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How To Write Ads That Sell

20 Amazing Tips

There is a universal belief in lay circles that people won't read long copy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every ad should be a complete sales pitch for your product. Shoot the works in every ad, on the assumption it is the only chance you will ever have to sell your product to that reader.

• Some copywriters rely on tricky headlines -- puns, literary allusions, and other ohscurities. This is a sin!
• Every headline should appeal to the reader's self-interest. It should promise that reader a benefit.
• Always try to inject news into your headlines.
• Go straight to the point! Be specific and factual.
• Advertisers who put coupons in their ads know that short copy doesn't sell. In split-run tests, long copy invariably outsells short copy.
• Include testimonials in your copy. The reader finds it easier to believe the endorsement of a fellow consumer than the puffery of an anonymous copywriter.
• Headlines that quote somebody, within quotation marks, score dramatically high.
• Give the reader helpful advice or service. It hooks about 75 percent more readers than copy that deals entirely with the product.
• A good ad is one that sells the product without drawing attention to itself. It should rivet the reader's attention on the product. Instead of saying, "What a clever advertisement," the reader says, "I never knew that before. I must try this product."
• Resist the temptation to write the kind of copy that wins awards. Most of the campaigns that produce results never win awards.
• Test everything. Test your promise. Test your media. Test your headlines. Test the size of your ads. Never stop testing and your advertising will never stop improving.
• Too much effort is spent on advertising that is funny or stresses special effects. Not enough time is devoted to crafting ads that sell a product.
• Don't turn up your nose at cliches like, "How to," "Last chance," "Now!," "Amazing," "Announcing," and others. They're shopworn -- but they work.
• The headline is the most important element in most ads. It is the telegram that decides whether to read the copy.
• Include your selling promise in your headline. In tests of retail ads, headlines of ten words or longer, containing news and information, consistently sell more merchandise than short headlines.
• Research has shown, over and over again, that photographs sell more than drawings. They attract more readers. They sell more merchandise. Photographs represent reality. Drawings don't.
• Almost all advertising awards are given out for "entertainment." We're not in business to line our shelves with trophies, but to line our waiting room with returning clients.
• Advertising will achieve better results when people who create it take the trouble to learn which techniques are most likely to work.