I've been studying ad copies from the father of advertising, David Ogilvy who made over 1 billion in sales in his early years of advertising. The same principle he used in his ad copies are still being used today by advertisers like Frank Kern and others.
I'm here to share the detailed steps along with case studies on how to do the same. It's very useful to have an eye for good ad copies whether or not you write your own copy.
Headline
1. Raising Curiosity. People are more likely to read your body copy if your headline arouses their curiosity; end your headline with a lure to read on. Your headline is responsible for getting your consumers' attention and if you fail to get their attention the effort you put in for the copy went to waste.
2. Self Interest. Promoting self interest in your headline makes it easier to get your audience's attention.
3. Injecting news in your headlines, consumers are always on the look out for the next new thing or the new way to use a product differently
4. Best words and phrases to use. FREE and NEW. You can seldom use FREE, but you can almost always use NEW—if you try hard enough.
Other words and phrases which work wonders are HOW TO, SUDDENLY, NOW, ANNOUNCING, INTRODUCING, IT’S HERE, JUST ARRIVED, IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT, IMPROVEMENT, AMAZING, SENSATIONAL, REMARKABLE, REVOLUTIONARY, STARTLING, MIRACLE, MAGIC, OFFER, QUICK, EASY, WANTED, CHALLENGE, ADVICE TO, THE TRUTH ABOUT, COMPARE, BARGAIN, HURRY, LAST CHANCE.
You might be thinking that these words and phrases might be worn out but the best copywriters have been using them before we were born until now, why recreate the wheel when it's easier to use something that WORKS?
5. Emotions. Humans respond to emotions and using that to your advantage will always work.
David Ogilvy of Ogilvy & Mather created one of the best ad copies for Dove by illustrating a girl in a tub on the telephone with the headline, "Darling, I’m having the most extraordinary experience . . . I’m head over heels in DOVE. "
6. Including brand name. Five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy, so it is important that these glancers should at least be told what brand is being advertised.
7. Selling Promise. Include your selling promise in your headline. This requires long headlines. When the New York University School of Retailing ran headline tests with the cooperation of a big department store, they found that headlines of ten words or longer, containing news and information, consistently sold more merchandise than short headlines.
Headlines containing six to twelve words pull more coupon returns than short headlines, and there is no significant “difference between the readership of twelve-word headlines and the readership of three-word headlines.
8. What to avoid. Avoid using negatives in your headlines.
For example: "Our Salt has no arsenic". Based on research, consumers turn blind eyes to these without even understanding what the headline says.
Don't use headlines that make no sense to the reader unless the read the body copy.
Don't overcomplicate copywriting and try to become poet using word plays. Keep it as simple as can be.
Body copy
9. The easy part. Picture yourself having a nice chat with someone who wants to know why they should buy the product you're selling.
Here's why I say this is the easy part. Every copywriter should take the time out and find out every detail about the product they're selling. This alone will make writing a piece of cake and hassle free.
10. Be straightforward. Don't fluff things up. List the beneficial facts and keep things interesting. Let your readers know the things they need to know but that doesn't mean you should tell them things they want to hear, don't lie.
11. Length of copy. There's no specific length of copy to stick to that will automatically bring unbelievable sales but what will bring the results is information that makes your customer want more to the very end of the copy which leads them to responding to your copy whether it be a sale, sign up or whatever.
12. Testimonials in copy works but do split testing to see whether or not its right for your campaign in mind
13. Avoid self hyping in copy.
14. Comprehension. Your copy should be easy to read and easily understood by the consumers.
Direct response]
16. Leave your readers wanting more. Always over deliver in your copy. Your copy should be golden and very beneficial to the reader. So much so that they want more and you will fulfil that by doing so.
Add a call to action at the end and turn your leads into prospects or paying customers!
I've attached some of the best performing copies ever from David Ogilvy that all used the same templates along with some notes for you to study so that you can develop a copywriter's eye to identify winning copies and come up with ideas to write great copies.
