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Writing advertising texts: features and rules. Product advertisement example

A well-written text of an advertisement with the obligatory inclusion of psychological elements makes it possible to provide potential consumers with information about a product, service, as well as planned promotions. The most advantageous offers for customers about discounts, gifts for purchases, holiday events accompanied by prizes will not be effective and will not attract the expected number of customers without organizing their information.

How to attract buyers

To achieve success in promoting a product or service, you need to effectively declare the subject of your business activity.

Timely drawing attention to planned marketing activities will increase the effectiveness of their implementation among numerous potential clients. Advanced entrepreneurs take advantage of the modern capabilities of specialized Internet platforms. They allow you to quickly, and in some cases free, post current news in specialized services and on social networks. All resources provide the opportunity to select target audiences based on interests. If you already know your target audience, you can order printing of your brand or slogan on clothing from FairPrint, which will undoubtedly be effective in attracting attention to your product or activity.

Features of advertising text

  1. The headline should reflect the essence of the trade proposal, as well as the benefits of cooperation. There must be an element of intrigue.
  2. The text part should take into account all channels of human perception and detail the advantages of the proposal.
  3. Text advertising must take into account the interests of the target audience for which it is intended.
  4. The use of specific facts and precise information expressed in numerical terms is encouraged.
  5. The product should be concise and not intrusive.

Algorithm for presenting information

Customers' interest in a product is directly dependent on the way information is presented. His choice depends on the social affiliation of the citizens for whom the product or service is intended, and on the place where the advertisement is published.

The best examples of advertising texts contain a bright headline that is informative. They are characterized by clearly formulated rules for the promotion and price parameters of the product. And the offer to purchase is always veiled and expressed in the form of a motivating offer.

The advertising text for any product can be published on social networks, on specialized platforms, on your own website, in newspapers and magazines. Placing it on billboards is effective. Distribution to the mailing addresses of regular customers and, through patronage, their acquaintances is effective.

Before creating your own advertising brainchild, you should study various examples of product advertising in order to copy the best ideas that are a feature of the product in question. To compose your own advertising, you should first think through all your wishes, as well as compile a list of information that was relevant and useful at the time of creating the brand.

A marketing model must be chosen based on the advertised product and the target audience that might be interested in it. In this case, only one parameter of the model should be taken into account, aimed at activating attention, understanding, desire, and, as a consequence, actions. The technique of identifying with a well-known brand has a good effect.

By adding a unique style to your advertising, you can give your entrepreneurial idea an exclusive image, which will ensure product recognition and significantly expand the target audience. The use of slogans will add an element of originality and uniqueness, and a well-written text structure will allow you to quickly achieve the desired effect.

When advertising is ineffective

Advertising is a powerful sales tool. However, if used incorrectly, it can ruin the reputation of a business entity. It must reflect truthful information. It is unacceptable to embellish with events or additional services that are not relevant to the advertised product. There is no need to intrusively attract the buyer; this always creates the impression of lack of demand in the market for similar goods or services. You need to be able to masterfully present relevant information. If this rule is violated, all marketing and advertising efforts to promote your product are doomed to failure.

Determining the target audience

In advertising activities, it is important to competently determine the target category, since this parameter has a direct impact on the effect of the information offered for review. Its main feature is that the potential client belongs to a certain social status, age, gender, and place of residence.

Advertising stunts

Advertising is necessary so that a business entity can stand out among thousands of similar companies with their own offers. To do this, it is not enough to simply tell your potential consumers about the availability of a quality product and encourage them to buy it. To attract the attention of customers, it is recommended to use several marketing schemes, following which allows you to advertise correctly. This will ensure maximum results from its publication. Promotion methods such as a unique selling proposition and the classic sales model, in which the buyer is accompanied at all stages of the purchase, are popular.

Probably everyone has had to write an advertisement at least once in their life, be it an advertisement in a newspaper, an advertisement on the Internet, or even an advertisement in their entrance (for residents of an apartment building).

But write the ad correctly– it’s not as simple as it seems. I constantly have to deal with completely incorrect and ineffective ads. That is why I will now share with you a few rules that you should use when writing ads. So to speak, a model to follow and strive for.

The first and most important element of an ad is its headline. It is the headline that attracts attention, and it is the headline that determines whether your ad will be read.

To COMPLETE AN AD TITLE CORRECTLY , adhere to the following recommendations:

A) The main purpose of the headline is to “hit” the target audience. Interest those people who may be interested in the content of your ad. And for this, already from the first letters of the title, readers must understand what exactly is being discussed.

Example blurry (less effective) title ads:

- Looking for something to do this weekend?(it’s not clear what exactly we’re talking about here; the header response will be worse)

Example target header:

- Quad bikes for rent - cheap!(and here everything is clear and precise, if you were looking for ATVs, you will get ATVs)

B) If an ad gets lost in the “ocean” of similar ads, urgently change its title and content! Don’t write boring ads of the same type, don’t repeat after other incompetents.

Boring template option:

- Selling Audi 2002, negotiable

An unusual and memorable option:

- An old car called Audi is looking for a new owner, cheap and cheerful!


Tip #1: Narrow niche

Attention! In some cases, using advertising for each individual product model (or type of service) may be unacceptable, so sometimes use your brain and assess the situation sensibly. You have more information, use it to get the most out of your ads.

Chip #2:

Never rely on just one ad. There must be several advertisements. If the ad is in the newspaper, then at least three of them need to be placed there! Preferably with different data (from different people) - include work colleagues, relatives, friends, etc.

Chip #3:

If you plan to place an ad on the Internet (on bulletin boards, in flea markets, catalogues), be sure to expect that you will have to compose several texts that are unique in description. Otherwise, when they encounter the same text, people will simply close your ad.

Chip #4:

If you are going to advertise in Yandex.Direct, then choose exclusively low-frequency queries and write ads for them (competition will be lower, the cost of a click will also be lower, and the click-through rate “CTR”, as well as the conversion, will be many times higher)!

How to write an advertisement for the Internet?

Conventionally, all advertisements on the Internet can be divided into:

A) advertisements on various bulletin boards, in flea markets
B) contextual ads (Yandex.Direct, Google Adwords)
B) advertisements on social networks

Chip #5:

So, for example, advertising a weight loss machine on a programmers forum will be ineffective. But advertising the same simulator on a forum dedicated to a healthy lifestyle, on the contrary, will be effective. After all, this is where people gather who monitor (want to monitor) their body and their health.

Chip #6:

The ad works best not just on thematic platforms, but on popular (highly visited) thematic platforms! The more people see your ad, the faster (more) you will sell your product (service).

You can check the traffic (attendance) of the ad site using LiveInternet statistics (click on the link to find out how to use these statistics).

Correct Ads

- How to write the right ad on social networks (Vkontakte, Facebook, Odnoklassniki, etc.)?

The main rule is to write an ad in existing communities that coincide with the topic of your ad. There are two options: place your ad for free, or for a fee. In the first case, you will be able to use only those groups in which posting messages on the wall is allowed for members of this community (in every second community this function is prohibited). In the second case, you need to personally negotiate with the group administration about paid advertising (not everyone will agree, but there is an option to pin the ad at the very top of the page).

Chip #7:

A good ad can always “show off” with photographs. Moreover, their number should be from 3 pieces. Even if you are selling something as small as a book or a children's toy. Not to mention advertisements for the sale of a car or an apartment, there MUST be photographs there!

It is in your best interest to take good quality photographs. It is the photo that turns out to be the decisive factor in order for a potential client to pick up the phone and dial your number. If people can see the “product in person”, then the level of trust in you and the level of interest in your product (service) will be much higher!

A good photograph increases your chances of selling by about 30%. By posting a photo, you seem to be saying “here, look everyone, this is my product, I’m not hiding anything from you and I’m not going to deceive you.”

How to write an ad to make it work?

Be sure to include your phone number in your ad!

You can additionally offer the option of writing to you in a personal message (personal message), but you must provide a phone number. It’s even better to indicate 2 numbers (from different operators), in case one of the numbers suddenly turns out to be unavailable.

You can’t even imagine how difficult it is sometimes to get in touch with the people who write advertisements. Especially when the issue needs to be resolved right now.

Just a few days ago I needed to order a portrait in pencil from a photo, and I was running out of time (6 hours). So, in an hour I managed to find 20 advertisements on the Internet, of which only three had phone numbers. Accident? No - stupidity of the ad authors!

As a result, the order was received by a person whom I was able to reach by phone.

Paradox, isn't it? To pay someone money, I had to work hard and spend a lot of time. So why create unnecessary obstacles for your potential clients?

I hope you now understand how to write an ad correctly (both for a newspaper and for the Internet). Therefore, we take a pencil in our hand, move the keyboard closer and begin to write our ad. You can post your results in the comments!

In everyday life, people constantly encounter printed information of various kinds. But have you noticed that we pay attention to one text, and only glance at another? Why is this happening? All of them are compiled according to a certain algorithm: topic, content, contacts. This means that this matter has its own subtleties that need to be learned before starting to compile.

Advice: Remember the purpose of the ads. It is about ensuring that as many people as possible receive and assimilate information that encourages action.

Let's define the terminology. An advertisement is a type of written notice printed in a magazine, newspaper or posted in some prominent place in order to interest readers and, as a result, satisfy their needs.

To start, you need to think about the following questions:

  • For what purpose are you posting an ad (selling real estate, looking for employees, announcing a store opening)?
  • How to present content correctly?
  • What are some places you can use to effectively convey information to your audience? Usually the more there are, the better.

Now let’s take a closer look at all the components of the ad.

Heading

The headline can be compared to the face of your news. An interesting title can attract the attention of a potential client in seconds, forcing him to fully read the text. Remember that a trivial, inconspicuous headline can be the main reason why your alert goes unnoticed and does not bring any results. Seeing something repulsive in the title, a person will not even want to start reading, despite the fact that the text may be perfectly worded.

So, what are the nuances behind a successful title? Let's find out the details using an example of an advertising ad:

  1. First, use phrases that require immediate attention from the client. For example: “Only today!” or “For the first time in history!” Such a title should contain words that pull people out of their gray everyday life and draw them into a bright world. These may be expressions that a person does not see every day.

Important: the words “new”, “new” and their synonyms can only be used in the first six months after the product appears on the market.

