In my last post (How to Make Sure Your Advertising Produces) Thursday, I revealed the #1-7 of the 14 tips that make sure your advertising works. Now let’s go through the last seven, #8-14.

8.)  Keep your copy lean…not necessarily short. Watch out for wordiness that distracts from the sales message. If a word or phrase does not advance the sales process, why is it there? Most copywriters like to edit their rough drafts after a day or two cooling off period. You may want to use this same approach.

9.) Keep your sentences and paragraphs short. Complex sentence structure or long paragraphs are intimidating and confusing to many people. Don’t make the common mistake of overestimating the intelligence and sophistication of your readers.
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There are fourteen tips to make sure that your advertising copy works. Here are the first seven:

1.) Translate features into benefits. Don’t just give information and assume that the reader will interpret.

Example, front-wheel-drive is a product feature on an automobile. In advertising that car it would be a great mistake just to say that and assume that the reader knows why front wheel drive is a desirable feature.

The advertising has to go on to explain the benefits of front wheel drive – safety, improved cornering, improved braking, better mileage and so on.

2.) Write from the ‘you’ perspective not the I/we we perspective. Say, “You will benefit greatly from the extraordinary durability.” Don’t say, “We build the most durable.”

3.) Communicate creditability. Credibility can be demonstrated with length of time in business, the size of your company, the number of customers served, testimonials from satisfied customers, your membership and influential associations, guarantees and warranties and all of these things combined.

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One of the most effective copy cosmetic techniques to grab your readers attention, online or offline, is by using simulated handwritten notes and doodles. In this day and age of computer-generated everything, the power of handwriting stands out.

You cannot help seeing this technique used more and more. It’s in the advertisements in your weekend paper; it’s on television commercials and in magazine ads. I’ve even seen it used effectively on book covers. You are now starting to see it used on Web sites, blogs, and squeeze pages.

The use of simulated handwriting goes back a long way in advertising, however many copywriters and marketers give me credit for this most recent and widespread use of handwritten doodles with the creation of my CopyDoodles™.

Marketing guru, Bill Glazer called CopyDoodles, “the biggest enhancement I have seen in the last 10 years for people that are writing copy for bumping the response and making the copy much more interesting.”

Before CopyDoodles, it was tedious and time consuming to add handwritten doodles. Now you can add these powerful doodles to your marketing in mere seconds.

Over the years, I have done a number of split tests and across the boards the materials containing handwritten notes and doodles always perform better than those without them. Of course you have to know how and when to use them appropriately (just slapping a bunch of CopyDoodles on your materials without proper context can be counter-productive).

Why is simulated handwriting so effective?
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Let’s talk about the basics of effective advertising and writing effective advertising copy.

The first critically important key is the development of effective headlines. The headline is the most important component part of any type of advertising. It must work or nothing else matters.

Next in importance are the subheads that are used to break up long blocks of copy.

Next are photo captions. Photo captions are marvelous opportunities to make persuasive arguments. People are drawn to pictures and often read the captions beneath the pictures before reading just about anything else.

The same basic guidelines apply to headlines, subheads and photo captions.
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Warning! This post contains phenomenal information on how to grow your business and boost your profits with a monthly customer newsletter. But you should also know that I’m also going to challenge you not to be what I call a newsletter pansy!

It’s a fact that customer newsletters help businesses succeed. And the best and most effective way to grow your business, boost your profits, and get more customers for life is to mail monthly. Anything less frequent than monthly means that you are simply being a newsletter pansy.

Dollar for dollar, newsletters are the most effective marketing tool available. Plus, customers who read your newsletter are usually in a good position to do business with you again and recommend your product or service to others. And that’s where your new business comes from! Let me share with you more of what I call the magic of newsletter marketing.
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Recently, I heard a news report about “Artic goo.” Apparently there is some nasty, algae-type material floating around the North Pole. As the camera panned the ocean, this goo was floating on the water’s surface, leaving a disfiguring wound on an otherwise pristine natural setting.

Being a copy cosmetic geek, I couldn’t help making the mental connection of how many people add a similar type of nasty goo to their copywriting and marketing design, in an effort to grab attention or even worse, make a half-hearted attempt to copy somebody else’s work.

The copywriting “goo” I am talking about is a misuse of the copy cosmetic techniques I teach and similar to the Artic goo, it takes away rather than adds to the effort. Whenever I speak or coach a mastermind member, I always go back to what I call “functional design.”

This means every copy cosmetic technique used has a specific and functional purpose in mind. Everything is done with intention and careful thought. Nothing is done haphazardly. (more…)