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A LESSON IN ADVERTISING FROM THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Back in the 1760s, the great Dr Samuel Johnson delivered himself of the dictum that 'promise, large promise is the soul of advertising'. It's a good thought, a great thought; and I contend that what was true then is equally true today. But it seems...
Copywriting: Aida is more than an opera
Aida is more than an opera by Verdi Ask most people what Aida is and they will tell you it is an opera set in Egypt. Ask a marketing person and they will tell you that it is the sales formula that all advertising must incorporate if it is to be...
"Discover Your Creativity"
You have permission to publish this article in its entirety, electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as Robert Leggett's byline is included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.
ARTICLE WORD COUNT: [794]
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The Not-So-Mysterious Art of Getting Clients
Sure, you can print business cards and letterhead. Launch a web
site. And hang your shingle as a freelance copywriter.
That's easy.
But you're not really "in business" until you GET business. And
that means having at least one paying...
Wording Up Your Website
Back to basics. Forget funky design, good copywriting is the key to a clear and intuitive website. Are you losing business because of your website? More and more customers are logging on to the Web to decide where to spend their money because it...
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Should You Write a Long-Copy Ad or Keep it Short?
Should You Write a Long-Copy Ad or Keep it Short?
by
Alex A. Kecskes
Okay, you're ready to write the ad of a lifetime. The one that
will pull like crazy and leave them begging for your product
like Somalians for food. So, do you whet their appetite with a
short and sweet ad? Or write a long-copy ad that's stuffed with
information?
What the studies showed
The 80-20 rule says 80% of the people only read the headline
(and maybe a caption, if you have one). But the fact is, readers
will read a long-copy ad. One McGraw-Hill study looked at 3,597
ads in 26 business magazines. What they discovered was that ads
with 300 or more words were more effective that shorter ads in
creating product awareness, inducing action and reinforcing the
decision to buy. Another ad for Merrill Lynch crammed 6, 450
words into a single New York Times page. It pulled over 10,000
responses--even without a coupon! The truth is, the reason
people read ads has nothing to do with copy length.
"Nobody reads long ads..." and other urban ad legends
People shun too many of today's ads--long or short--because
several misleading myths have stubbornly remained with us.
Things like "negative headlines are a downer since people want
to feel good when reading your ad." Or "show the product or
they'll never know what you're selling." Then there's the stuffy
axiom, "there's no place for humor in business advertising. " Or
the ubiquitous saw, "all your ads should look the same, blend in
or be swallowed up." The list goes on and on. Presented with
unabashed hubris by the high priests of advertising. The basic
fact is, ads really fail for three reasons.
Your ads are all about you
You're telling customers what you want to hear, not what they
want to know. Impressive sounding features are fine to motivate
your sales force, but your customer is only interested in one
thing: "What's in it for me?" This offense is particularly
egregious in business-to-business advertising, which is infamous
for its addiction to phrases like "the XP90 does it all" or "now
with Duo-Pentium Processor"--without a hint of what these
features do. Also contaminating many of today's ads are such
chest-pounding headlines as "Taking the lead," "The promise of
tomorrow, today," or "A
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tradition of quality." They sound good
but say nothing.
Your ads are boring
You've got to break the boredom barrier--big time. Many ad gurus
say blend in, be one of the pack and survive. No wonder so many
ads look alike, proudly showing big pictures of their products,
or worse yet, featuring a giant photo of the company's
CEO--usually with a caption that's been scrubbed clean of
originality or compelling information. If you want people to
stop and read your ad, you have to make the ad more interesting
than the editorials in the publication you're in. Give them real
news, a fresh new way to look at what you're offering them.
Stand out from the crowd. Start trends, don't follow them. One
of the most interesting car ads I ever saw showed the car only
sparingly; instead, it featured an animation of a human heart
beating furiously to the soundtrack of an accelerating engine.
Breakthrough stuff.
Your ads don't make human contact
They're not reaching readers on an emotional level. We all want
to be liked, appreciated and loved. We want to feel secure in
our lives and our jobs. So be a mensch. Create ads that touch
the soul. Use an emotional appeal in your visual, headline and
copy. Don't just show a car on the road; show the guy
captivating his sweetheart with the car. If your buyers were on
the moon, would they care about your car's styling? No. They'd
get an ugly, crawly vehicle that got them from crater to crater.
Selling computers to business? Show the guy getting a raise or
promotion for selecting your latest model. You're selling the
emotional end result, the human need-based bottom line, not a
box, or vehicle with four wheels and an engine.
So if you're struggling with the notion of whether to write a
long- or short-copy ad, you can do both and still get results.
The key is not length or lack of it, but information, interest
and involvement in your customer's needs. These are the
ingredients to creating a successful ad.
About the author:
Alex Kecskes is a former ad agency Copy Chief who provides a
full range of copywriting services to agencies and Fortune 500
companies. He has created effective copy for brochures, mailers,
multimedia, articles, newsletters, PR and web content. For
samples and more information, please visit:
www.akcreativeworks.com
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