5 Traits of Powerful Ad Copy

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at 08:00am by Sabah Karimi in Marketing

Whether your advertising and marketing efforts are primarily online or take place in tangible form offline, developing powerful ad copy is critical to long-term success. Brand building, highlighting a new product, or simply delivering an important message are all possible with clever ad placement and a well-strategized marketing plan. But how do you make sure your advertising stands apart from the competition? Here are just five traits of powerful ad copy for your business, company, or website:

1. The Emotional Capture.

Emotions are the trigger for capturing the audience’s attention and bringing a call to action. Building up emotion in your message and really making the receiver will help your message stick.

2. Dramatic Leads.

Powerful words, enticing ideas, and drama are critical to your advertising message. If you’re in a highly-competitive market, it’s even more important to be bold about your statements. Bold and simple statements work best, and those that can be memorized easily are much more effective for word-of-mouth marketing and creating ‘buzz.’ This is one reason why guerrilla marketing is so effective.

3. Steps to the Sale.

This is a highly used tactic by salespeople, but works just as well in any advertising medium by ‘showing the way.’ Show people what to do next, whether it’s to pick up the phone, visit the website, or go to the store. This call to action concept has been used in sales and marketing for decades, and is an important part of effective ad copy.

4. Getting the Facts Straight.

Providing clear and cohesive statistics about your statements is a great way to capture the audience’s attention. A solid statistic, fact, or figure can build credibility for your message—even if it’s not your own statistic. Think about how powerful the diet industry can be with this tactic; simply talking about a recent study by the FDA, medical professional, or published reports about a particular ingredient gives them leverage to continue on with their own ‘findings.’ Ad copy that includes statistics or other facts can help build up enough resistance and deliver the message clearly

5. Positive word choices.

Using positive words throughout the headline and introduction is a simple way to keep the audience interested and continue reading. Ad copy that is short and concise still contains enough positive words and connotations to create a positive emotional connection with the brand.

What are some other techniques you notice in the media around you? What ad copy techniques work?

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