Are you confused when it comes to writing ads? Do you stare at your word document or piece of paper and say I think I can write a decent ad or design a flier if I could just get started? If so, don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Overcoming writers block is one of the toughest things you can ever tackle. I know, I’ve been there too many times, but I’ve learned to not let it affect me. I just dive right in get some words down on paper then go back later to edit it. This very issue is usually what stops people from advertising effectively in their home based businesses.
If you’re the type of person who values their time with family or other events and you don’t wish to tackle writing your own solo ads or articles, then you can always farm them out to professional writers. There are many choices when it comes to having others write your material. Many people think that writing an ad isn’t a big deal, yet when they sit down and try to write one they quickly discover that is it truly an art. Coming up with an attractive ad that explodes of the page and showers the reader in benefits, but takes it easy on the features is not an easy task to accomplish.
To effectively write a good solo ad for example, you want to cover the A.I.D.A. formula which is an acronym for the words attention, interest, desire and action. To gather interest you want to come up with a great headline that will entice the reader to read the rest of your ad copy. With the sub headline or body of the ad you want to start tugging at the heartstrings of your reader so you create interest. If your reader is not interested in your ad, they will quickly leave. You want to use words to thoroughly describe what’s in it for your reader. We as human beings have a “what’s in this for me” mentality.
As you get into the meat of your solo ad or other form of ad, you want to drip it in benefits of your business opportunity, product or service. These benefits are what’s going to create the “desire” of your audience. For example if you are selling a money making opportunity, then you might say something like “when you buy our new product, it will automatically recruit people for you while you’re on the beach”. People will see the benefit of your product because they see that it will save them time and do something that they really don’t like to do, so it just created the “desire” to have your product.
Now it’s time for the close or the end of your ad. This is where you create the best of the best of your comments. You need to use words that command action. You must create that urgency with your words that tell your prospective customer what to do. You tell them order now or they will miss out. You can use incentive offers such as “if you join me today, I’ll give you $100 dollars in free gifts, but hurry this is a limited time offer” This likely will get people to act because we fear loss and hate to miss out on something.
Writing articles and press releases on the other hand are a little different. In your writing, you need to be more “reserved” and not as flashy. Here’ you need to suppress your “hey look at me” car salesman mentality and just write with a calm and reserved manner. You need to be informative and offer the reader a lot of good information. Your goal is not to get in the readers face with strong salesy headlines and power words.
Press releases are a lot like articles in the way they are written. The purpose of the press release is to inform the public on the “release” of a new book by an author or to make people aware of a new restaurant that is opening in your city. Again, unlike a solo ad or classified type of ad, a press release is just general information that is written in an informative manner, but doesn’t drive home that hard sale. In closing, you can develop the skills needed to become your own writer with some practice. Like anything else it is an acquired skill.