  1. In the title, indicate the result you will help achieve. For example, when advertising a foreign language school, pay attention to the end result: the client’s goal is to speak fluent English (German, Polish, etc.). You can write: “You still don’t speak English? After our classes you will forget about the language barrier forever!”
  2. Present advertising as news. For example: “Researchers have discovered 5 secrets that can change the look of your hair forever.” A sensation always arouses interest, as many people are constantly looking for new ways and methods of solving problems. Remember that any product can become a new product.
  1. Do something nice for consumers. For example: “The first 3 months of the Internet are free,” “If you buy two shampoos, the third one is free!” Consider the feasibility of the offer for the client. If you offer a product that most people don’t need, then even a free promotion won’t work. Such a service must be without pitfalls, otherwise you will lose your reputation.
  2. Use intrigue. For example: “Did you know about these properties of dietary supplements?” or “Do you also make this mistake when choosing a tablet?” Our brain is designed in such a way that when we see a question, we begin to subconsciously look for an answer to it. Tasks that reveal the benefits of a product encourage the client to think about the need to purchase it. Do not use a question that can be easily answered, then the buyer will quickly make a decision against you.
  3. Add a title to the header. For example: “Your day will be great with Danone yogurt!” The main advantage of this approach is memorability. A person who reads such an advertisement will, if necessary, remember the brand of the product, and then, already in the store, most likely will choose it.
  4. Highlight the benefits. For example: “Internet installation - low prices, suitable tariffs, 2 years warranty.” By clearly and clearly formulating the “header” of your ad, you can win the reader’s attention.
  5. Use the words "before" and "after". For example: “After this product, your yellowed bathtub will be like new!” This way you give the buyer the opportunity to compare the current state with the effect that he can achieve as a result of cooperation with your organization.

Important: To create a catchy headline, you can combine the methods listed above. Write several options and choose the brightest and most creative one.

Text

How to write an ad correctly? There are main factors influencing the reader’s perception of the entire text. Here are some of them:

  • Spelling. One of the main elements of success is the “body” of the ad. The presence of errors will ensure that even carefully crafted content fails. Readers react negatively to typos that catch their eye. To avoid this, re-read what you wrote several times or check it using special electronic programs. It is better to use the second method in addition to the first, since machine verification is not 100% reliable.
  • Concentration. The text is intended to reveal to the reader the content of the title. When writing about services, focus on the main topic and report on one type of service. Don’t get carried away by a lot of promises: they say, we’ll do everything at once. This does not happen, and the client will understand this. Encourage the consumer to make the right decision with verbs in the imperative mood: “Click!”, “Call!”, “Come!”.
  • Price. If your ad is of a commercial nature or indicates the cost of something, approach this issue responsibly. Research competitors' offers, analyze prices. Remember that an underestimated price can undermine confidence in the quality of the product, and a very overpriced one will scare away the client or force them to look for a more loyal pricing policy.
  • Uniqueness. Ad texts can be boring or interesting. To be effective, your offer must stand out from others. Include specifics in the text (for example, discount, guarantee, fast turnaround time, delivery, home service, free consultation). Please indicate how you can pay: bank transfer or credit card. At first glance, these are small things, but they can be the reason that an interested client will choose you among many others.
  • Knowledge of the matter. Provide facts that demonstrate that you personally understand what you are offering. Pay attention to experience. This is necessary so that the customer understands that he is dealing with a reliable person.

Background and photo

By adding a high-quality photo to your ad, you will already stand out among the mass of other faceless notifications. The customer is closer to purchasing the product and more interested if he sees an image of it. You can insert several pictures that show the product from all sides. This will help the future buyer make an informed choice. A few rules for creating a successful photograph:

  • Good natural lighting will best show off the details of your product.
  • Try not to use flash while shooting, as unnecessary shadows and highlights will distract attention.
  • Pay attention to the background: eliminate anything unnecessary, such as personal items.
  • Correctly determine the distance to the object; it should not be far or too close.

What about the background of a paper ad? By analyzing the rules, you can find useful tips:

  • A bright background attracts much more attention than a white one.
  • The red color is especially striking, but the main thing here is not to overdo it.
  • Use simple fonts, as intricate patterns can be difficult to read.

Feedback

In order for a selling ad to bring you money, you definitely need to establish contact with a potential buyer. This is what feedback is for. Customers must be given the opportunity to communicate with the seller, shown that they can send ideas and wishes, complaints and dissatisfaction. This will show that the organization is interested in its consumers and that their opinions are important. For a seller, customers' ideas can become a reason to invent a new product. So, include as much contact information as possible in your ad: several phone numbers, email, a website, or an address where people can send letters.

Ad texts - examples

Taking all of the above into account, you can beautifully write your own ad. Where to start and where to end? This question is easy to answer with sample advertisements in front of you. Next, we'll look at examples of alerts that cover various topics.

About work

What do you need to include to create a job ad that will get a lot of people to respond to it? Here are the main components: title, description of the proposed position, place where you can apply (place of employment), separately - the address of the work, requirements for applicants, description of job responsibilities, contact information of the employer. It will be an advantage to indicate a high salary, although it is not always appropriate to mention its size.

Advice: in the requirements area, you must indicate the desired age, education, number of years of experience, and work experience in the desired industry.

What a successful ad looks like:

About the sale

Let's look at a few rules that underlie the announcement of each product sold. It is worth describing the following points: maximum information about the benefits, high-quality photos, a suitable price, truthful information about the contact person. For example, you need . Here's how to write an ad:

Selling the painting “Tree of Life”!

I also sell other oil paintings. Paintings on canvas (no frames), can be framed for an additional fee.

Size: 40 x 60 cm, consists of 3 equal-sized parts.

Price: 5,500 rubles.

I accept orders! Write, I will answer with pleasure.

Name: Alexander.

Contact number: 238-77-65.

About rental

Let's consider tips from realtors that will help you create effective text. It must include the following data: specific information about the object, transport links (if any), rental period, condition of the apartment (availability of repairs, furniture and appliances, television, Internet access), personal contact information. It is also worth indicating the requirements for future tenants, for example, “I will rent a room to a married couple,” and mention your attitude towards having pets. Here's a sample:

Rent a two-room apartment!

Apartment in a block-type building. The rooms and bathroom are separate, the loggia is glazed, there is enough furniture, a refrigerator, TV, Wi-Fi, and an automatic washing machine.

Total area: 56 m².

Floor: 13th.

Address: Petrozavodsk, st. Leonida Parfenova, no. 7.

Price: 10,000 rubles per month + utilities + electricity.

Additional Information: possible with children.

Contact details: Edward (phone: 587-76-54).

About missing animals

When composing such an advertisement, it is worth considering important details: adding a photograph, preferably in color, mention of the reward (do not indicate a specific amount), description of the pet (breed, gender, age, coat length, color, special features, presence of a collar or lack thereof), information about the area where the animal was lost. Example:

The dog is missing!

Moscow city. Last seen on January 10, 2018, in the area of ​​the Akademicheskaya metro station, near the Darwin Museum.

Breed: American cocker spaniel (red color).

Special signs:

  • The mouth is skewed to the left side;
  • There is a large mole under the eye.

Nickname: Amur.

Reward guaranteed! Call at any time of the day.

The contact person: Lesya.

Phone number: 811-34-54.

About the opening of the store

Compose such an announcement especially carefully, because you need to convince to attend the event, and people these days are lazy and slow-moving. An alert of this kind differs from others in the small amount of information. Data should be presented in the style of “What? Where? When?". In capital letters, you must indicate that a new establishment will open soon or a presentation will be held, indicate the time and place, describe what benefit the visitor will receive (sale, raffle, discount cards). Example of an ad from a department store:

In honor of the holiday:

  • When purchasing from 500 rubles - a guaranteed GIFT;
  • The main gift is a CERTIFICATE for purchases of 30,000 rubles (raffled between visitors).

About the provision of services

Your ad should be unobtrusive, but at the same time clearly necessary for the client. Properly written advertising is easy and enjoyable to read. Indicate the main points: specific name of the service; reasons why it should be ordered from you; describe what problem can be solved by using this service; write an adequate price.

Advice: Our goal is to increase our competitiveness. To do this, you need to achieve uniqueness. Is the service provided the same as everyone else? In this case, add an accompaniment. These could be temporary promotions, bonuses, discounts for the second referred client. You can prepare small surprises for everyone who contacts. People like these things and encourage them to act more decisively.

Below is an example of a successful ad.

Computer equipment repair and setup at home!

I am engaged in private practice, I have an engineering education and 10 years of experience in this field. I provide repair services for laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

I can offer:

  • installation of software of any kind;
  • selection of computers, purchase and assembly with further installation of network equipment;
  • improving Windows performance without reinstalling the operating system;
  • data recovery from various types of media;
  • cleaning the system, replacing thermal paste;
  • replacing the hard drive with an SSD;
  • replacement of the motherboard, power supply.

The price is negotiable, visit and diagnostics - 300 rubles without subsequent repairs, the rest - depending on the scope of work.

The contact person: Vyacheslav.

Mobile phone: 092-21-11.

There are two options for resolving this issue: free and paid placement. Of course, the opportunity to disseminate the necessary information without financial costs is always more attractive, but at the same time there is no guarantee that your ad will be effective and will be seen. Often on free sites, user posts end up at the very bottom of a long list after just a few days.

  • Blogs. The advantage of this option is the division of sites according to specific topics. There are free methods, as well as paid ones, where your products and services are advertised as . It is possible to order a banner that will be visible to everyone.
  • mass media. Even in times of information technology, people continue to receive a significant part of their information from printed publications. Why not contact your local newspaper about placing your ad? This will require money, but a large number of people will see the text. Don’t forget about media sites: if you contact the person in charge (administrator), you can agree on the publication of an advertising article or the placement of a banner.
  • Social media. Now social networks are confidently approaching the peak of popularity, so they can become a good platform for promoting your ad. There is a chance to become an administrator of a thematic group for free, but such activities will take a lot of time and effort. It is necessary to gain subscribers, establish communication with them, and answer questions from those interested. Many admit that with the right approach to business, this method is effective.

Where can I order an advertisement?

If you require quality and speed in promoting your publication, use the services of experts who know what it is. They can be found on all sorts of freelance exchanges. One of them is the site freelance.youdo.com (not advertising!).

The order takes place in 3 steps:

  1. Posting your assignment indicating your requirements and wishes.
  2. Freelancers offering their services.
  3. Selecting the best one with analysis of reviews and length of stay on the site.

The price for such a service varies, but you have the right to set your budget and wait to see who agrees to these terms.

Advantages of this method:

  • Reliability. On exchanges, all performers are checked by the service administration before registration. An indicator of professionalism is reviews from grateful clients.
  • Speed. You don’t have to wait long; within a few minutes after your publication, offers from performers will begin to arrive.

