WHEN THE EXPERTS DECIDE TO GIVE AWAY THEIR EXPERTISE . . .
Who Are We to Complain?
You'll find more FREE articles on their respective web sites.
be the perfect copywriter.
$$$ the copywriter's profit center $$$
Your Name
Your E-Mail Address
HOW TO WRITE A GOOD ADVERTISEMENT
by Robert W. Bly
To define what constitutes good print advertising, we begin with what a good print ad is not:
- It is not creative for the sake of being creative.
- It is not designed to please copywriters, art directors, agency presidents, or even clients.
- Its main purpose is not to entertain, win awards, or shout at the readers, “I am an ad. Don’t you admire my fine writing, bold graphics, and clever concept?”
In other words, ignore most of what you would learn as a student in any basic advertising class or as a trainee in one of the big Madison Avenue consumer ad agencies.
Okay. So that’s what an ad shouldn’t be. As for what an ad should be, here are some characteristics shared by successful direct response print ads:
- They stress a benefit. The main selling proposition is not cleverly hidden but is made immediately clear. Example: “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
- They arouse curiosity and invite readership. The key here is not to be outrageous but to address the strongest interests and concerns of your target audience. Example: “Do you Make These Mistakes in English?” appeals to the reader’s desire to avoid embarrassment and write and speak properly.
- They provide information. The headline “How to Stop Emission Problems—at Half the Cost of Conventional Air Pollution Control Devices” lures the reader because it promises useful information. Prospects today seek specific, usable information on highly specialized topics. Ads that provide information the reader wants get higher readership and better response.
- They are knowledgeable. Successful ad copy reflects a high level of knowledge and understanding of the product and the problem it solves. An effective technique is to tell the reader something he already knows, proving that you, the advertiser, are well-versed in his industry, application, or requirement.
An opposite style, ineffectively used by many “professional” agency copywriters, is to reduce everything to the simplest common denominator and assume the reader is completely ignorant. But this can insult the reader’s intelligence and destroy your credibility with him.
- They have a strong fee offer. Good ads contain a stronger offer. They tell the reader the next step in the buying process and encourage him to take it NOW.
All ads should have an offer, because the offer generates immediate response and business from prospects who are ready to buy now or at least thinking about buying. Without an offer, these “urgent” prospects are not encouraged to reach out to you, and you lose many potential customers.
In addition, strong offers increase readership, because people like ads that offer them something—especially if it is free and has high perceived value.
Writers of image advertising may object, “But doesn’t making an offer cheapen the ad, destroy our image? After all, we want awareness, not response.” But how does offering a free booklet weaken the rest of the ad? It doesn’t, of course. The entire notion that you cannot simultaneously elicit a response and communicate a message is absurd and without foundation.
- They are designed to emphasize the offer.
Graphic techniques such as “kickers” or eyebrows (copy lines above the headline), bold headlines, liberal use of subheads, bulleted or numbered copy points, coupons, sketches of telephone, toll-free numbers set in large type, pictures of response booklets and brochures, dashed borders, asterisks, and marginal notes make your ads more eye-catching and response-oriented, increasing readership.
Why? My theory is that when people see a non-direct response ad, they know it’s just a reminder-type ad and figure they don’t have to read it. But when they see response-type graphic devices, these visuals say to the reader, “Stop! This is a response ad! Read it so you can find out what we are offering. And mail the coupon—so you can get it NOW!”
- They are clearly illustrated. Good advertising does not use abstract art or concepts that force the reader to puzzle out what is being sold. Ideally, you should be able to understand exactly what the advertiser’s proposition is within five seconds of looking at the ad. As John Caples observed a long time ago, the best visual for an ad for a record club is probably a picture of records.
At about this point, someone from DDB will stand up and object: “Wait a minute. You said these are the characteristics of a successful direct response ad. But isn’t general advertising different?”
Maybe. But one of the ways to make your general advertising more effective is to write and design it as a direct response ad. Applying all the stock-in-trade techniques of the direct marketer (coupons, toll-free numbers, free booklets, reason-why copy, benefit-headlines, informative subheads) virtually guarantees that your advertisement will be better read—and get more response—than the average “image” ad.
I agree with Howard Ruff when he says that everything a marketer does should be direct response. I think the general advertising people who claim that a coupon or free booklet offer “ruins” their lyrical copy or stark, dramatic layout are ineffectual artists more interested in appearance and portfolios than results.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter with 20 years experience in business-to-business and direct marketing. He has written direct mail packages for Phillips Publishing, Agora Publishing, KCI Communications, McGraw-Hill, Medical Economics, Reed Reference Publishing, A.F. Lewis, and numerous other publishers.
This article appears courtesy of Bob Bly's Direct Response Letter.
Visit Bob Bly's web site www.bly.com
HERE’S MY PROMISE TO YOU:
THIS DIRECT MAIL LETTER WILL ALWAYS WORK FOR YOU
by Jay Huling
Here's my promise to you:
When you are finished reading this article, you will be able to write a direct mail letter that gets your readers to do whatever you want them to do.
