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10 Ways to
Write More Effective Ads
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 advertisers 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
research and millions of dollars on developing this product,
blah, blah.
Actually, those points are important. But they
should be expressed 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 closely 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 cause?
When you’re writing to a friend, you’ll use 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 second
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 second person. Some are
written in the first person perspective, where the writer uses
“I.” Other times the third person is used, with “she,” “he,” and
“them.”
And even if you do write in the second
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 second person,
you’re really still focusing on yourself.
So how can you focus on them? Glad you
asked. One way is to…
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