22 Jan 10 Why Traditional Advertising Still Not Dead?

One line answer to this question would be: because it works dammit! Its effectiveness as a sales agent might be questionable, but among other things, it is a great way of building brand awareness. Advertising works may be not in the way a marketer desired, but it works.

What does advertising do?

Advertising builds awareness about the product being advertised.
It creates recognition for the brand.
Reduce the fear of unfamiliarity, and testimonial advertising also works as social proof.
It creates, nurture, and build emotional connection between the product and consumer.
It provides reason for purchasing a product.
It induces trial.
It creates top-of-mind awareness for the brand being advertised.
A beautifully done ad entertains public and create favorable environment that a marketer to seed the brand message.

What advertising cannot do?

It cannot sell a product.
It cannot create a loyal customer.
It cannot manage a damaged reputation.
It cannot build credibility.

It is the latter group of things that have made the advertising so infamous. Well, it is comment time now. What do you think, have advertising worked for your business?

Tags: Advertising Works, Brand Advertising, Brand Awareness, Brand Message, Credibility, Emotional Connection, Favorable Environment, Fear, Line Answer, Loyal Customer, Marketer, Mind Awareness, Reputation, Social Proof, Traditional Advertising

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06 Oct 09 Can You Write an Effective Copy

The answer can be either yes or no. Do not say it depends. Either you can write an effective copy or you simply cannot. There is no mid-way, but there are times when you end up accidently producing effective copy, but those accidental geniuses cannot make you a good advertisement copywriter. To be a good advertisement copy writer, you need to write good copies every time you pick a product, at least most of the time. There are certain principles that you need to follow, if you wish to write real good copy, not just those “accidental geniuses”.

Let me give you a piece of good news: if you have written even a single brilliant copy then you already know the tricks, and all you need to do is standardize the process. And in order to do that you need to know the process.

5 steps to writing a better copy

Step1: Know your goal

You must be wondering why everything has to start with setting a goal. Let me help you in this. A goal is the end point where you want to reach when you set your sail. If you do not set a goal before setting sail, you will get lost in the sea. You need to define your advertising goal before you start writing your copy.

Step 2: Know your audience and their needs

A product is always made for a specific group of target audience. Although everyone can consume the product, it is never made for all. Similarly the advertisement created for the product should also not be created for all. Define a target audience, which often will be similar to the target user group of the product, and then find the reason why the target group will use this product.

Step 3: Appeal to their interest

I have seen many people who make ads to suit their needs and communication style, which I must add, fails to make any connection with the users. It is important to know the desire and aspiration of the target audience before writing an advertisement copy. When writing an ad, you should always remember that you are writing this to sell a product.

Step 4: Emotional appeal

Logic always fails to connect with the target audience. If you talk all logic, and reason in the ad then your ad will definitely fail. You need to connect with the target audience on the emotional level.

Step 5: Keep it simple

Do not clutter your ad by saying this and saying that. This will not take you anywhere. Keep it simple, and talk just about one benefit at one time. It may be possible that the product solves many problems, but in advertisement you are not supposed to write about all of them. Mention the most notable feature that matters to the audience.

Tags: 5 Steps, Advertisement Copy, Advertising, Aspiration, Communication Style, Copy Writer, Copy Writing, Copywriter, Desire, Emotional Appeal, Geniuses, Lost, Mid Way, Setting Sail, Specific Group, Step 2, Step 3, Target Audience, Target Group, Target User, User Group

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19 Jul 09 How to Write an Advertising Copy

I cannot remember the exact year, but sometimes around 1950s, advertising officially kicked off. Many business historians will not argue that one or another form of advertising has always been there, since the beginning of history, or may be before. With all due respect to them, I do not think, there is any need to go on link-finding spree. Apart from ego polishing, what we will get by establishing the claim that advertising started long back when we were hunter-gatherers?

My goal with this article is not to argue about utility of link finding. Well, this can be a worthy goal, and I might choose to write on it in the next article, but for now, the goal is to tell you how to write a good advertising copy. Let us being on that:

Why you want to communicate?

Asking this question will tell you why you want to advertise. This will tell you about the goal and the purpose of the ad you are going to write.

Whom are you writing for?

The answer to this question will help you find the right tone, vocabulary and message for the ad copy. The way you will communicate with a student will not be same, as you will communicate with business executives of the same age.

What the consumer wants?

This is another critical question. Always remember, no one buys products or its features. One buys benefits and solutions.

Have you touched her tonight?

Do not get me wrong. This heading was written in the fashion to stir emotional corner of your mind. Tell me one thing, using the comment box below, if I had used some bland heading like, “target emotion of the consumer not the reason,” would you have reacted?

We all are emotion-led people. No one understands data, if it lacks connectivity.

Can your house cleaner comprehend it?

If she can then anyone can. The idea is to keep the copy as simple as you can.

What reaction do you expect?

You should tell your readers what you expect from them, once they are through with the advertisement. Include call to action. If you do not to so, you should not expect the audience to do anything.

I am sure you must be budding with many ideas about the above discussion. Please use the comment box to share some of them with rest of us.

Tags: 1950s, Ad Copy, Advertise, Advertisement, Advertising Copy, Asking This Question, Business Executives, Business Historians, Critical Question, Due Respect, Ego, Emotion, Fashion, Good Advertising, Heading, Hunter Gatherers, Spree, Target, Vocabulary, Worthy Goal

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06 Oct 09 Can You Write an Effective Copy

5 steps to writing a better copy

Step1: Know your goal

Step 2: Know your audience and their needs

Step 3: Appeal to their interest

Step 4: Emotional appeal

Step 5: Keep it simple

19 Jul 09 How to Write an Advertising Copy

Why you want to communicate?

Whom are you writing for?

What the consumer wants?

Have you touched her tonight?

Can your house cleaner comprehend it?

What reaction do you expect?

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