This option saves you effort and time, but may be a little expensive on your budget.

How to place an ad on Avito?

Avito is one of the largest trading platforms in Russia. Thousands of new advertisements for purchase and sale, provision of various types of services, etc. appear here every day. Officially, the site has been operating since 2007, and during this period it has managed to gain success among users.

No doubt you've thought about posting your message on this board. But there are certain rules for this:

  1. Heading. We have already written about how to make it catchy. It remains to add that you can focus on the number of views and calls: if this does not satisfy you, change the name of the publication and select several other options. What should not be written in the title of an ad on Avito? It is not allowed to indicate price, contact information, or website address in the title.
  2. Words to search. There are keywords in the Avito description that will help you find your ad among millions of others. To do this, use well-known expressions. For example: instead of saying "Cute hamsters", use "Cute hamsters". This way you have a better chance of being viewed.
  3. Structure. Divide your text into several paragraphs, so it will be easier for the reader to become familiar with its content.
  4. Simplicity. Using too literary language will discourage people from purchasing your product simply because it is difficult to understand its description.
  5. Reason for sale. The price that is normal for you may be too low or high for the buyer. It is better to immediately indicate why you are getting rid of this or that product. For example, you are selling a phone not because it is faulty, but because you have a new model. Such information reassures the potential client.
  6. Benefit. Don't forget to include in the text how your product can be used. Take the time to explain all the different ways it can be used. And the buyer who has done without a thermal mug realizes how much he needs it.
  7. Call to action. To encourage the client to make a purchasing decision, leave a certain intrigue that will only be resolved through a phone call. Let's say you offer to find out about the gift. Also show that the buyer has a unique opportunity that will not be repeated, such as purchasing at the old price (or there are a limited number of units left).

Save the article in 2 clicks:

By following the above tips, everyone is able to create a high-quality ad that achieves the desired effect. Whether you're at a gathering or just posting flyers on the street, make your copy more appealing to your audience.

In contact with

One of the critical problems in the work of a PPC specialist is composing an advertisement that will not get lost among others. In the world of Internet giants, it is not easy to surprise with an advertisement. Messages with the words “buy”, “advantageous offer”, “quality product”, “free delivery upon purchase” are found at every step.

We'll show you how to craft a message for your target audience and what techniques to use to make it unique.

In order to create a viral ad, you need a clear understanding of the plan for further action. Such a plan should include the following items:

  1. We determine what product we are promoting;
  2. select the target audience (TA);
  3. We develop a methodology for composing an advertisement;
  4. We study successful competitors in;
  5. We write a unique message that is relevant to the desires of users.

For large Internet portals that spend swollen budgets on advertising, PPC specialists create ad templates. For owners of small websites who have a small budget, such templates are in most cases useless. Therefore, we add such templates to the plan optionally, depending on the specifics of the resource.

How to determine a product for promotion and target audience

Before you pay money for clicks, you should ask yourself the question: will such expenses bring profit?

Some webmasters may find it strange that users do not always click on advertising messages to make a purchase. This happens due to an irrelevant message, insufficient determination of the user to make a purchase, and simple inattention of the user. A properly written ad eliminates all these problems.

However, there are products for which this type of advertising such as PPC is not suitable:

  1. Those products for which there are few requests in general or in the target region - users do not use the Internet to find out about the product/service being promoted.
  2. When the audience is wide, but the demand is not formed - for those innovative products that have not conveyed their benefits to potential consumers.
  3. In cases where the audience is narrow and the product is specialized - the usefulness of the product should be conveyed on specialized portals, the effectiveness of the PPC campaign is low.

Let's assume that our product does not fall into any of these categories. In order not to waste money in vain, we gradually determine the portrait of our target audience:

  1. We determine who is buying the product at a given time and is a loyal buyer;
  2. We represent the ideal buyer of the product (geographical location, age, gender, character traits, desires and fears, habits);
  3. analyze competitors' offers;
  4. Based on the analysis, we draw up a portrait of the target audience.

For example, if you promote cheap clothes that copy well-known brands, we will draw up the following portrait of the target audience:

Floor: female;

Age: 17-22 years;

Occupation: mainly study, work with a flexible schedule;

Attitude towards shopping: positive;

Attitude towards discounts: positive;

Purchase preference: style prevails over quality.

This is only a small part of the portrait of the target audience, but we have already received a lot of useful information.

In accordance with this data, we create a unique offer, for example related to a discount for students or a gift when purchasing a product.

How to develop a methodology for writing an ad

First of all, an ad for a PPC campaign should convey the essence of the product being promoted. When clicking on such an ad, the user expects to see exactly the product he is looking for. Otherwise, he will be disappointed and leave the site. Therefore, you should monitor the validity of the links and the relevance of the message to the product page.

Additional restrictions are imposed by search engines on the length of the title and description:

Maximum length header- 33 characters;

Maximum length ad text- 75 characters;

Maximum length header– 25 characters;

Maximum length ad text– 70 characters;

To create an effective message, first of all, we identify the key queries for which it can appear. Serpstat will help us with this.

We enter a query (in our example, “boots”) and select a search engine. Go to the “PPC analysis” section, “Key phrases” subsection. Now we filter the information received, for example, we do not offer women's boots, and are not tied to a specific region.

Next, we analyze the information received. You should take into account the cost and competition in the RRS for each of the keywords in order to balance the budget. In addition, in terms of stylistic content, not every ad is suitable for our product. For example, the first message on our list is poorly written.

Now go to the “Ads” section. We pay attention to how the ads are composed, which are shown for the maximum number of key phrases. They have the widest audience reach. We export the received information in a convenient format.

It makes sense to click on these advertisements and analyze for the similarity of our commercial offer and the competitive one.

Competitors are sources of rich ideas

Since development is a constant search for new techniques and ideas, successful competitors serve as an excellent resource for replenishing them.

Serpstat provides a “Competitors” section to analyze promising competitors. After entering the query, selecting a search engine, and going to this section, click on the number of advertisements opposite the selected opponent.

We analyze the received advertisements of the selected competitor, take the best and create a unique commercial offer.

What did we get

Our ad creation technique is very simple. First of all, you need to understand how much it will help in promoting the product. If the return is not great, or the specifics of the product do not allow it to be increased, you should not waste resources on PPC.

If contextual advertising is predicted to bring significant profits, we study the target audience. We draw up a portrait of a representative of the target audience, an ideal buyer whom we want to lure. Proper research in this area will improve conversions and increase revenue.

Then we determine the cost and competition in the PPC of each keyword for which ads of successful competitors are shown in search. This will allow you to draw up an approximate budget and understand how possible it is to enter the industry.

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A small disclaimer before you start reading. This text was written over 2 years: from 2011 to 2013. Today, the text remains here “as is,” but changes, edits, and additions are constantly being made to it. Therefore, if you want to constantly be aware of current content, subscribe to updates on social networks or by e-mail (links to social networks or newsletters are located at the top or side).

Good luck!
Sergey Zhukovsky

Most advertising texts will never bring their authors much money! Why? It's simple. The authors of these texts write texts according to the principle “to sell at any cost,” which means you have an excellent chance to “destroy” your competitors with the right printed word.

The good news is that these components follow common sense laws and are therefore fairly easy to follow.

Let's get to know all 4 secrets.

Secret of writing advertising text No. 1

You must have a quality product

Although this is obvious, judging by what I observe in the market, many entrepreneurs are missing this important condition.

There are a number of reasons why you should have a quality product (or service). First of all, selling a quality product significantly reduces the rate of returns and the number of dissatisfied customers. Even with all the attention that is supposedly paid to creating quality products and providing quality services, I know that some companies have a return rate of up to 70% of all orders! There is no doubt that this is simply a financial disaster.

A low quality product negatively impacts repeat sales and recommendations to potential customers. This causes another severe financial constraint because repeat sales can be an incredible source of revenue for any business. Offers to existing customers are extremely profitable because sales generated through them are not subject to marketing expenses.

There is nothing more important to your success than having a quality product. Without a quality product, you won't have a real business.


Creating and using an ideal buyer persona in your target audience.

This is a very important idea, which you must understand from the very beginning, or you will cause irreparable damage to your sales and profits. When it comes to selling a product, it's important to immediately realize that there is an incredibly wide range of customers who might be interested in your product. But the group of consumers that will bring the most revenue to your business is called Ideal Buyer.

Who is the Ideal Buyer?

It's simple. This is a buyer with the following characteristics:

  1. A buyer who needs your product
  2. A buyer who has the ability to pay for your product
  3. A buyer who has the authority to purchase your product

It may seem that all three characteristics are obvious, but from my experience working with hundreds of clients, I can say that this is far from the case. Let's talk about each of these characteristics separately.

1. A buyer who needs your product...

Seems simple, doesn't it? But be careful, because the incorrect interpretation of this postulate can cause irreparable harm to your finances. Usually the biggest danger occurs when you have a product that “everyone needs.”

Trying to sell a product to “everyone” can cost you a pretty penny and, almost always, leads to failure. You simply don’t have enough free finances to reach “everyone.” You need to carefully identify a group of buyers who have certain core needs and requests that you can focus on. The clearer the definition of your market, the easier it will be for you to sell your product. You can “like everyone else” offer a wide range of services, but the range of necessary requests from potential buyers may be even wider and you can easily “strain yourself” to satisfy clients in all respects.

For example, you sell goods to businessmen. The concept of businessman is incredibly broad. The shawarma merchant and the oil company owner are both businessmen, but it is unlikely that you will find it equally easy to sell your product to both. Therefore, it is obvious that the circle needs to be narrowed until you understand who exactly will buy your product.

You can try to sell your product to all businessmen. But if you narrow this group down to those who, for example, have problems with the tax office, you have a clearly defined goal. By creating effective advertising copy aimed at a specific market segment, you can easily work with those who need the services of a tax consultant.

2. A buyer who has the ability to pay for your product...

This point is a little more elusive. I noticed one very interesting pattern of behavior in clients who came to me for consultations. When clients ask me to determine what's wrong with their copy, they're often surprised by my answer.

They think I'll change the title, rearrange their sentence, or recommend a stronger conclusion, and so on. Most of them are simply shocked when I tell them that they have identified the target group incorrectly. It's pretty simple. What's holding back business growth is not bad advertising copy, but the fact that they are trying to sell something to the wrong people.

This error comes in two forms.

First– an attempt to sell a product to those who cannot afford it. The idea that leads many entrepreneurs astray is this: “People want my product so much that they will go out of their way to buy it, even if they can’t afford it.”. Sadly, this happens extremely rarely. And as a result, you have warehouses full of goods that no one is going to buy.

