Effective Ads
What is advertising?
Is it something to be regarded as a work of beauty or art? Is it clever slogans or amusing pro? Is it workmanship to be judged for an award or recognition?
It’s none of the above.
Advertising is salesmanship multiplied.
Nothing more.
陆游生平And advertising copy, or copywriting, is salesmanship in print.
The purpo of a copywriter’s job is to ll. Period.
The lling is accomplished by persuasion with the written word, much like a television commercial lls (if done properly) by persuading with visuals and audio.文景山公园>密度设计
As Claude Hopkins wrote in his timeless classic, Scientific Advertising:
“To properly understand advertising or to learn even its rudiments one must start with the right conception. Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles are the principles of salesmanship. Success and failures in both lines are due to like caus. Thus every advertising question should be answered by the salesman's standards.
“Let us emphasize that point. The only purpo of advertising is to make sales. It is profitable or unprofitable according to its actual sales.
“It is not for general effect. It is not to keep your name before the people. It is not primarily to aid your other salesmen. Treat it as a salesman. Force it to justify itlf. Compare it with other salesmen. Figure its cost and result. Accept no excus which good salesmen do not make. Then you will not go far wrong.
“The difference is only in degree. Advertising is multiplied salesmanship. It may appeal to thousands while the salesman talks to one. It involves a corresponding cost. Some people spend $10 per word on an average advertiment. Therefore every ad should be a super-salesman.
“A salesman's mistake may cost little. An advertir’s mistake may cost a thousand times that much. Be more cautious, more exacting, therefore. A mediocre salesman may affect a small part of your tra
第一艘航母
de. Mediocre advertising affects all of your trade.”
瓦块鱼The points are as true today as they were when they were written nearly one hundred years ago!
So the goal then becomes: how can we make our advertising as effective as possible.
淡然一笑是什么意思The answer is to test. Test again. And then test some more.
If ad “A” receives a two percent respon rate, and ad “B” receives three percent, then we can deduce that ad “B” will continue to outperform ad “A” on a larger scale.
Testing takes time, however, and can be expensive if not kept in check. Therefore, it’s ideal to start with some proven tested known ideas and work from there.
For example, if testing has shown for decades or more that targeted advertising significantly outperforms untargeted advertising (and it does), then we can start with that assumption and go from there.
If we know bad on test results that crafting an ad that speaks directly to an individual performs better than addressing the mass (again, it does), then it makes little n to start testing with the assumption that it does not. This is common n.
So it stands to reason that knowing some basic rules or techniques about writing effective copy is in order. Test results will always trump everything, but it’s better to have a starting point before you test.
So this starting point is the esnce of this book.
The ten tips expresd here have been generally time-tested and known to be effective.
But I can’t emphasize enough that when using the techniques, you should always test them before rolling out a large (and expensive) campaign.
Sometimes a little tweak here or there is all that is needed to increa respon rates dramatically.
And with that, let’s move onward…
Focus on Them, Not You
When a prospect reads your ad, letter, brochure, etc., the one thing he will be wondering from the start is: “what’s in it for me?”
And if your copy doesn’t tell him, it’ll land in the trash faster than he can read the headline or lead.
A lot of advertirs make this mistake. They focus on them as a company. How long they’ve been in business, who their biggest customers are, how they’ve spent ten years of rearch and millions of dollars on developing this product, blah, blah.
Actually, tho points are important. But they should be expresd in a way that matters to your potential customer. Remember, once he’s thrown it in the garbage, the sale is lost!
When writing your copy, it helps to think of it as writing a letter to an old friend. In fact, I often picture a friend of mine who most cloly fits my prospect’s profile. What would I say to convince this friend to try my product? How would I target my friend’s objections and beliefs to help my cau?
卡密欧When you’re writing to a friend, you’ll u the pronouns “I” and
“you.” When trying to convince your friend, you might say: “Look, I know you think you’ve tried every widget out there. But you should know that…”
And it goes beyond just writing in the cond person. That is,
addressing your prospect as “you” within the copy. The fact of the matter is there are many successful ads that weren’t written in the cond person. Some are written in the first person perspe
ctive,
where the writer us “I.” Other times the third person is ud, with “she,” “he,” and “them.”
And even if you do write in the cond person, it doesn’t necessarily mean your copy is about them.
For example:
“As a real estate agent, you can take comfort in the fact that
I’ve sold over 10,000 homes and mastered the tricks of the
trade”
Although you’re writing in the cond person, you’re really still focusing on yourlf.
So how can you focus on them? Glad you asked. One way is to… Emphasize Benefits, Not Features
What are features? They are descriptions of what qualities a product塘河古镇
posss.
•The XYZ car delivers 55 miles per gallon in the city.
•Our ladder’s frame is made from a lightweight durable steel alloy.
•Our glue is protected by a patent.
•This databa has a built-in data-mining system.
