that statement for a moment. It's actually quite silly. This man was
a VERY astute businessman, and his acquisition of the company was based on very careful
analysis of many different factors, including the quality of the product. However, his
statement was at least partially true and is a dramatic way of talking about product quality.
That's dramatic license.
Tip #5: Remember That Stories Sell, Facts Only Tell. Whenever you can use first person stories,
third party stories about customers and anecdotes to make key selling points, do so.
Stories sell, facts only tell.
Tip #6: Don't Be Afraid of Long Copy. Ad copy should be long enough to tell your story effectively
and persuasively. I have read effective sales letters that were 42 pages long. The
information was so powerful and informative, I just had to read all of it.
Tip #7: Utilize the Writing Technique of Double Readership Path. This is really quite simple but
extremely important. The idea is to understand and reach both ends of the spectrum of
consumer behavior. Analytical behavior versus impulsive behavior. The analytical person
will read lengthy copy (the agreement of sale) completely and is interested in as much
information as possible. The impulsive individual lacks the patience to read lots of copy
and wants to get the message quickly. When you organize your ad copy and format you
should communicate the important points of your message in only the headlines, subheads,
photo captions and response devices so the impulsive person can quickly skim, still get the
message and take positive action.
Tip #8: Keep Your Copy Lean and Necessarily Short. Watch out for wordiness that distracts from
the sales message. If a word or phrase does not advance the sales process why is it there?
Most copy writers like to edit their rough drafts after a day or two cooling off period. You may
want to use this same approach. It may give you a fresh perspective on the message you
are trying to convey.
Tip #9: Keep Your Sentences and Paragraphs Short. Complex sentence structure or long
paragraphs are intimidating and confusing to many people. Don't make the common
mistake of overestimating the intelligence and sophistication of your readers.
Tip #10: You MUST Create a Sense of Urgency. This can be done with discounts or bonus
offers that expire within a certain time frame or with extra incentive for fast response.
Tip #11: It's Okay to Compare Apples to Oranges. A sales seminar program may be able to be
purchased on CD for $100, yet you might easily pay $200, $300 or more to obtain
this same information to actually attend the seminar in person. Looking at it, it's
relatively inexpensive to pay the same amount for this wealth of knowledge that you
would pay for dinner out with your family.
Tip #12: Internal Repetition is an Important and Beneficial Technique. In a given direct mail
piece it's wise to make the same important points several different times in several
different ways.
Tip #13: Use the Power of the P.S. Most direct mail copy writing professionals agree that many
people skip down to the P.S. on a letter and read that first. You can use this to your
advantage two ways. One, be sure that your letter or advertisement has a P.S. and two,
make a powerful, interesting and persuasive statement in the P.S. For example, this is
a good place to present the bonus offer.
Tip #14: Become a Student of Advertising Copy. Study all of the direct mail advertising that you
receive and advertisements that you see very carefully and collect those pieces that you
find particularly persuasive. Over a period of time, you will begin to identify common
ingredients in those pieces that you can copy in your own work. The justification is
simple: those items that you find compelling will be the same items that compel others
to act as well.
Well, there you have it. Fourteen tips that will improve your response ratio to your advertising. Study the marketing pieces that you currently use and decide how they can best be improved. Utilizing these techniques will help you close more sales with less money invested, thus increasing your bottom line (ie. your income!)
Just thought you should know.
Have a profitable day,
Steven
;)
;)