Side Note: There's no reason to over-think anything in copywriting, follow what has been working and apply it to your copies
I'm here to share the detailed steps along with case studies on how to do the same. It's very useful to have an eye for good ad copies whether or not you write your own copy.
Headline
1. Raising Curiosity. People are more likely to read your body copy if your headline arouses their curiosity; end your headline with a lure to read on. Your headline is responsible for getting your consumers' attention and if you fail to get their attention the effort you put in for the copy went to waste.
2. Self Interest. Promoting self interest in your headline makes it easier to get your audience's attention.
3. Injecting news in your headlines, consumers are always on the look out for the next new thing or the new way to use a product differently
4. Best words and phrases to use. FREE and NEW. You can seldom use FREE, but you can almost always use NEW—if you try hard enough.
Other words and phrases which work wonders are HOW TO, SUDDENLY, NOW, ANNOUNCING, INTRODUCING, IT’S HERE, JUST ARRIVED, IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT, IMPROVEMENT, AMAZING, SENSATIONAL, REMARKABLE, REVOLUTIONARY, STARTLING, MIRACLE, MAGIC, OFFER, QUICK, EASY, WANTED, CHALLENGE, ADVICE TO, THE TRUTH ABOUT, COMPARE, BARGAIN, HURRY, LAST CHANCE.
You might be thinking that these words and phrases might be worn out but the best copywriters have been using them before we were born until now, why recreate the wheel when it's easier to use something that WORKS?
5. Emotions. Humans respond to emotions and using that to your advantage will always work.
David Ogilvy of Ogilvy & Mather created one of the best ad copies for Dove by illustrating a girl in a tub on the telephone with the headline, "Darling, I’m having the most extraordinary experience . . . I’m head over heels in DOVE. "
6. Including brand name. Five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy, so it is important that these glancers should at least be told what brand is being advertised.
7. Selling Promise. Include your selling promise in your headline. This requires long headlines. When the New York University School of Retailing ran headline tests with the cooperation of a big department store, they found that headlines of ten words or longer, containing news and information, consistently sold more merchandise than short headlines.
Headlines containing six to twelve words pull more coupon returns than short headlines, and there is no significant “difference between the readership of twelve-word headlines and the readership of three-word headlines.
8. What to avoid. Avoid using negatives in your headlines.
For example: "Our Salt has no arsenic". Based on research, consumers turn blind eyes to these without even understanding what the headline says.
Don't use headlines that make no sense to the reader unless the read the body copy.
Don't overcomplicate copywriting and try to become poet using word plays. Keep it as simple as can be.
Body copy
9. The easy part. Picture yourself having a nice chat with someone who wants to know why they should buy the product you're selling.
Here's why I say this is the easy part. Every copywriter should take the time out and find out every detail about the product they're selling. This alone will make writing a piece of cake and hassle free.
10. Be straightforward. Don't fluff things up. List the beneficial facts and keep things interesting. Let your readers know the things they need to know but that doesn't mean you should tell them things they want to hear, don't lie.
11. Length of copy. There's no specific length of copy to stick to that will automatically bring unbelievable sales but what will bring the results is information that makes your customer want more to the very end of the copy which leads them to responding to your copy whether it be a sale, sign up or whatever.
12. Testimonials in copy works but do split testing to see whether or not its right for your campaign in mind
13. Avoid self hyping in copy.
14. Comprehension. Your copy should be easy to read and easily understood by the consumers.
Direct response]
16. Leave your readers wanting more. Always over deliver in your copy. Your copy should be golden and very beneficial to the reader. So much so that they want more and you will fulfil that by doing so.
Add a call to action at the end and turn your leads into prospects or paying customers!
I've attached some of the best performing copies ever from David Ogilvy that all used the same templates along with some notes for you to study so that you can develop a copywriter's eye to identify winning copies and come up with ideas to write great copies.
Side Note: There's no reason to over-think anything in copywriting, follow what has been working and apply it to your copies
