Effective Ad Copy
5 Effective Secrets to Help Ad Copy
Written by Ashwin Satyanarayana for Gaebler Ventures
Copywriting is the most precious skill for anyone to learn because this skill literally pays. Effective ad copy is a relentless seller. How do you bring out such copy in your ads? Read on to find out more:
Effective advertisement copy is a profit-puller. If your advertisement has no effective copy, it can never sell and hence you cannot be in business if that's the case.
However, writing effective copy isn't even rocket science; it's certainly an art form. As a small business owner, one of the best ways to get your advertisements to work for you is to implement ad copy in every form of communication you do with your potential customers. Here are five secrets to help you bring out effective ad copy:
Produce Kick Ass Copy Using Emotional Triggers
Emotional triggers are immensely powerful elements when used in your copy. It is actually these emotions that make us buy most of the things we own -be it fear, the need to belong to an elite section of the society, the need to look good, greed, desire and many more emotions play a vital role in consumer behaviour, almost unconsciously. When your ad copy dwells on these elements, it will bring in the results you always wanted to see.
Trip on as many toes as possible
Meek ad copy is ineffective; spineless and boring. Forget about selling anything, it won't even be able to get a few seconds of your prospects' time. However, curiosity (and anger!) is a powerful emotion and if you could pull it out of your prospect, you have their attention guaranteed. Write copy that can burn houses down, provokes your prospects, and intrigues them outright. If your copy trips on their toes, they have no choice but to listen to whatyou have to say.
Do the Unthinkable
Advertisements are more predictable than sun rise now-a-days. Most of the elements in the ads are expected words, stale promises made by thousands of others and dull copy that barely mesmerises. Write things that your prospects wouldn't have expected. Shake their belief systems. Bring in humour, if you can. What is the worst you will get if you do the unthinkable, never-before kind of advertisements? Popularity, in the worst case. Can you live with that?
Talk to readers and spend little space for your company name
One of the biggest and most evident mistakes small businesses do is to put the name of the business across the advertisement as if a consumer should make a decision based on the name itself. Don't waste precious ad space with your company name and address. Instead, find a way to communicate with your target customers - ask questions, invoke desire, make your ads memorable, and relate to your readers.
Test your ads before releasing them
The difference between the successful marketers and those who are not is one simple cog in the wheel of marketing - testing ads before release. The advertisements have to be tested for effectiveness, appeal, response rates and this has to be done among all the other advertisements you must have created to see which one works best. Not testing your ads is akin to jumping off a cliff and hurling straight towards barren rocks without a parachute - imminent death.
Ash has an undergraduate degree in engineering and an MBA from Ohio University. Today he is a corporate trainer, business coach and a freelance writer.
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs
Conversation Board
We greatly appreciate any advice you can provide on this topic. Please contribute your insights on this topic so others can benefit.