Every marketer must learn how to write adverts the right way in order to grab your prospect’s attention and turn interest in to sales.
You can create effective adverts by incorporating 5 key fundamental elements in to each ad you write.
The 1st fundamental of an ad is to get attention, the 2nd is to show your target market an advantage that can be obtained by using your product or service.
This is the second post in this series which covers the 5 fundamentals of a successful ad.
Click here to read the first post – “Getting attention! – Ad fundamental #1”
Show them an advantage
When someone reads your ad they will be thinking one thing – “what’s in it for me?” (WIIFM).
Too many copywriters make the mistake in thinking that their prospects will be interested in reading about their product or services, so they fill their ads with endless copy about how great their product is.
The truth is that most people are not concerned with the bells and whistles of your product.
They aren’t interested in knowing all the intricate features of your product UNLESS you can relate those features to benefits to them.
Learn about the differences between features and benefits.
What will your product do for THEM?
When you shift your focus away from your product and on to your customer you will be on the right path.
What do people want?
Before you can start to talk about the advantages that your product or service offers, lets first take a look at what it is that people want.
A good way to do this is to look at 4 categories:
1. Gain – what do people want to gain?
2. Be – what do people want to be/become?
3. Do – what do people want to do?
4. Reduce – what do people want to reduce or eliminate from their lives?
Most people want to gain, be, do, and reduce the following things:
Things people want to gain:
- Time
- Money
- Independence
- Health
- Recognition / Praise from others
- Feelings of accomplishment
- Respect
- Confidence
- Happiness
- Comfort
- Self-esteem
- Prestige
Things people want to be:
- Successful
- Good parents
- Sociable
- Influential
- Creative
- Authorities in their field
- Up-to-date
- Proud of their possessions
- Efficient
- Liked by their peers
- Intelligent / knowledgeable
Things people want to do:
- Express their personalities
- Acquire or collect things
- Travel the world
- Achieve new goals
- Have new experiences
- Satisfy their curiosity
- Win others’ affection
- Help others
- Improve themselves – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, economically
- Surpass their current limitations
- Contribute to something greater than themselves
Things people want to reduce:
- Worry
- Fear
- Doubt
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Risk
- Disease
- Discomfort
- Embarrassment
- Guilt
- Feelings of inadequacy / low self-esteem
- Uncertainty
These are not exhaustive lists, but they are some of the main things that most people want to gain, be, do, and reduce.
Tie the advantages of your product to their wants
When you have identified the various things that your target audience want to gain, be, do, and reduce – your job is to tie the advantages of your product to these wants.
When you are able to tie up the advantages of your product with what people want you will make them want to buy what you are offering.
Your ad copy will be more persuasive and will be able to influence people to buy because you will be putting the attention on THEM and showing them how their lives can be improved through the use of your product or service.
They will view your product as an aid to benefiting them, and the whole perception of your ad will shift.
They’ll start to feel thankful that they have come across your ad and product, and will have a glimmer of hope that your product is the solution they have been looking for.
This in turn will encourage them to keep reading the rest of your ad, and significantly increases the chances of them becoming a buyer.
Contrast this with ads that focus solely on the products themselves without relating them to any benefits for the consumer. These ads are seen as an annoying inconvenience, and as being intrusive to their personal time and space.
Remember: your customers are thinking “what’s in it for me?” – so when you are able to show them exactly what your product can do for them you are satisfying that need and demonstrating that you care and can add real value to their lives.
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Knowing your target market is key
Think about your target audience and see how many more things you can identify in terms of what they want to gain, be, do, or reduce.
The more you can add the easier it’ll be pinpoint what advantage(s) to write about in your ad copy.
Get in to the mindset of your ideal customer and try to think from their viewpoint when you are writing your ad.
The more you understand your target audience the easier it will be to “enter the conversation that is happening in their head” and establish rapport with them.
You don’t have to create a need for your product, the need already exists!
Your job is to identify their need and relate your product to the fulfillment of that need.
What advantage should I focus on?
Your target audience will have many different wants or needs, so how do you know what advantage to focus on?
You can focus on the one or two most important things that apply to the target market in general, and pick the most relevant advantages that your product offers in relations to these needs.
A good way to do this is to identify the primary or most common things your prospects want in each category (gain, be, do, reduce).
What is the most important thing my customer wants to gain?
What is the main thing my customer want to be or become?
What is the most important thing my customer wants to do?
What is the most essential thing my customer want to reduce?
Once you have identified the most important thing in each category you will know which advantages or benefits of your product to focus your copy on.
Of course there is nothing stopping you from creating multiple ads that demonstrate different advantages to different segments of your target market, as they will likely have different primary needs or wants.
Test out different advantages or appeals and see which ads perform best.
Once you have shown them the advantages of using your product or service, the next step is to prove your claims.
That takes us to ad fundamental #3 – proving it!
For an overview of the 5 purposes of an ad check out our post here – “How to write ads – the 5 things every ad must contain”
If you haven’t read the previous parts of this 5 part series of posts then check them out here:
Ad fundamental 1 – to get attention
Ad fundamental 3 – to prove it
Ad fundamental 4 – to persuade people to grasp the advantage
Ad fundamental 5 – to ask for action
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