In my professional life, I encounter a lot of copywriters and even people who write for a living that agree on one thing: It’s way easier to write a lot than it is to write a little. It’s true. It really is easier to put together a 1,000-word article than it is to compress the message into 300 or 500. It’s even more difficult to compress it into 150 characters, give or take. In fact, when I ask my writers what the most difficult thing to write is, more often than not I’m told it’s writing ads.
Over time, the Internet has really evolved, and it keeps evolving, and writing ad copy has evolved with it. Ten years ago, there was barely a social media community on the Web. LiveJournal and MySpace were the dominant forces in that arena, and advertising through either was an entirely different ball of wax than it is with Facebook or Twitter.
Pay per click advertising has changed dramatically as well. A decade ago, having some flashy visuals and graphics were enough to get away with giving a pointed “click here!” call to action in ads. Today, however, people aren’t looking to simply be told what to do; they want to be told why they’re doing it. They are looking for ads that don’t have an overt “sales” feel. They want to feel engaged, not “talked at.”
So how do you accomplish that? What follows is what I’ve observed to be a winning checklist of ad copy elements that, when used correctly, can have a dramatic effect on engagement with your ads.
1. Write Good Headlines
This should really be a no-brainer, but different people have different ideas about what makes a headline “good.” In my experience, a good headline accomplishes two things: It identifies the customer’s needs or interests and promises that the need will be met or the interest entertained.
Different types of marketing require different kinds of headlines. If you’re trying to drive traffic to a landing page to sell a product, you want to focus on needs. Some marketers refer to these as “pain points.” Once the need has been established, follow up with a promise to fill it. Here are a few examples:
Finally! 12 Credit Cards with Actually Useful Reward Programs
10 Ways to Apply Frequent Flier Miles You Haven’t Heard of
5 Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipes You Can Make for Pennies
Every one of those headlines at least indirectly identifies a problem. Who hasn’t gotten frustrated wading through all the restrictions on frequent flyer miles? Who wants to pay $7 for a cup of coffee? These are problems that, if you promise to solve them, will get people’s attention and get clicks.
2. Use Emotional Language
Your audience wants to know how your product is going to make them feel. In fact, they’re far more interested in that than they are in the quality of the product. Here’s a real-world example of how this works:
One of my friends recently opened up a Shopify store where he resells products he finds on eBay. Now, keep in mind that these are products that are easily accessible to the general public through eBay and sell for practically pennies. He sells one particular item at a price point of $7.99 that he buys for 79¢ per unit on eBay. He also sells several other products with similar markups and is very successful.
How does he manage that, you ask? He drives the emotional aspects of the product in his ads. He tells people how the product feels to use and how comforting it is to have one. He also does one other thing that is vital to successful advertising…
3. Involve the Customer in the Process
The thing my friend consistently cites as a reason why his ad campaigns are so successful is that when people read his ads, they feel involved. He begins by identifying the customers by their likes and needs in the headline. He then fills his ads with emotional language that keeps them thinking about how it will feel to own the product. He follows through with a call to action not to buy anything, but rather to experience the product in a more meaningful way by clicking through to his online store.
4. Maintain Congruency with the Product Description or Landing Page Copy
This is where knowing lots of adjectives and synonyms comes in handy. You don’t want to repeat yourself verbatim once someone clicks through, but you do want to expand upon the message in your ads in a way that fills the cracks in the ad copy. The ad makes specific promises; the product description or sales copy should affirm and solidify them.
5. Be Genuine (But Don’t Be Afraid to Be Excited, Too)
The worst thing you can do in ads is make unbelievable claims about and overstate the aspects of your product. The second-worst thing is to present the product in a way that is static or too matter-of-fact. These three headline examples run the full gambit:
Overstated: “It’s Like having a Starbucks in your Own Kitchen – And You’rethe Barista!!”
Understated: “Get Great Coffee at Home For Pennies a Cup”
Just Right: “Premium Quality Coffee That Doesn’t Cost a Fortune? You Can Have It!”
Each of those headlines sets the tone for the entire ad. The first one sets unrealistic expectations. The second barely sets any. The third one is more subjective. It doesn’t promise Starbucks quality, but it does communicate a product that is superior to what the customer is used to and makes an enthusiastic and believable promise.
Now take a look at all five points in our checklist and gauge them against what your ads look like right now. Is it time to make a few changes? What could you be doing better? Chances are with a little bit of tweaking, your ads will get better engagement and lead to more conversions overall.