Second type of error– choosing a market without enough money as a target and lowering prices in an attempt to sell at least something. This is another serious mistake.

It is impossible to make a substantial profit by selling goods at a low price to buyers who do not have the financial resources to pay a reasonable price. I've seen clients target starving actors, aspiring entrepreneurs, family businesses, and college students as potential buyers. This is real financial suicide. You need a potential circle of consumers who actually need your product and who are willing and able to pay for it.

If you are making a product for children, then do not sell it to children, they do not have money (although they may have plenty of desire to own it), go to their parents.

3. A buyer who has the authority to purchase your product...

Here is another important condition that is often neglected by those involved in marketing. Often, a potential buyer who looks like a potential consumer is not actually a consumer.

This often happens when directors have assigned a company employee to evaluate a product, or when he responds to your advertisement, mailing, letter, email, etc., without notifying his superiors. Such an employee can and wants to buy your product. But his employer does not share his enthusiasm and will not allow the purchase. The result is that there will be no purchase.

When I first started advertising my training for businesses “Crush the Competitor!” How to build a queue of clients using the Internet?” I tried one proposal on a number of business owners and marketing managers. I predicted that managers would be the strongest group of buyers because this course would help them perform their jobs more effectively by harnessing the hidden power of the Internet.

But who doesn't make mistakes? Not a single marketing manager bought that training. The training was purchased exclusively by small business owners.

As I did more research, I had the opportunity to speak with many marketing managers who had not purchased the training. Many of them told me that they really wanted to buy this course, but could not get their company to give permission to purchase. And, as I discovered, this is a definite pattern. It's rare that a company employee will part with their hard-earned money to pay for something they think their employer should buy. Whether you like it or not, this is the way things are.

So remember, you should always approach a potential buyer who has the authority to make the purchasing decision. Without such a person, you will not see a deal.

How to create an ideal buyer persona?

Your income level depends on your ability to correctly identify the group of buyers who want to buy your product, who can afford it, and who have the authority to buy it. The best way to identify such a group is to create an accurate image of such a group.

Let's figure out how, using these three criteria, to create an actual Ideal Buyer Image on which to base your advertising copy. For example, you sell video courses that help people learn how to use personal computers. Who would be most interested in purchasing such a product?

Obviously, computer owners will be potential buyers, but this is too general a concept. Firstly, those who use a computer at home and not at work will be the most interested in purchasing. This way we will exclude the most experienced users that your advertisements in major computer magazines would appeal to.

However, there are a large number of small magazines, online publications and websites that are designed for those who use a computer at home. This will be a good starting point in identifying your ideal buyer group. If you buy a few issues of these magazines and look at the articles and advertisements that appear in them, you will notice a pattern.

For example, they will have periodic articles on games for children, children's education, home budgeting, investment management and articles on other topics. You will also notice that these themes are duplicated in the advertisements.

Whatever advertisements are published in these publications, number by number, will point you in the direction of where your best prospects can be found. Assuming that the features I just listed are correct, then let's start creating a persona of your ideal client.

Your ideal client will have the following traits:

  1. He has a computer that he uses at home
  2. He has a family and children
  3. His income level: average to above average
  4. Subscribes to one or more home magazines
  5. He has an Internet connection, which he uses for business and personal tasks.
  6. He has already purchased other computer-related products through the same sales method you use.

We got a good starting image. With experience, you will find that some characteristics perform better than others. Then you'll pay more attention to these characteristics, which may eventually become part of your ideal buyer persona. Working with this group may be so profitable that all other activities may not be economically viable.

For example, you learn that 80% of your customers are parents who want to teach their children how to use a computer. And if you find out that this group's spending is almost twice that of other groups, it makes sense to focus your attention on those parents.

You will simply need to change all your promotional materials and make them more attractive to parents. Improving reading, math abilities, language skills, and general academic skills are likely to be most important to parents.

This, in a nutshell, is how the Ideal Buyer Image is created. Now you can create such an Image yourself and work with it!


Trust helps you achieve maximum profits

The key to controlling a continuous source of high sales is the buyer's trust in the market and in you in particular.

This may sound vague or even mysterious to some extent. But I can bet that after a few years in a marketing-intensive business, you will start to live by this principle.

I know of dozens of businessmen whose client lists range from 2,000 to 3,000 clients. These businessmen have a stable good income because they have acquired impeccable trust among their clients.

Just imagine. A profit of $300 per year per customer is $600,000 with a list of 2,000 customers and $900,000 with a list of 3,000 customers. Once you appreciate this simple principle of building trust, you will understand how easy it is to create a highly profitable business.

Here's another example. I consulted with one client who achieved amazing results in increasing the level of trust among his clients. Our combined efforts to sell products to customers on the company's own list of less than 300 names resulted in sales exceeding $175,000 last year—their first full year in business!

Believe me. A high degree of trust among your customers matters much more than anything else.

A little later I will tell you everything you need to know in order to earn, use and increase the degree of trust in your work with clients. Once you read the articles on this site, you will have everything you need to increase your profits by increasing trust with your customers.


The offer means a lot...

Whatever you are doing now, I want you to give your full attention to what I am about to tell you. I guarantee that even if you only learn this simple principle, you can easily double or even triple your sales.

Here's the most important thing about writing advertising copy:

In today's market, your offer is the most important component of your advertising. Or, to put it more simply, the “offer” is everything.

I attribute much of the success I've had in advertising copy to my ability to craft an exceptionally compelling proposal. Over the past few years, I have taken an approach that is significantly different from what the “experts” suggest. This is a very simple approach:

I always develop, improve and perfect my offer before launching it en masse in advertising, creating sales letters or engaging in Internet marketing.

In fact, I've gone even further: I know this may sound overly simplistic—maybe even too good to be true—but I'm about to give you one of the biggest marketing secrets you could ever hope to know:

You can make clients fight for you by becoming an expert at creating effective, compelling offers.

And that's why: In today's market, potential clients and buyers are fed up with advertising materials. Television, radio, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, billboards, cinemas, grocery stores and various other sources attack us every day with such a wave of advertising that it is simply impossible for a sane person to perceive it.

This means that your customers are virtually immune to advertising. She's barely memorable.

The way to overcome this wall of saturation and disinterest is to make your offer so compelling and so believable that it will make them stop and say to themselves, “Stop! But this is perhaps interesting...”

As I said, when I start writing advertising copy for myself or my clients, I work at it until I'm exhausted. Once I have a text that seems most successful to me, I set it aside for a few hours. Then I edit it again and again. Then I put it off until the next day. The next day I edit my proposal again and again.

Once it is edited to the best of my ability, I give my proposal to two or three of my colleagues whose opinions I greatly respect. I know that these people will be brutally honest with me - that's exactly what I need.

The main goal of this whole process is to end up with an offer that is so good that no one who is even slightly interested in my topic will be able to avoid reading my advertisement.

Your proposal must be extremely clear and precise. Every aspect of it must be explained down to the smallest detail. It must be perfectly understandable.

By clearly defining my super sentence, I believe the rest of it practically writes itself. Creating the rest of the sentence is a process of clarifying and providing informational and emotional support to the main part. As a result, the entire process of writing advertising text becomes a very simple task.

I rarely spend a long time creating accompanying text, but I work my ass off on my proposal. Write down and keep on your desk:

The offer is everything!

What does “everything” mean? Nothing less than that supply is the key to huge immediate profits and ongoing long-term success!

I'll go into more detail about the details of creating effective proposals in a moment. But for now, it's important to recognize that a great offer can easily triple your profits.


Before you start writing advertising copy, you need to do thorough research.

Many are under the illusion that writing effective advertising copy is very difficult. I tell my consulting clients this all the time, and I’ll say it again here. Writing effective advertising texts is quite simple.

The reason good copy writes itself is because the copywriter has spent the necessary amount of time and effort to do thorough research before committing to the job.

Remember this once and for all. Even if you learn nothing else from my materials, this important condition will significantly improve your writing and your sales.

Most copywriters I actually respect (because their copy has sold huge amounts of product) write very quickly. This is because they put in the time and effort upfront and did the right research.

Once you realize that you know your subject thoroughly, it will be easier for you to write about it. This is why many small business owners write better ad copy than what they get from a third-party copywriter.

Small business owners know inside and out their product, their market and all the levers of influence on the buyer. Therefore, their texts are simply beautiful and sell the product perfectly.

But many professional copywriters are simply lazy and arrogant. They think they know everything there is to know about copywriting. Therefore, they feel that it is beneath them to do something as routine as research. As a result, their texts turn out to be sluggish, ineffective “water” that never achieves its goal of increasing sales and profits.

How important is research to creating successful online copy? Take a look at…

Zhukovsky’s “70 to 30” rule on creating successful advertising text

The process of creating good advertising copy is 70% research and 30% writing.

The secret to writing writing that will break all records is research, research and more research. If you truly want to make your writing and your business as successful as possible, it is vital that you learn the simple process of proper research.

What to explore?

So what exactly do you need to research? Everything that can be considered important to create the most attractive argument so that your clients will begin to act the way you want.

Here's a list of everything you need to research to get the raw material that will eventually become highly profitable ad copy:

1. What is the purpose of your text?

Do you only need access to clients or are you going to engage in direct sales? Will you sell directly or use a two-step method?

2. What is the main goal you are trying to achieve?

Focus on the next 6 months. If this project could only achieve one important goal, what would it be?

3. What other goals do you want to achieve with this project?

4. Is there anything about your product or company that would add credibility to you?

These could be awards that you have received throughout the time you have been running your business, the results that can be achieved using your product, etc.

However, we should not forget that all these factors are only useful when they demonstrate genuine benefits. Your advertising copy is not a yard where you can show off and stroke your ego. At least if you want to sell as much as possible.

The sole purpose of collecting this information is to evaluate whether you can use it as a catalyst to get your customers to take action as quickly as possible.

5. What product or service are you going to sell?

This may seem obvious, but judging by the advertising copy that I see every day, it is not.

One of the biggest mistakes I see is advertising copy that isn't clear about what it's selling. Sometimes it's copy that sells a service, but it only says how long ago the company was founded, who works there, and other irrelevant information.

Another blunder is copy that tries to sell too many products at once. For the most part, unless you're creating a catalog, your copy should revolve around a single product. Sometimes this rule can be broken, but this requires experience, otherwise you risk significantly weakening your sales pitch.

6. What are the features of your product?

How many different models? Colors? How does he work? Is it effective? Economical? Is it easy to learn how to use and work with it?

