There are 5 major components to good marketing and advertising copy:
And it’s important to do each of these components in the right order to achieve success. So what are these magic steps you ask . . .?
Get Their Attention
Showcase The Benefits You’re Offering
Prove the Benefits Are Real
Persuade Them to Embrace the Benefits
Call to Action
The best make to think of advertising and marketing pieces is to think of as making the sale in print, (or in the case of radio and TV ads making the sale remotely). What that means is you have to approach from the perspective of , how can I give this prospective customer the same type of experience that she would get if I were there and do it without being there.
These five steps when done well – help you do exactly that.
So, let’s take a minute to talk about each of these components:
1. Get Their Attention: You want to stop them in their tracks, interrupt their thought process and make them give you their 100% undivided attention. In print ads and marketing pieces this is usually accomplished with the headline. You need an attention-getter that makes people want to know more about your products/services. The best headlines give a vivid portrayal of the benefits or show how a problem can be avoided with your products/services. The headline is the advertisement for the advertisement.
2. Showcase Benefits: You have to showcase the benefits of your products and services and, more importantly, show how they will solve or prevent a problem. They need to know what’s in it for them. Include useful, factual and clear information to show precisely what the benefits are and how they are going to help the customer. This is not the same thing as a list of features. You want to appeal to their emotions first, make them want what you have to offer and then help them justify why they need it.
3. Offer Proof: This is where you prove what the advertisement is offering. You need to establish you have a method to deliver. Consider information that establishes credibility and past performance. You can use testimonials here, outrageous guarantees and so on to demonstrate the confidence you have in your product or service to meet or exceed their expectations.
4. Persuade: You need to add compelling reasons for your potential customers to purchase your products/services. The better you know your customer base, the easier this will be to do because you’ll know their particular hot buttons and what motivates them to buy. For some people it’s a hard sell approach and scarcity measures, for others it’s a soft sell and still others are somewhere in the middle. The more you know about what your potential customers respond too the more success you will have in persuading them to do what you want.
5. Call to Action: This is the final step. Whether you are asking for the sale, or setting an appointment, you need to compel your potential customers to DO something. They need to check out your site, sign up for your newsletter, purchase your products, contact you about services…something. Offer a freebie-a booklet, sample, product, bonus, demo, consult, limited time price…the list goes on. There are lots of ways to get potential customers excited about ordering and help them feel like they are getting an amazing deal.
Good advertisements include all of these components and are not complete without any of them. You can sit down and think through any one of these components, then figure out how to best place them together for the most effectiveness. We can help you with this too. Try our FREE test drive to learn how to put together great advertisements from some of the best in the business.
