Day 14 – What Makes Good Copy?
Today’s topic of discussion; Some thoughts on writing Ad Copy.
There are plenty of places you can adveritise your home business on the net; you just need to know where to look for these places, and how to do it right. Unfortunately (or fortunately for us) most don’t.
The number 1 mistake I see that new Home Business Owners make in their advertising, whether it’s paid or not paid, is to try and sell their Home Business Opportunity in the ad itself. Don’t do this.
For one, even if you had legendary copy writer John Carlton or Dan Kennedy writing your ads, this would be near impossible. There just isn’t enough space in a small ad to motivate someone to invest in your products.
So instead of trying to get people to invest straight away, you’re sole aim should be only to get them to take the next step in the marketing process. For example, if you look in your local newspaper under the “home business opportunity” section, you’ll see that most home business ads read something like this;
“Make more in a month than you currently make in a year …
this home business has the potential to generate a first year
income of over 250K. Serious inquiries only”
This is a bad ad, for a number of reasons. First, the headline sounds like a bunch of hype … most people reading the ad, who don’t know about the revolutionary compensation plan we have in place, simply won’t believe it’s possible, or whether it’s even legitimate.
Secondly, a lot of these ads are very similar … it seems as if they are all just copying one another, and it makes them unoriginal. As marketers, we’re aiming to stand out, not to blend in.
So here’s how I would approach writing these kinds of ads.
Number 1.) You need to give someone a good enough reason to either pick up the phone and call you, or go to your website and opt- in. Telling them that they’ll make $250 K in their first year won’t do it; words are cheap.
So offer them an incentive to take the first step; it could be a 30 page report outlining the “11 most common mistakes new home business owners make, and how to avoid making them.” It could be a 5 part video series that features you explaining how to succeed in the Direct Sales industry. It could be a free 30 minute phone consultation….
You can be as creative as you want with this. Just remember that your offer needs to be compelling, and it needs to offer a strong incentive to take action action, whether that be picking up the phone or looking up a website.
Also, it’s good to give your target audience several different ways to take action. If you can offer a phone number to call as well as a website to visit, you’ll most likely get a much higher response rate than just offering the phone number. A lot of people will assume that if they call you, you’re going to try and sell them something, so they may have their guard up.
Here’s an example of an ad that will get a much higher response rate than the one above;
FREE 7 Day Trial of a Revolutionary Home Business System
Go to www.HomeBusinessBuilders.com.au and reserve your spot NOW.
But Hurry, Spaces are Limited.
People love to get things for free- hence the emphasis on the word FREE. I’m also giving clear instruction on how they can take action. I don’t say “You can go to www.HomeBusinessBuilders.com.au to take a look.”
No. You have to tell them exactly what they need to do next, and be very specific about it.
And lastly, it’s always good to create urgency by using the scarcity principle… people have a natural tendency to not want to miss out. If your prospects don’t take action within 5 minutes of seeing your ad, chances are they never will.
One of the most important parts of a good ad is the headline. By simply changing the headline of your ad or website, you can more than double your response rate. If you want to get a good idea of what makes a great headline, then visit The 100 Greatest Headlines of All Time. If you haven’t seen this site yet, then go and look at it now … there’s decades of marketing research contained within these headlines, and you can implement them in your own marketing.
Also, one of the best resources on writing effective copy that I’ve come across is Gary Halberts website. Gary Halbert is one of the greatest copy writers/ direct marketers to have ever lived. He wrote the most famous personal ad ever written, entitled
“Generous, Creative Businessman Wants to Find a Hot, Sexy Woman With a Good Sense of Humour“
This is a fine piece of copy- it’s not exactly related to what we’re doing, but it demonstrates the power of words. Also, I highly recommend you check out his other sales pieces displayed on his website. Getting good at writing copy, (or even OK at it) will make a huge difference in your marketing.
Here are Seven Free Reports that should get you started. They are written by a great copy writer by the name of David Garfinkel- his stuff is excellent.
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