7. What significant facts and figures have been collected about this product?

Has research been done to provide facts and figures to support your claims? Is there a trade council that can provide important facts, graphs, charts and statistics about your product? How does it compare to your competitors' products?

8. What important benefit will your customers receive when using your product?

The difference between a fact/feature and a benefit is this: a fact/feature is what the product does, while a benefit is what it does for you.

Another important point to remember is that the benefits directly depend on the properties. You can write down all the facts/properties and then, based on this list, determine the corresponding benefits.

Here are some examples of facts/properties and their corresponding benefits:

Fact/property: Super car wash reduces water consumption

Advantage: You save money

Fact/property: Wash, polish and rinse with the same machine

Advantage: A very simple and easy to use device. You will save a lot of time every month with its help.

Fact/property: Sturdy polished aluminum construction

Advantage: This device will last a long time and save you money.

As you can see, thorough benefits research is very important because the benefits you tell your customers about will be the main driving force of your advertising copy. Your task is to make a list of all the possible benefits that a client who uses your product will receive.

9. What are the main benefits a client gets from working with you compared to your competitors? Or from your product compared to your competitors' product?

This is another important point. Once you determine what benefits you offer over your competitors, you will have a powerful marketing advantage. I call this advantage the ESP or the Necessary Selling Advantage.

What makes you stand out from the crowd? Why do your customers choose to do business with you rather than your competitors? Your PUP may be related to your company or your product. But like any other aspect of marketing, it should be viewed in terms of what it can do for your customer.

Some possible PUPs for your product could be: better price, better service, wider range, higher quality, stronger warranty, exclusivity, higher status, or catering to special groups.

A clearly defined PUP helps position your company or your product in the market. It can also become the main theme of your advertising copy.

I have one interesting premonition. It tells me that maybe you think you don't have a PUP... Or the activity you're doing doesn't have a PUP, or you don't need one.

Don't be fooled! Every business has its own distinctive advantages over its competitors. You may not be aware of what they are. Or you've been using them for so long that you don't pay much attention to them anymore.

Here's a quick tip on how to identify your personal strengths. Call 10-20 of your best clients. Ask them why they choose to do business with you rather than someone else.

Listen to them carefully. After 5-6 calls you will notice a pattern. It will become absolutely clear to you what benefits attract your customers.

By the way, if they give you more than one reason, ask them to indicate their importance. This will be additional information for your advertising campaign.

And one last thing. If you're starting a new business, please don't tell me you don't have a core advantage that will allow you to outperform your competitors. Because if you still haven't identified the main benefit that will attract customers to you, you're probably not ready to open yet.

If you start a new business without an advantage over your competitors, you risk going bankrupt very quickly. Survey your potential buyers. Find out what will make them leave your competitors and start working with you. Then use this information to determine your Must-Sell Advantage.

Here is an example of a PUP that a copywriter can use:

A good PNP is formulated clearly, concisely and does not contain unnecessary information. Here's another example that may already be familiar to you:

“Fresh hot pizza delivered in over 30 minutes. Guaranteed!”

10. What is more important to your client?

Price, delivery, work, service, reliability, quality, efficiency?

11. Write a short, precise description of the type of clients you would like to attract most.

Where does your Ideal Client live? What age group does he belong to? What is his education? His hobbies and interests? Income level? How does your client rate himself?

Why is this person your Ideal Client? Because he needs your product. Because he can afford it. Because it can make his life easier and better.

The more accurate this characteristic is, the more accurately the advertising text you write will serve the interests of your Ideal Buyer.

12. What warranty do you provide?

13. What level of service and support do you offer?

14. What is the average amountdeals for a regular purchase?

This is important for two reasons. First, it will help you more accurately identify your Ideal Buyer. Obviously, your message will only be sent to those people who can afford to buy what you are selling.

Second, if you are offering a new product in the same market where you already operate, the price should be reasonably close to the prices of other products you already sell. Offering a $600 product in a market where the average purchase volume is $45 doesn't make much sense.

15. What other information do you need to collect that is unique to your market? Is there anything else you could use to strengthen your sales pitch?

Here's another list you might find useful. When I write copy for a client, I always ask them to send me as many of the following samples as possible. These samples are invaluable for research.

  • Advertising and commercial letters
  • Samples of advertising in magazines and newspapers
  • Advertising texts for websites
  • Online advertising newsletter
  • Scripts for radio and television
  • Brochures
  • Catalogs
  • Set of promotional cards
  • Press kits
  • Scripts for telemarketing
  • Materials for training sales workers
  • Old issues of advertising brochures or online publications
  • Thematic ads
  • Marketing plans
  • Other important research findings and statistics
  • Basic articles about the client or his company
  • Competitors' advertisements and their advertising texts
  • Written testimonials from satisfied clients
  • Complaints from dissatisfied customers

Rest and absorb

In the last chapter, I talked about how, before writing advertising copy, it is simply vital to do some research about what you are going to advertise (even if it is your personal product).

Congratulations! You have passed the first step, and this is already a great achievement. You have collected all the primary material that you will use to significantly replenish your bank account.

So let's move on to the next step. Step on the gas, fasten your seat belts and get ready, because in the next step we need...

Nothing to do!

Exactly. The next step is absolute inaction.

All you need to do is go to the movies, play your favorite sport, take a long walk, have lunch at your favorite restaurant, or do anything else that makes you happy.

But you need to do this not because you deserve a reward (you, of course, deserve it, but that is not the importance of this step). You should do this because it is an important, integral step in the process of creating the most effective ad copy you can.

That's what it's all about. You see, up until this point, you've been loading your brain with assorted facts, details, and pieces of information that you could find. You have saturated your brain with information and led it to a state of information overload.

Now it's time to move from this logical stage of gathering information to the intuitive stage, during which your brain absorbs it. And what’s great is that you don’t have to do anything at all to make this transition!

While you are not doing anything, your brain will be able to calmly accept, parse and sort all this information in an extremely practical manner. Your brain will create incredible connections between separate pieces of information that seemed completely separate to your active consciousness.

This is an important part of the job. During this step, you activate critical processes in your own consciousness. This process is similar to what happens when you are actively working on an idea, but get stuck, eventually give up, then go to sleep, only to wake up in the middle of the night with a clear solution ready.

So, take this opportunity and let your brain perform its marketing miracle. Try not to think about the information you have collected. Move away from her. When you come back to it, you will be surprised at how much this step did for you.

Create a comprehensive list of features, facts and figures

Two chapters ago, you collected information about a product. Now it's time to use the information you've collected.

Write down every single feature, fact, and figure related to the product. Don't highlight one over the other. Consider this a brainstorming session. Write down everything that comes to mind. Your main task is to make a list of all possible parts.

Remember, features relate to your product - what size it is, what it's made of, what colors it is, how effective it is, whether it's loud or quiet, fast or slow, how much it costs, how long it will last, what it can be used for. , can it be made to order, and so on.


Make a list of all the benefits your client will receive

Benefits are the salt of all advertising text. What specifically can you do to make your client's life better, easier and more enjoyable? What important customer problems can you solve? What is it that they really need that you can offer them? How can your product help them feel special, appreciated and recognized?

There are two very good ways in which you can create a comprehensive list of benefits.

First, write down all of your customers' top concerns. Price, performance, quality, reliability, efficiency, productivity, availability. Then state what benefits your product has on each point.

Then take the list of all the features, facts and figures that you made. How does it translate into benefits? Use the examples I gave earlier as a guideline for turning features/facts/figures into benefits.

Once you've compiled your list of benefits, get it organized. Arrange it in order of importance of each item to your customers. Then choose the most important benefits that are sure to attract the attention of your clients who want to work with you.

The most attractive advantages will need to be highlighted when writing advertising text. If you show your customers that with your product they can save time, money, achieve some meaningful goal, avoid or solve some important problem, and make their lives better and easier, you will be able to sell your product or service.


Create an incredibly strong offer

The offer you create will have a huge impact on your sales. I've seen trials of the same text with different offers, where one offer attracted two to three times more prepaid orders than the others.

I help my consulting and coaching clients create a powerful offer for their existing advertising copy. By simply changing their offering, I have almost always seen their sales increase by at least 30%, and often much more.

The best offer for your client will be the one that eliminates as many risks as possible on his part. I am always surprised by offers with a 15-day guarantee, especially for cheap services, quality goods, books or information products. Who can evaluate the performance of any product in just 15 days, especially with such a busy life that most people lead?

When I see that a company offers a 15-day warranty, it tells me two things. Either they do not know how to write advertising texts that could bring them maximum profit, or they are so unsure of the quality of their product that they try to shorten the warranty period as much as possible.

And while we're on the topic of warranty, let's look through the lens of offering a longer warranty period for your product. The first thing that a longer warranty brings with it is that it shifts most of the risk from the buyer's shoulders to yours.

This gives you an important advantage during the sale. Your customer wants to know that they can buy in complete confidence - and to know that if your product fails to live up to your promises, they can return it without hassle.

Secondly, a longer warranty period shows that you believe in your product. If it weren't, you'd be offering a measly 15-day warranty like all your competitors.

Third, and most importantly, it tells your customers that you put their interests before your own. You're not just making quick money, you're here for the long haul and you want to make sure they get all the benefits you promised them.

Here is a list of strong components that can be included in a good proposal:

  • Low price guaranteed
  • Guaranteed quality
  • Soft payment terms
  • Discounts for certain groups
  • Discounts for large quantities
  • Limited Time Discounts
  • Bonuses. In particular, bonuses that the buyer can keep for himself, even if he decides to return the ordered product
  • Free trial
  • Free samples
  • Free shipping, or express delivery at the lowest price
  • No obligations
  • Toll-free number for inquiries and technical support
  • Solid volumes
  • Free or low-cost upgrade later to another product
  • Free credit for a certain period of time
  • Cashless payments
  • Payment deferment
  • Limited Availability
  • Exclusivity

Great, now let's look at examples of real offers that have significantly increased sales.

Here is a sentence from a large advertisement that was placed in a direct marketing magazine. The sentence is contained in the title and is supported by the subtitle. The advertisement is written in the form of a testimonial letter from one of my satisfied clients.

How to Get an Expensive, Elite Copywriter to Increase Your Sales—No Risk!

What elements are involved in this text? First of all, any risk on the part of the client is excluded. They promised a safe deal.

Secondly, this is an attractive offer of huge profits - confirmed by one of the clients (in fact, this is a testimonial in the title). This is a strong suggestion that worked just fine. The author of this advertisement was literally inundated with offers from clients who wanted him to create good advertising for them too.

