Waiting on line to check out at a retail establishment is never a fun experience. However, the stores put that time wasted for good use – to make more profit for themselves. That is where they stock the most likely candidates for an “impulse purchase,” and that way increase their sales.
However, when it comes to the products themselves, each one has to compete with the other one for your attention. Flashlights, chewing gum, mint fresheners, batteries, and now the ever-present gift cards. But the biggest form of competition is the magazine stand. There the different publications battle it out for your attention, with their flashy designs, attractive pictures of sexy women, and most importantly – sizzling ad copy.
Studying the few lines of text that are placed strategically on the cover can give you great inspiration for ad ideas. There is an image of a cover from Cosmopolitan magazine. Here are some of the headlines scattered around the cover.
o Shop like a Genius: The Cosmo Guide to Guilt Free Shopping
o How to Date 8 Men at Once: And Get Away With It
o 10 Ways to STI-Proof your relationship
o See Grown Men Beg: Tony Blair and Company Beg for Your Vote
These snippets of copy were not just placed there by chance. Actually, very experienced copywriters are the ones who draft the covers of these magazines. The words must be able to do their job. (1) Catch your attention. (2) Get you to pick it up. (3) Get caught up in the fascinating contents so that you purchase it.
In the examples above, a few short words capture your attention, and make you extremely curious as to what the article actually says. Your PPC ads, or even your classified ads should do exactly the same thing. So go ahead, next time you are on line at the store, steal some copy off the front cover. Open up to the Table of Contents where you’ll find even better ideas. Use these ideas to draft some killer ads, and your clicks and responses will greatly improve.
