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10 Ways to
Write More Effective Ads
The Headline
Page 2 of 2
No, and you don’t care about everyone.
But for someone who handles hazardous waste, they
would sure appreciate knowing about this little gem.
That’s your target market, and it’s your job to
get them to read your ad. Your headline is the way you do that.
Ok, now where do you find great headlines?
You look at other successful ads (especially
direct response) that have stood the test of time. You look for
ads that run regularly in magazines and other publications. How
do you know they’re good? Because if they didn’t do their job,
the advertiser wouldn’t keep running them again and again.
You get on the mailing lists of the big direct
response companies like Agora and Boardroom and save their
direct mail packages.
You read the National Enquirer.
Huh? You heard that correctly.
The National Enquirer has some of the best
headlines in the business.
Pick up a recent issue and you’ll see what I
mean. Ok, now how could you adapt some of those headlines to
your own product or service?
Your headline should create a sense of urgency.
It should be as specific as possible (i.e. say $1,007,274.23
instead of “a million dollars”).
The headline appearance is also very important.
Make sure the type used is bold and large, and different from
the type used in the copy. Generally, longer headlines tend to
out pull shorter ones, even when targeting more “conservative”
prospects.
Some other sites online where you can get great
headlines (from master copywriter John Carlton, no less) are:
·
http://www.otsdirect.com/products.html
·
http://www.trsdirect.com/product.php
·
http://www.ohpdirect.com/product.php
On each page, click on the individual products in
order to view the ads and headlines.
It should go without saying that when you use
other successful headlines, you adapt them to your own product
or service. Never copy a headline (or any other written
copyrighted piece of work for that matter) word for word.
Copywriters and ad agencies are notoriously famous for suing for
plagiarism. And rightfully so.
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