Here's another one I wrote for one of my clients. The task was to breathe life into a very mundane product - making money on Forex.

Introducing Forex Elite

As a priority customer

You can receive free consultations from our call center

Just by calling us on a special number

You can get

Up to 50,000 rubles to the company’s internal account.

There are no fees!

There are several strong elements at play here. First and foremost is the appeal of exclusivity. You are part of a small group of people who can receive this product.

The conditions are simple. You can already get 50,000 rubles. It couldn't be easier.

There is no application fee. In general there are no fees. This is the biggest discount you can get.

In addition, generous volumes. The client was promised a substantial sum simply for filling out a form over the phone. He can count on 50 thousand rubles. A very generous offer that makes the entire text very effective.

And finally, the hidden promise of a risk-free transaction. In the sense that you don't risk getting into an awkward position. You won't be refused. They are already ready to give you money and a priority line for consultations, so all you need to do is fill out a form by calling and receive 50 thousand.

Your offer quite often determines the tone and flow of the entire advertising copy. Additionally, knowing how you plan to position your product (through your offer) can have an important impact on the main points you make in your sales copy.

Remember this rule well: ALWAYS write your proposal at this stage. Don't even think about getting ahead of yourself. If you don't do this, you will significantly degrade the quality of your ad copy.


Create an Exceptional Guarantee

Remember how I already said that buyers are used to behaving like complete skeptics? That they are used to questioning almost any advertising proposal? Yes it is.

One of the best ways to counter this skepticism and doubt is to offer a powerful, no-nonsense guarantee. And, as you probably already know, I mean flawless from the client's point of view.

A reliable, thoughtful guarantee will allow customers to perceive you as a reliable partner, and even if they don’t like the result, they will have nothing to lose. This is especially important on the Internet, where most new customers don't know you and have little reason to trust you.

Minimum warranty period, which has any meaning for customers, should be 90 days. Personally, I have never guaranteed my products or services for less than this period.

There are a number of reasons for this.

Firstly, I take pride in my products and services, and I want my customers to know this and not have any doubt about it. Additionally, I believe that clients deserve to be treated this way since they will pay for my product with their hard earned money.

Secondly, the one-year warranty is a powerful deal motivator. Look, if the buyer has taken a wait-and-see attitude and cannot decide whether the product is worth the price, do you think that a 10-day guarantee will help you convince him of something? I guarantee not.

On the other hand, a one-year warranty implies something much more specific that will allow you to seal the deal.

And, in the end, a one-year warranty can be an excellent argument when writing advertising text. Look how vague the following example sounds.

You will have 10 whole days in order to evaluate and put into practice this home refurbishment course. If you are disappointed in something, you will not lose a cent. Just return it and we'll refund you the full price.”

Now we are evaluating the same warranty, but with an increased validity period of up to a year.

You will have whole year in order to evaluate and put into practice this home refurbishment course. Absolutely right. You will have 365 days to evaluate this wonderful course and put it into practice in your home. Or in any other place, at any time convenient for you.

Imagine how much money you will be able to save this year alone. You won't need to hire a professional to do this simple housework. You can easily save 10 times the cost of this course in the first year alone.

Plus, if for any reason you're unhappy or the course doesn't meet your expectations, you won't lose a penny. Just return it and we'll refund you the full price. Until the last of the 365 days of warranty!

There is a difference, isn't there? The 10 day warranty period is too lame. While the one-year warranty provides a solid base to build an attractive sales pitch on it.

One more thing about longer warranty periods. Those who have never provided a warranty or only provided a 10-day warranty fear that if they offer a 6-month or a year warranty, they will be ripped off by unscrupulous buyers.

In fact, you risk almost nothing. Just the opposite. Firstly, very few people take the trouble to return anything at all.

People are either too busy or too lazy to bother returning an item unless they're completely pissed off. This is another characteristic sign of our times. But more importantly, you must be a sensible enough seller to not take any steps that may infuriate buyers.

To be fair, it is worth noting that you still cannot avoid a couple of returns. Let's say, for example, that you typically sell 1,000 units during one particular promotion, and with the help of a powerful one-year warranty, you were able to achieve a 10% increase in sales.

This means that you sold 1100 units without any investment in marketing. But then the returns began. Do not forget that not everyone will return the goods.

Let's say that returns account for a whopping 10% of all new orders (this, of course, is unlikely to happen). 10% of 100 (additional sales generated by extending the warranty period) is 10 orders. It turns out that you increased sales by 90, not 100.

Do you understand what's going on? You still received 90 new orders, which you would never have without a powerful guarantee. 90 new sales that didn’t cost you a penny and required virtually no effort or time on your part.

Q.E.D!

Now it's time to look at how real guarantees work. Here are some powerful guarantees that I was able to find in my archives.

I took the first example from one catalog for the sale of consulting services.

Order with confidence

Our reliable

GUARANTEE

Order any report, video or

audio recording, and leave all your problems to us. Rate this

information for a whole year!

Either you will be 100% satisfied, or

Return the item to us for a full refund.

Here's the guarantee that was included in my course on how to create profitable blogs.

But in fact, you don't even have to worry about getting your money back. Because when you put the marketing talent of Success Guarantee into practice, I have no doubt that the results you achieve will be as satisfying and profitable as those of many of my students and clients.


Write a powerful title that can grab attention

Suppose you are shipwrecked on a distant uninhabited island. What will you do to tell someone where you are so they can rescue you?

First of all, you will try to create some kind of message that you could notice from a passing ship or plane. What would you write?

Would you use a little joke, some clever play on words, or draw a picture of a sexy woman? Of course not! If you wanted to save your life, you wouldn't.

You would want your message to attract the full attention of anyone who notices it. You would make it direct and concise. Something like:

SAVE – HELP!!!

Such a message will be absolutely clear and will attract the undivided attention of everyone who sees it, won’t it?

The correct answer is No need!

Although this is still the main mistake that 95% of companies make in their advertising. Do you need proof? Pick up today's newspaper and look at the classifieds page. Or type a word into a search engine and visit 10-15 sites to choose from. You'll be surprised how much these sites waste their precious resources.

With all the competition for a potential buyer's time and attention, you can't afford to try to outwit them, seem too smart, or bore them the second second.

Thermonuclear Heading Rule!!!

Your headline should be as powerful and direct as a direct hit.

I can already hear how heavily the art directors sighed now, exclaiming, throwing their hands into the sky: “What about creativity?”. All I can tell them is: “Bad luck, friends!”

This means that the only headline you need to write is the one that jumps out in the subject line of a newsletter, the title of a blog post, or the page of a newspaper or magazine and grabs the reader by the throat and forces them to pay attention to you.

How can you achieve such a lofty goal? Show the client what he will get by reading your advertising text.

I don't remember who it was (probably Gary Halbert), but one of the wise marketing gurus once said something like: “The soul of every headline is a promise, a promise of something incredibly important.”.

This, my friends, is absolutely true, because your headline should do two things. We have already talked about the first one: it must fully capture the reader's attention. If he doesn't, you're in trouble. You've lost your reader and any chance of them taking the action you want.

The second function that a header should perform is promising your reader something so wonderful, but believable that he will not be able to help but read the rest of your advertising text.

People are very busy today. You will only have 5-10 seconds to give them an extremely compelling reason to continue reading your text. If you think that a client will read 3,4,5 paragraphs or a whole page to understand what the proposal is, you are very mistaken.

If you don't start laying out aces from the very beginning, the chances are high that your card will be beaten from the very first move. You will lose the reader and any chance of making a deal.

What kind of promise will make a headline powerful and attention-grabbing?

Here is the list:

  • Main benefit what the buyer will receive from your product
  • Strong offer, which is impossible to refuse
  • Free offer
  • Special offer, limited by time or some other framework
  • Strong review
  • Reader Warning(one that says not to buy without reading first, or a warning if you have powerful verified statistics that will greatly surprise or attract the reader's attention)
  • Message, addressed to a special group of people - if this is the only group whose attention you want to attract

Of all the promises above, there is one that stands out significantly from the rest. In fact, 99 out of 100 headlines I've written use it to grab attention. I should have included other examples in the list, but I always build the title on that promise.

Guess what I'm talking about?

I won't keep you guessing any longer. The single most effective promise you can use in a header is: The main benefit that the buyer will receive from your message or product!!!

Remember, when reading an advertising text, the reader is concerned with the only question - how your offer can make his life easier and simpler... or how you can solve his important problem... or how this solution will help him achieve the goal for which he so strives.

So why waste time on anything else? Use the headline to convey your sales pitch to the reader.

It's simple and it works great. I've used it time and time again when helping my consulting clients optimize their texts.

There are many times when you can simply improve your headline to increase sales by 100%-200%. My upper limit is 367%. But a 20-50% increase in sales is not uncommon after changing a bland headline to a powerful headline that promises benefits. Given these results, there is no reason to use any other type of heading.

Here are some examples of headlines that have helped my clients increase sales. A small example of a headline for a realtor.

Do you want to sell your property quickly?
No prepayment...no commission...no additional fees!

No hints, right? Simple and direct, with promises of three benefits at once, which are very important for those who need to sell an apartment or house.

Today you don’t need to waste time and money on going to a massage therapist. Get a massage without getting up from your desk chair!

Free period 30 days!

You will receive a home foot massager worth 1,990 rubles as a gift!

Without obligations!

They immediately offer another advantage - a “free period of 30 days.” They don't actually give the machine for free. You can simply return it within 30 days if it does not live up to expectations. But what does it look like in the title, huh?

In the subtitle we find another strong promise: a bonus of 1,990 rubles in the form of a free foot massager. They included a free gift in the promise - this is also a very strong motivator.

Now let's look at another example that I learned from a Western copywriter who is actively working in the field of writing texts for shareware products. His Google Group signature always included the following:

This last example clearly shows how focusing on a major benefit and offering a solution to a big problem creates a powerful combination. Programmers will understand me. They would give anything to avoid sales. Their element is the creativity of writing programs, not trade and texts. Also notice how directly the subtitle promises to make the reader's life easier.

There is another element of promise involved here. The advertising text is aimed at a very limited group of people. The offer is intended exclusively for people and companies that develop and publish computer software.

So, are you ready to start writing your best headlines? Go!


Use color to highlight main points

It may sound trite, but the Internet is largely a visual advertising medium. This can be used to increase the selling power of the text. Use color to highlight the main points of your advertising copy.

However, it is very important that you do not overdo the color. I use NO MORE than 2 colors to emphasize important points that the client needs to understand. But I usually only use one color in addition to the black font that makes up the majority of my text.