That's a big promise. And I can back it up. If YOU do YOUR part.
Your part assumes you actually have something worthwhile to offer. And you have to be offering it to the right people. You can't sell steak to vegetarians.
So I am going to assume two things: Your product is worthwhile and you know who will buy it.
But how are you going to sell it to them? Let's write your letter, right now . . .
Your Opening Line
There are many ways to open. You could use a variety of human motivations -- like fear, greed, guilt, hope, frustration, etc. They can all work.
But in my 22 years writing direct mail, here is the best opening I've ever written . . .
"Here's my promise to you:"
That opening absolutely forces you to start strong with your letter. And it force communicates a benefit-oriented message to your readers that they will not ignore.
Immediately follow the line with bullet points of your promise. So, for example, here's what an opening for a music school would look like:
Dear Ms. Jones:
Here's my promise to you:
·
- In one week, you will be able to play "Moonlight Sonata" on the piano
- It will cost you nothing to try
- And I will send you a FREE music book -- "The World's Greatest Love Songs" – just for saying "YES!" to my offer today
Now, if Ms. Jones is in your target market, this opening will hook her.
So use "Here's my promise to you" and back it up with benefit oriented statements.
Make sure you concentrate on the reader's self-interest.
Examples of other bullets are:
- You will save $2,000 when you buy your next car from us
- You will lose 30 pounds in 30 days
- Your business will gain a new client by next weekend
See what I mean?
If you know what your prospects want, all you have to do is dangle it in front of them. Be specific, make your promises, prove you can deliver, and they will respond.
How a Client of Mine Wasted Their Money
I recently wrote a direct mail fundraising letter for a new client of mine. It was written to donors who had given the previous year, and the letter asked them to give again.
Here was my opening:
"It's amazing what you've done."
The letter went on to explain all the good the donor's previous gift did in the lives of the children this particular organization helped.
But here's what the client changed it to:
"It's amazing what we've done."
Then they went on to pat themselves on the back about all the things they did for the under served children of the community.
And that self-reward was the only reward they got -- because the mailing bombed.
No wonder.
People give money to organizations to feel good about what their money is doing for causes they care about. And the cause is not the organization. The cause is the benefit that results from the effort. In this case, the well-being of children.
Don’t make the same mistake.
So – Now – Back to You and Your Letter
You’ve got your opening and your bullet promises. Follow that up with a statement of how other people have tried your product or service and have experienced great results.
So, to our example prospect Ms. Jones, we would say something like:
Thousands of people – people just like you and me – who have tried and failed to learn a musical instrument – have started playing their first song within seven days. Their secret? Our new “How to Play the Piano Super Study Course.”
I’m making another assumption here: You plan on telling the truth. Don’t make up a bunch of baloney. You know your product or service. Use the truth and sell it well.
Okay, we’ve hooked Ms. Jones – now reel her in. Use this transition:
Here’s What You'll Get
“Here’s what you'll get” is one of the all-time great lines – if not THE all-time great. Because that’s what everybody wants to know – what do I get?
It never gets old and will outlive the cockroach.
Again, back it up with bullet points. So our example continues:
Here’s what you'll get:
- The secrets to reading music in minutes
- The one-trick professionals use to play a song they’ve never seen before
- How to build your muscle memory to get your fingers to play the keyboard as you read the sheet music
And so on.
Apply this formula to your product or service. You have something to sell – so sell it!
How to Get Your Readers to Do What You Want Them to Do
If you’re talking to the right people . . . and you are making them the right offer . . . THEY WILL WANT TO DO WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO.
So just tell them what that is:
Remind them of your main benefits. Sweeten the offer and give them a deadline. Urge immediate action and promise a quick response. Like this:
Return the enclosed postage-free reply card by January 16 and you'll get an additional free booklet, ‘Learn the Piano While Working, Playing, Relaxing, or Resting.’ All orders are processed the day they are received -- but supplies are limited, so act now.
Tell them what to do, and if you’ve done your job early in the letter, they’ll do it.
Direct Mail is You
It's one-on-one. You’re not competing with eight other commercials. There aren’t a dozen other ads on the page. There’s not another web site to click away to.
Right now they hold YOU in their hands, just you.
Now's your chance. Write it. Send it out. And let me know how well you do.
This article appears courtesy of
Jay Huling.
Visit Jay Huling's web site at
This article appears courtesy of American Writers & Artists Inc.’s (AWAI) The Golden Thread, a free newsletter that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on the best wealth careers, lifestyle careers and work-at-home careers available. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/signup/.
MAKING YOURS THE ONLY CHOICE
by Dan Kennedy
One of the greatest things you can do for your client and his proposition is to lift him up out of the clutter and morass of a competitive environment and elevate him to the status of The Only Choice.
