How to Write Effective Advertising Copy By Robert Johnston At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Writing advertising copy that grabs people’s attention and convinces them to take action is difficult, no doubt. But you can do it by following the guidelines given here:

Great Copy Basics

Great advertising copy always captures people’s attention, touts benefits, keeps people interested and causes action.

Capture people’s attention

People see hundreds, sometimes thousands of ads a day, so your ad needs to stand out to grab interest. Headlines are the best way to grab attention. Make sure your copy relates to the image on your ad. If you have some kind of joke or are implying something with vague copy, your tactic will likely backfire. You don’t want to alienate those who “don’t get it.”

Touts benefits

Great copy always touts benefits above all else. People want to know what’s in it for them. You need to clearly communicate how your product will solve the person’s problem or give them some benefit they are now missing.

Keeps people interested

After you write a great headline to grab people’s attention, you need to keep that attention with your benefits. Generally, detailed (yet brief) benefits work better than vague benefits. Give people something concrete to think about. For instance, instead of stating “You won’t have to vacuum as much,” you could state “Only vacuum once a month.” The second statement is much more concrete and gives people a solid idea of what the product can do.

Causes action

This should be your goal when writing copy – make the reader want to take action. This doesn’t have to mean they purchase your product, but it means they ask for more information by calling you, visiting your Web site, or whatever action you want them to take.

Intermediate Copy Writing

Advertising copy is hard to write because it has to be so many things at once: creative, readable, persuasive and entertaining.

How do you do this? By:

Writing short sentences. Wordiness will ruin your ad. Who wants to read a brochure printing piece that looks like the pages of the book? Why use seven words to say something when you could say it in three? Look for places to eliminate repetitive info, such as “Annual payments of $XX a year.” “Annual” and “a year” are not necessary – choose one or the other.

Not talking down to your customers. Keep your customers’ education and life experiences in mind when writing copy. Don’t talk down to them, but don’t talk above them either. You should do research so you know exactly who your target market is and the language they use and understand. Know the slang of your demographic – you don’t want to embarrass yourself by accidentally using a sexual or drug-related slang term for a product.

Proofreading. Seeing grammatical or spelling errors can bring your credibility down very quickly. Proofreading is an easy step to take, but one that is often ignored. Don’t let something as simple as watching for punctuation and grammar ruin your otherwise effective ad.

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