For example, I ALWAYS use a second color for the title and subtitle. I especially like dark gray, but feel free to choose the one that best suits your text. Sometimes I also use red to highlight particularly important points in the body of my text.

But with the exception of the title and subtitle, I limit my use of color to only a few places. If you use color too much, you will end up not highlighting anything. All this will turn your text into an overloaded, cheap semblance of advertising.

There is another nuance of using color in the text - highlighting links. Every time you offer a link to an order form, that link must be formatted as follows − blue text, underline . This is a standard format for indicating that a given piece of text contains a link. If you follow this rule, your client will quickly and clearly understand where to click to get to the order form.


Reduce the number of illustrations to a minimum

One of the biggest problems in online advertising today is the abuse of illustrations. Just because you can use animated gifs, twinkling lights, and other bells and whistles in your ad copy doesn't mean you have to litter the pages with them.

First of all, the abundance of images slows down the page loading process. This problem is best avoided. People on the Internet are surprisingly impatient. They want instant downloads. If you make them wait even a few extra seconds, they will send you into obscurity with one click.

Even more important is the fact that images rarely convey any important information that can complement your text. Advertising text, not pictures, sells your product or service. 95% of your total effort should go into writing compelling copy. And only 5% can be allocated to creating illustrations.

To prove your point, just ask yourself: How many products and services would you sell without advertising copy?

Then ask yourself: How many products and services would you sell without illustrations?

The answer is simple. Texts sell, pictures complement them.

Many advertising texts on the Internet are replete with pictures from a library of graphic images only because they are publicly available. These pictures do not strongly support the advertising text. Instead, they are distracting and turn your ad copy into a cartoon. And distracting customers or making yourself look stupid will probably negatively affect your sales.

When can I use illustrations?

First, you want text that looks nice and neat. A little style doesn't hurt. I like black text on a white background, but I've seen other color combinations that look quite attractive. If you find a color combination that is visually pleasing without darkening the text, feel free to use it.

Also, some marketers find it important to include a photo of a key figure in their company (themselves or the company president) in order to personalize the copy. As for me, I compared texts with my photo and texts without a photo and didn't notice much of a difference. However, I know of companies that have great faith in this method, and as long as it doesn't harm your text, it can be used.

Finally, a few judiciously placed photographs can provide additional support for your ad copy. A few photo posting techniques I use are a frame around a particularly important review and an image next to the order information.


Grab the reader by the throat from the first paragraph

So, your headline has captured the reader's attention and made a powerful promise. Now you should immediately show your reader how you will fulfill this promise.

This promise attracted the reader to the text. And all you need to do is to bring to his consciousness that you can fulfill this promise.

Your reader wants to know what it means to them, and they need to know it right now. He doesn't want to wait another half page or even a couple of paragraphs. He passionately wants to get what he needs or solve his problem.

There are a lot of books on copywriting that will tell you that you can start your text with a story, a motivational quote, a statement that will flatter your reader, a popular line, etc.

I absolutely cannot agree with this. While these methods sometimes work, most of the time they fail miserably. But more importantly, these types of text openings make sense, only if they fulfill your main promise. And 99 times out of 100 they don't.

Besides, why make the beginning of the text indirect at all? Your reader doesn't need to be entertained. They want benefits—BIG benefits. So give them what they want in the most direct, simple and attractive way possible.

How to sell 2 times more copies of your programs?

... A professional copywriter (formerly a software developer) will help you increase sales and save you from the constant headache of writing selling texts.

Enjoy programming, and I'll handle the texts.

Dear Marketing Manager,

Does your business need hundreds, and maybe even thousands additional sales? Do you want to achieve this goal? And get rid of two serious problems?

If yes, then this letter will become doubly valuable to you. Because I'll show you how to attract tons of new business and get rid of two of your biggest problems at the same time!

In this letter, the first paragraph immediately reveals the topic. The main benefit is rephrased in a stronger, stimulating manner. Then the second paragraph makes another strong promise “the letter will become doubly valuable for you” to the original promise.

It's simple. The secret is to focus on the client and what the client needs most.

There are no grand excursions into the company's glorious history. There are no happy stories. No fluffy quotes.

This is a strong, concise text, after reading which the reader will want to know more details. And to do this, he needs to continue reading your advertising text.


Eliminate all doubt with a “pre-emptive strike of trust”

I started using this method based on the experience of many American copywriting gurus. Since I developed it and started writing about it in my newsletters and speaking at seminars, I have often seen hundreds of other marketers try to imitate it. It's okay - I wouldn't teach this method if I didn't want as many people as possible to use it.

But most importantly Why it is used so often. And the reason why so many marketers use this extremely powerful yet simple method is because it is so effective. Let me explain this step to you so that you can also use it to your advantage.

In earlier steps, I advised creating headlines and opening paragraphs that are loaded with promises. While these methods work very successfully to get customers' attention, they also create a problem for you. The point is that if you apply these methods inappropriately, you will lead your potential client...

To the edge of the abyss of distrust in you!

This is exactly what you will achieve. Most aim to create a headline so loaded with promises (but deliverable promises) that many potential clients will begin to doubt what you have to offer. This is very easy to achieve as many customers have already been scammed by other marketers.

And with your headlines and first paragraphs you will most likely create this doubt in them, and now you need to make sure that this doubt is broken into thousands of fragments. And you can do this with the help of Preemptive Strike of Trust.

Let me give you an example to show what I mean. Here's the beginning of the sales copy that helped me sell copywriting seminars for a long time:

Would you like to get more sales andmore profit with everyone's helpYour advertising text?

Now you can increase your profits by as much as 917%using a simple proven formula “Sales Text Constructor”

“With your formula, our profits have grown by leaps and bounds. I increased my profit on one of the projects by as much as 917%!”

Oleg Kozlov, director of RosMedCenter LLC.

One of my clients has already achieved this. Using the methods I'm about to introduce you to, he increased his profits by 917%. Many others have increased their profits by 300% or more.

This is an excellent example of the Preemptive Strike of Trust in action. In the title and subtitle I promised something almost unbelievable - that this simple, proven formula can increase your profits by 917%.

Now that I have planted this doubt, I need to get rid of it as quickly as possible. And at the same time, I want to convey to the reader the fact that exactly what I promised to achieve is quite realistic.

It is at this moment that the turn of the Preemptive Strike of Trust comes. The first part of the text that the reader immediately sees with such a bold promise is an independent review that supports the promise I made.

And it immediately becomes clear that what I promised is, in fact, true. (I changed the review signature here, in the original there was a phone number where you could call a person and check everything).

The evidence is presented here in an indisputable way - using the words of an independent third party, and not through a sales argument made in my own words.

The Real Effectiveness of Preemptive Strike of Trust

Now, if I can convince a potential client that what I promised them can actually be done, I have a huge advantage. But in addition to this achievement, I achieved another important goal.

I have prepared the ground and now all my future statements that I will make in my advertising text will be perceived as obviously true. Of course, all my statements will be truthful, but often the truth is perceived as something unattainably good.

Once you make a big promise and show that you can deliver on it beyond any doubt, you will immediately overcome one of the most difficult obstacles: getting your prospect to believe the claims and promises you make.

Obviously, it is very important for you to overcome the natural skepticism inherent in most clients. Remember that they have probably been deceived or disappointed by other marketers many times before. Therefore, it is not surprising that they treat your proposal with a fair amount of skepticism. And your task is to overcome this skepticism, break it into many pieces so that it no longer threatens a single sale of yours. And as you already understand, there is no better way to achieve this goal than the Preemptive Strike of Trust.

I recommend that you place as many reviews as possible as early as possible in your advertising copy. You can praise your product all you want, but nothing convinces like an independent third-party review of your product.

I'm constantly amazed that so many marketers leave reviews until the last minute, or even link to a testimonial page that's separate from the main ad copy. This is pure marketing suicide. By the time your prospect gets to the reviews you decide to place at the very end, it may be too late to overcome the mountain of skepticism they have accumulated.

Don't let this happen. Why risk even one sale when Preemptive Trust Strike can help you attract more and more buyers?


Create an enticing subtitle.

Subheadings are a powerful weapon to add to your marketing arsenal. Strong subheadings can go a long way in promoting your sales pitch. But the absence of subheadings or their weakness can significantly reduce your chances of closing a deal.

Subheadings give you three big benefits.

Firstly, they divide your text into convenient, clear sections. In all of my texts, you will notice that I write short sentences, stick to the rule of writing short paragraphs (usually two or three sentences) and divide all advertising text into short parts, using enticing subheadings as dividers.

The human eye can only focus on small sections at a time. If your advertising copy looks too dense and impenetrable, the reader will stop studying it and switch to something else.

This is especially true when the client is reading something on the Internet. The resolution of most monitors and the amount of text that can fit on the screen is severely limited. If you give your reader dense text with almost no spacing, he will not read it. And if he stops reading, he will never become your client.

Second The benefit that a compelling headline can offer you is its ability to guide the reader through the text. They keep reading interest high and help you move from section to section.

Third The benefit of an attractive subheadline is that it acts as a “mini-tour” through the entire ad copy. Many people simply skim through the text without reading it. Subheadings highlight important benefits or make provocative statements that encourage those skimming the text to read it.

With all these benefits that you can get from using subheadings, it is very important to make them extremely attractive and enticing.

How to Write a Strong Subtitle

Strong subheadings are built on three different components:

  1. The benefit your customer wants
  2. Problem the client wants to solve
  3. Combining a problem and its solution

Remember that your customers always want to know what you can offer them. They care about features, brand names, company history, prizes and awards you received, etc.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen stupid subheadings built around features that mean nothing to customers. Here are three subheadings that I recently saw in one of the advertising texts of a large manufacturer of assistive systems:

Support
Update
Protect

These are the only subheadings in a large volume of advertising text. They are all features and presented in the most routine manner imaginable.

If the reader's interest in reading a text depended only on the subheadings, would these three subheadings serve their purpose? Would you like your sales to depend on such subheadings? Of course not.

Now let's look at how to write three types of subheadings that will attract readers, keep them interested, and guarantee more sales.

Heading with Advantage

A headline with an advantage can simply state that advantage directly. Here's a good example:

Increase sales by at least 78% using 3 simple techniques
Find out all the details below

This is a very simple statement that will interest anyone who wants to improve their sales. It promises a strong advantage “a simple and powerful increase in sales”. The reader immediately wants to know more. The subtitle clarifies that the details can be found right here.