This is especially important in writing copy to sell on the internet, where just about everyone attracted to a site is searching and shopping other competing sites, or writing catalog copy likely seen by recipients of multiple catalogs in the same category – unlike solo direct-mail, for example, where you are often the only “salesman” who will talk to the prospect about your type of proposition.
I’m a very serious advertising and mail-order history buff, and I have – and constantly add to – a huge collection of old ads, advertising artifacts and curiosities, biographies of long forgotten ad men, and so on.
Let me tell you about one of the greats now unknown by most.
In the late 1920’s, well into the Great Depression, a fellow named Alois Merke ran a lot of ads and made boatloads of money selling an electronic gizmo to grow hair on balding heads. His ingenious promise: “If I Can’t Grow Hair For You In 30 Days, You Get This Check” was accompanied in most ads by a photo of the giant check or of him handing you the check (not a photo of the gizmo itself – a rather frightening helmet you strapped on and plugged in, reminding of a person in an electric chair).
The check was nothing more than a refund, the promise nothing more than a money back guarantee. But it was the means he used to focus attention on certainty of result rather than the implausibility of it all.
And if you laugh at this, there is, right now, a vibrating hairbrush being sold quite successfully via ads and direct-mail using exactly the same “technology” and promise as old Alois’ electric helmet.
But none of this is the point I want to make this moment, just background. Alois’ real brilliance was his copy that invalidated all other options for growing hair on the chrome dome, actual and imagined. For example:
“It is an absolute waste of time – a shameful waste of money – to try to penetrate these dormant roots with ordinary oils, massages and tonics which merely treat the surface of the skin. You wouldn’t expect to make a tree grow by rubbing growing fluid on the bark – get at the roots!”
The bold-faced words are ones I marked for you. In total, this copy drips with scorn and disdain for competing choices and the foolishness of anyone who might waste their money on those other options.
It’s a powerful, confrontational tone. The word ‘waste’ was strong and got visceral reaction in the late 1920’s and early 30’s when no one dare waste even a penny, money was so scarce. Scraps of soap were melded together, leftovers always became stew, children wore hand-me-downs not new, store-bought clothes.
‘Shameful’ another strong, harsh word; in that age, shame existed and really mattered. Being unwed past age 30, a woman pregnant out of wedlock, a man out of work and on the public dole, being dressed inappropriately, and certainly wasting anything, all sinful and disgraceful.
The copy names the inferior competing products and services then uses another power word: ‘merely’. This, a very derogatory, dismissive term. (egs.: she was merely the governor of a dinky state, Alaska.)
Finally the copy is personalized and directly confrontational with ‘you.’ It doesn’t say no one would; no reasonable person would. It says ‘you wouldn’t.’ To which you are supposed to say in your head: “well, of course I wouldn’t. I’m no fool.”
This is a brilliant piece of work, squarely aimed at the most likely buyer; a balding fellow who has already bought and been disappointed by something else, or has considered buying other things but not been persuaded.
It elevates this device into a category of one: the only product that can actually work because all others merely do one useless thing while this does something entirely different.
This is the sort of thing I think a true pro with a passion for copywriting loves discovering and doing – something that rises above just marshalling ideas and information and crafting them into a well-written but fundamentally common sales message. There’s too much of that, and, frankly, it justifies only common fees. But when you can do something that is a game-changer, like this example; elevating your client’s product into a category of one, that elevates you as well.
# # #
Don’t forget about the very special offer Dan Kennedy has put together for you to “look over his shoulder as he works.”
It includes:
- Admittance to Dan's closed-door inner sanctum of his monthly LOOK OVER MY SHOULDER experience. Here, you literally look over Dan's shoulder at his copy – as he's writing it for his paying clients and for his own companies.
- His 'Best Of' Collection, which includes five previous editions of LOS, which he's selected personally – to give you the most amazing bag o' tricks. At regular subscription rates, by the way, this one is worth about $500.00. This Manual also includes – for the first time – Dan's 'Bookshelf List', which tells you about the reference books on Dan's top shelf that he relies on most, 20 books he believes any copywriter worth his salt must read, even web sites and other resources you need to use.
- Dan's Special Report: How To Command Respect As A Copywriter: Five Things The Client Must Know. This is only available with this offer.
- A unique audio CD, titled 'This Writing Life', in which he and I discuss a far-ranging variety of topics about making a great living by writing.
And much more!
If you want LOOK OVER MY SHOULDER at THE lowest rate anyone pays … plus a big welcome basket of goodies free … plus pay as you go with no commitment, no advance payment and option of canceling any time you like … you need to enroll RIGHT NOW.
You can find out more at
Original articles copyright by their respective authors.
This site Copyright 2009. The Copywriter's Profit Center. All rights reserved.
Learn copywriting and learn how to
make a great living at it! This FREE monthly e-zine reveals all the secrets!
Sign up for THE PERFECT COPYWRITER.
