Do many of you get verbose when it comes to writing advertising copy? I know some of you will say that “my customers are highly technical and want a lot of information”. Well, in an advertisement, you should tease the reader into wanting to find out more information about you. If you give them all the information they need to make a buying decision at one sitting, then they could very well rule your company out of the competition before you even get a face-to-face meeting with them.
I know I’ve been preaching to the choir about adding benefits to your ad copy, but don’t add too many. Six is probably too many and two is probably not enough. So, settle on three to four benefits, three probably being the optimum. If you concentrate on three bullet points, this will force you to really focus and think about why you are the best in your business. Otherwise, your benefits will be “me too” benefits and won’t show your uniqueness.
Another reason to keep your ad copy short and sweet is so that you don’t have to use 6 pt. type. Your readers will appreciate not having to get out the magnifying glass to read your advertisement. Start out with a compelling headline, followed by a short explanatory subhead, and then the body copy with three benefits. Finally, close the advertisement with a call to action. Yes, you want the reader to do something (that is, call you, go to your website, inquire about your products, etc.) now that they’ve read your advertisement. Give the reader an incentive to accept your call to action by offering something of value to them. This could be a white paper, a free demonstration of your product, a free training session, or whatever your audience perceives is of value.
Keep it short. Keep it simple. Keep it sweet. The secret to writing great advertising copy.