Another method is to associate the benefit with an argument for why the benefit can be trusted. This can be done by connecting the benefit to an external source. Here is an example from my advertising text about being from a direct sales site:

Want to know how a client opened my eyes to the unlimited potential of selling online?

By tying the benefits to an external source without articulating the proposal itself, I added credibility to these subheadings. This credibility helps clients accept that what I am about to tell them is true. At the same time, subheadings represent strong benefits that customers would love to receive.

Title with problem

The meaning of the title with the problem is very simple: to pay attention to the problem and the damage that this problem causes. Here is an example from the advertising text of a course that I sold through an e-mail newsletter:

A Dangerous Myth That Destroys Your Online Profits

In this particular subheading, as with most problem headings I create, I don't directly name the problem. I prefer to create a strong intrigue that will compel the client to read the text that follows the subheading.

Take a look at the previous subheading again. Who wouldn't want to read a little more and understand what this profit-killing myth is? I guarantee that few clients will stop reading on this meta and want to know whether this problem affects them or not.

Here's another reason not to name the problem directly. Problems often cannot be expressed in one sentence. This is exactly what we see in this particular case.

First I need to identify a common myth that almost everyone accepts as truth. Then I break the myth down to pieces, showing the reader exactly how it hurts their bottom line. This is difficult to describe in one subtitle.

Title problem/solution

The last type of subheading is a hybrid of a problem and a solution presented at the same time. This type is almost always used at the end of advertising text - often as a summary of the results. Here is an example from my text on making a profit using a direct selling site:

Put an end to wasteful internet marketing and start making money with your own website today

This subheading is on the penultimate page of my advertising text. It summarizes the client's big problem and offers a solution with an edge.

Press on the sore callus!

In order to present the most powerful sales pitch possible, you must make the client aware of his or her pain point.

This move directly contradicts what dozens of academic copywriting textbooks teach. These textbooks insist that you should not focus on the negative aspects of your writing.

According to this outdated logic, any negative statement can create destructive associations with your product in the customer. And this will cause them to automatically say “NO” when the time comes to take action.

I don't know who came up with these rules. Sounds like some kind of frazzled psychologist to me. In any case, this old rule should be forgotten as soon as possible, because the truth is that...

Showing your customer their biggest problem and pain point will help you sell a lot more of your products.

A lot of people won't like it. They think it's cruel. Or they want to avoid their own pain at all costs.

It doesn't seem cruel to me. It seems to me that you are doing your client a favor if you use their pain to get them to take some action that will ultimately bring them relief.

After all, you didn’t create this problem. She was there before you showed up. After all, you are using it to help your client and help yourself at the same time.

Why pain is such a powerful motivator

People are much more motivated to change something when they feel pain than when they anticipate pleasure.

To prove this, I paraphrase the words of the famous American heart surgeon Dr. Christian Barnard. Dr. Barnard once stated that he had no compassion for people who said they did not have the willpower to quit smoking. He elaborated by saying that he had never had a heart transplant patient who could not stop smoking immediately after undergoing surgery.

In general, what he means is that the pain of a massive heart attack, subsequent surgery, fear of having to do another surgery, and possible death give the patient the determination needed to quit smoking.

But these same people can be motivated to act through the sensation of their own pain. For example, many potential clients come to me on the recommendation of other clients whom I have helped make a lot of money.

These potential clients call me and say that they want me to create an advertising campaign for them that will allow them to make a lot of money too. And then they completely fail to do even the simplest things to get things moving.

Pain is a curious thing. I've noticed that many of these same prospects call me months or even years after they've experienced a major drop in sales!

Now they are ready to act. Whatever I tell them to do is done with amazing efficiency. Because in fact, the pain of losing sales is as powerful a motivator as heart surgery for some patients.

So, I insist that if you want to help as many customers as possible and increase your sales along with it, it is very important to clearly show them the pain that will occur if they do not take the action you want them to take.

I understand that this may be controversial in certain circles. I understand that this is not the most popular solution and may not be widely understood. But I also recognize that ethically using pain as a selling point can be beneficial for both you and the client.

Now I should clarify. I'm not advocating that you exploit your client's pain at every opportunity. Or so that you cunningly manipulate them. Or so that all your advertising text is based solely on pain.

I'm just saying that a limited dose of pain, written with a skillful hand and presented in good taste, can significantly transform your advertising copy.

Here is an example of using pain. It is taken from a sales letter that was used to sell my course for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

(THIS IS IMPORTANT) One last thing to think about...

You know, every time I talk to a business owner, it doesn't take long before the conversation turns to how to make more money. If you are anything like me, then you also often worry about this problem.

One thing I can say for sure: this cannot be achieved by continuing to do what you were doing before.

What you have done in the past has allowed your business to grow to where it is today. But this cannot continue like this. In today's economy, you simply cannot keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect some different result.

It's not all bad, is it? Just a little reminder of what they already know. That if you continue to act in the same way as always, nothing good will come of it. At best, they will remain where they are now. And let me make one more thing clear: if they are happy with who they are, then they would never have read this far!


Destroy the pain!

You see, I told you that I am not a masochist. The only reason you remind your client of his pain is to free him completely from it. It doesn’t matter what his problem is, you will help solve it 100%.

Of course, you provide this solution along with your product or service. This will help convince your loyal customers in the early stages of your advertising copy that you have exactly what they need.

By also demonstrating their pain through the worst problem they've ever had to deal with and then solving that problem, you show that you have a deep understanding of the client's situation and their needs. This is important because customers like to be understood. And this invaluable feeling has been proven to lead to higher sales.

In the example I gave in the previous step, the pain reliever was already included. It was mentioned in the last two paragraphs:

What you must do to increase your sales and profits is look at your business from a fresh, objective, completely reasonable point of view... a marketing point of view! And start learning new, more advanced development methods.

This is exactly what the course offers you. Big profits in small business. Not only will he provide you with the strategies you need to succeed in today's uncertain economy, he will show you how to implement those strategies without breaking the bank.

By this time, the client will readily accept your explanation of what you offer him as the correct solution to the problem. Why? Because you have already proven that your strong promises can be trusted, and you have also demonstrated a deep understanding of the client's situation.

These powerful factors give you a favorable authority whose advice should be trusted and heeded. Not bad for several pages of advertising copy!


Show impeccable performance

Many people perceive the characteristic as follows:

"Alice Selezneva. Received her doctorate from Moscow State University in 1982. She worked as a researcher at five research institutes, including the Russian Academy of Sciences. Her publications and research have received dozens of awards and flattering reviews, including the prestigious “Honored Scientist of Russia” award.”

I summarize this approach to characterization in three words:

Who needs this?

Here are your characteristics Should not do. They should not praise you, your company or your product. They should not cover topics that your reader has no interest in. But most importantly, recommendations should not be used to stroke your ego by focusing on yourself or all the wonderful things you have achieved.

Here are your characteristics must do. They should allay your customers' fears and concerns about doing business with you. They must demonstrate your ability to provide your client with the results they desperately need.

The characteristics in effective advertising copy should make clear the level of trust and benefits received. This is a powerful combination that will help you make more sales and generate higher profits once you put it into practice.

In order to do this, all characteristics must be presented in such a way that they highlight your level of credibility and your ability to provide all the important benefits that your client needs.

The best way I can illustrate this is with a real life example. This example is taken from a sales letter sent by a business consultant to business owners offering a course in marketing.

In this text, the characteristics are reduced to a statement of achieving strong results that are objectively confirmed. Here's an example (all names and company names have been changed):

Do you feel the difference between the old characteristic and the characteristic of Effective advertising text? Who cares what institute Andrei graduated from?

Who needs to know how many awards he's won? Or how many prestigious positions did he hold? None of the real buyers of your products. All they need is the result that you can help them get.

But don't get me wrong. If the award you received (or any other old-style feature) can directly translate into a benefit for your customers, it should definitely be included in the list. Just make sure that you mention it for the benefit of the client, and not just to stroke your ego.

Let's look at another side of the characteristic. Look at the characteristics in the advertising letter again, but now imagine that there are no reviews there.

Do you feel the difference? Reviews (if they are objective) are a very important tool to confirm your characteristics, which help increase your credibility.

Anyone can say anything about their product or service. This doesn't mean your reader will believe it. But an objective review that clearly identifies who did it gives the testimonial the level of credibility you need.

By the way, characteristics can be applied not only to a particular person. They can be used to promote the sales process of any product or service.

Here, for example, is a product specification:

Super Detergent has proven its worth over the past 40 years in aircraft factories around the world. The job it did is so complex that other detergent manufacturers don't even want to think about it.

“Super Cleaner is the only detergent we use. Of course, everyone promises only the best, but from our own experience we can say that only “Super Launderer” can do the job. Without it, many of the pollution that are normal here would be a real problem for us. And now it’s just regular cleaning.”

– Alexey Tupolev, President
CJSC “Tupolev-service”


Combine your level of trust with an advantage for the “chosen ones”

As you may have noticed, I talk a lot about the need to gain the trust of clients. And there is one simple reason for this:

Trust is the most important factor for selling more goods and services!

It doesn't matter how great your product is, if you can't convince people that you or your company can be trusted... that you're worth doing business with... that you understand your customer as well as they understand themselves... then you'll be faced with a difficult It is – if not an impossible – task to try to attract them to cooperate with you.

First of all, you need to prove that your product delivers (and perhaps even delivers more than it needs to) everything you promised. But what is also important is that you need to prove that you can be trusted to work with the client's problems. Most of the steps in my Formula are designed to help you achieve these two important goals.

One of my favorite methods for building trust is to provide a benefit that solves one of the client's most important problems. By doing this, you will make your client feel like you are their ally - a friend they can trust who won't take advantage of them like so many other marketers.

I'll demonstrate this powerful technique when we get to creating online ad copy.

In the meantime, here's a very old example that you probably recognize. Insurance companies know that people don't like to be "sold" using high-pressure tactics by a slick salesman in a polyester suit. So when they advertise, knowledgeable insurers include the line:

"No calls from sellers"

This is good marketing. This means that you understand and acknowledge the deep sense of concern that your clients have. And thus, it is easier for the client to make a choice in your favor.


Give your client undeniable proof that you can deliver everything you promise!

Sounds tough, doesn't it? How can you prove, and even indisputably, that you can fulfill everything you promised?

In fact, it's not that complicated. Not because there are some clever methods that will help you avoid this. You just should never state or promise something that you cannot fulfill. Otherwise it's just suicide.

The method I will show you is the one you must use to prove your promises. Sufficient proof can significantly increase your sales level and profits. It can also give you a significant advantage over your competitors.