Post by Jessica Swanson, The Shoestring Marketer

As a small business owner, at one time or another, you will need to create a compelling ad. It doesn’t matter if your ad is a sales brochure, email announcement or a newspaper ad, ultimately, your ad-copy must grab your prospect’s attention, produce a desired emotional response that urges them to take action.

Here Are 7 Key Points To Keep In Mind, When Writing Ad-Copy:

1. Choose Your Words Carefully

There are over 175,000 words in the English language and, if used wisely, have the power to sway people’s thinking, change their perspective and even motivate them to take action.

Selecting your words thoughtfully and with precision will create an enormous difference in the quality and performance of your ads.

– Words that create a feeling of safety: peace, relaxed, serene, secure, warm

– Words that create a sense of control: confidence, mastery, balance, self-assured, composure

– Words that create excitement: edgy, exhilarating, explosive, juicy, sensational

2. Focus On Benefits

Many small business owners make the mistake of focusing on the features of their product or service. Unfortunately, your prospect isn’t interested in mere features; they are only interested in how your product or service will improve their life.

Therefore, eliminate focusing on the mundane characteristics of your product and service and instead concentrate on how it will benefit your prospect’s life. Will it make them thinner? Happier? Richer?

If you are able to effectively portray how your product will change lives, your battle is half-done.

3. Establish Trust

One of the jobs of your ad-copy is to establish trust between you and your buyers. People will never do business with companies that they don’t feel confident about. Therefore, you need to put their anxieties to rest and convince them that their fears are unsubstantiated.

There are various ways to establish credibility:

– Use statements that are truthful and original;

– Offer free product samples or free services;

– Include your name and contact information in your ad-copy;

– Use testimonials from satisfied clients/customers;

– Avoid generalizations and include specifics.

4. Create One Clear Objective

Every single piece of ad-copy that you produce (whether it is a Google Adword campaign or a piece of direct mail) should be deliberately simple.

You should have only one, crystal clear objective in your ad. Either you want your prospect to visit a website, call a 1-800 number or take out their wallet and make a purchase. If  your ad contains multiple objectives, your prospect will only become confused and overwhelmed.

As the saying goes, “Keep It Simple Stupid!” This applies to your ad-copy as well.

5. Differentiate Your Company

One of the main ingredients in successful ad-copy is to convince your prospects that you are different and unique from your competition. Your ad should always convey at least one reason why you are different.

Do you offer superior customer service? Are you the fastest? Do you produce the highest quality materials?

Discover what main attributes motivate your particular target market and make this attribute the focal point when differentiating yourself.

6. Pack Your Headlines With Power

There are dozens of research studies that suggest that your headline is the most important part of your entire ad.  In fact, you only have three seconds to capture your prospect’s interest, so your headline needs to be packed with as much power as possible.

You should always use “power words” in your headline such as:

Amazing
Announcing
Advice To
At Last
Bargains
Breakthrough
Discover
Do You
Enormous
Facts
Finally
Free
Great News
Guaranteed
Here
How Much
Inside Secrets Of…
Innovative
Love
Only
Proven
Sale
This
Which
Yes

7. Create An Emotional Response

Ultimately, your ad should produce a desired emotion in your prospect. It’s simply not enough that your prospect relates to your company in a logical manner. There needs to be an emotional connection as well.

Use words that bring about the emotions that you want your customer or client to feel: love, fear, desire, power, more control, etc.

If your prospect relates to you on both an emotional and logical level, you are engaging them in a fuller manner and they are more likely to connect with you and your company.

Although writing solid ad-copy isn’t child’s play, it can be learned through practice, patience and perseverance.

The difference between producing a mediocre ad and producing an irresistible ad that motivates your prospect to take action could literally mean thousands of dollars in extra sales, customers and clients.

Jessica Swanson, “The Shoestring Marketer”, has helped entrepreneurs, all over the world, explode their businesses using cutting-edge, proven and completely free marketing strategies. To receive your FREE Shoestring Marketing Kit, which has helped thousands of entrepreneurs, just like you, learn the exact techniques for marketing their businesses for no-cost, visit: Free Shoestring Marketing Kit

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