1. Everybody
wants to make more money. In fact, most
people would like to hit upon something that makes them fabulously rich! And seemingly, one of the easiest roads to
the fulfillment of these dreams of wealth is within the
professional circles of the business, direct selling. The
only thing is, hardly anyone gives much real thought to the basic ingredient of
selling by mail - the writing of profitable classified ads. If your business is to succeed,
then you must acquire the expertise of writing classified ads that sell your
product or services. So
what makes a classified ad good or bad?
First of all, it must appeal to the reader, and as such, it must say
exactly what you want it to say. Secondly, it has to say what it says in the
least possible number of words in order to keep your operating costs within
your budget. And thirdly, it has to
produce the desired results whether inquiries or sales.
2. Grabbing
the reader's attention is your first objective. You must assume the reader is "scanning" the page on which
your ad appears in the company of two or three hundred classified ads. Therefore, there has to be something about
your ad that causes him to stop scanning and look at yours! So, the first two or three words of your ad
are of the utmost importance and deserve your careful consideration. Most surveys show that words or phrases that
quickly involve the reader, tend to be the best attention-grabbers. Such words as: FREE...
WIN... MAKE BIG MONEY... Whatever
words you use as attention-grabbers, to start your ads, you should bear in mind
that they'll be competing with similar attention-grabbers of the other ads on
the same page. Therefore, in addition to
your lead words, your ad must quickly go on to promise or state further
benefits to the reader. In other words,
your ad might read something like this: MAKE BIG MONEY! Easy &
Simple. We show you how! In
the language of professional copywriters, you've grabbed the attention of your
prospect, and interested him with something that even he can do. The
next rule of good classified copy writing has to do with the arousal of the
reader's desire to get in on your offer.
In a great many instances, this rule is by-passed, and it appears, this
is the real reason that an ad doesn't pull according to the expectations of the
advertiser.
3. Think
about it - you've got your reader's attention; you've told him it's easy and
simple; and you're about to ask him to do something. Unless you take the time to further
"want your offer," your ad is going to only half turn him on. He'll compare your ad with the others that
have grabbed his attention and finally decide upon the one that interests him the
most.
What
is being said is that here is the place for you to insert that magic word
"guaranteed" or some other such word or phrase. So now, we've got an ad that reads: MAKE BIG MONEY! Easy & Simple. Guaranteed! Now
the reader is turned on, and in his mind, he can't lose. You're ready to ask for his money. This is the "demand for action"
part of your ad. This is the part where
you want to use such words as: Limited offer
- Act now! Write today! Only and/or
just...
Putting
it all together, then your ad might read something like this: MAKE BIG MONEY! Easy & Simple. Guaranteed!
Limited offer. Send $l to: These
are the ingredients of any good classified ad - Attention - Interest - Desire -
Action... Without these four ingredients
skillfully integrated into your ad, chances are your ad will just "lie
there" and not do anything but cost you money. What we've just shown you is a basic
classified ad. Although such an ad could
be placed in any leading publication and would pull a good response, it's known
as a "blind ad" and would pull inquiries and responses from a whole
spectrum of people reading the publication in which it appeared. In other words, from as many
"time-wasters" as from bona fide buyers. So
let's try to give you an example of the kind of classified ad you might want to
use, say to sell a report such as this one...
Using all the rules of basic advertising copy writing, and stating
exactly what our product is, our ad reads thusly:
MONEY-MAKER'S
SECRETS! How To Write winning classified
ads. Simple and easy to learn -should double or
triple your
responses. Rush $1 to BC Sales, 10 Main Anytown, TX
75001.
The
point I am making is that:
l) You've
got to grab the reader's attention...
2)
You've got to "interest him" with something that appeals to him...
3) You've got to "further
stimulate" him with something (catch-phrase) that makes him
"desire" the product or service.
4. Demand that they act immediately...
There's
no point in being tricky or clever. Just
adhere to the basics and your profits will increase accordingly. One of the best ways of learning to write
good classified ads is to study the classifieds - try to figure out exactly
what they're attempting to sell - and then practice rewriting them according to
the rules we've just given you. Whenever
you sit down to write a classified, always write it all out - write down
everything you want to say - and then go back over it, crossing out words, and
refining your phraseology.
The
final ingredient of your classified ad is of course, your name, address to
which the reader is to respond - where he's to send his money or write for
further information.
Generally
speaking, readers respond more often to ads that include a name than to those
showing just initials or an address only.
However, because advertising costs are based upon the number of words,
or the amount of space your ad uses, the use of some names in classified ads
could become quite expensive. If we were
to ask our ad respondents to write to or send their money to The Research
Writers & Publishers Association, or to Book Business Mart, or even to
Money Maker's Opportunity Digest, our advertising costs would be
prohibitive. Thus we shorten our name
Researchers or Money-Makers. The point
here is to think relative to the placement costs of your ad, and to shorten
excessively long names. The
same holds true when listing your post office box number. Shorten it to just plain Box 40, or in the
case of a rural delivery, shorten it to just RRl. The
important thing is to know the rules of profitable classified ad writing, and
to follow them. Hold your costs in line, Now
you know the basics... the rest is up to you. All the best.
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