WRITING THE AD: WHERE TO START Every ad is made up of four elements:

1. The headline, commonly called “the head.”

2. Body copy, which is everything except the headline and the identifying signature, or “logo.”

3. The offer, which is part of the body copy but has to be thought out separately.

4. The logo, or signature, which identifies you and is generally the same as or very similar to your letterhead. My personal way of working is to begin with the offer, go to the body copy, and do the headline last. The offer forces me to understand exactly what I am trying to sell and what the buyer gets in return. Chicken at 49¢ a pound, when the competitors are charging 55¢, requires no explanation; but an HMO or the 27th new restaurant to open this month needs a different kind of enticement. After a rough (preliminary) draft of the offer, I do the body copy. My best headlines have generally grown out of a seed planted in the body, which I suddenly realize would make the perfect head. Of course, once the headline is in place, the entire ad may have to be fine-tuned to fit it, but that won’t matter, as long as you work within the ARM framework, which I will tell you about next.

Where You Should Start Where you start really makes no difference. Many writers begin with the headline or body copy instead of the offer and work from there. But no matter where you start, the headline is of such crucial importance that we’ll treat it in detail first. The Headline (and Illustrations) The headline (and illustrations, if any) are your grabbers. They are the way to catch readers’ fleeting attention and get them actually to read what you have to say. To do this, your advertisement, as every other marketing communication, must achieve the three ARM factors. Think of these as the ARM portion of “I’d give my arm if only they’d buy.” So arm yourself with the best headline you can develop to attract attention. Two things your headline must do:

1. Attract the audience that will actually buy the product or at least influence its purchase. Buyers and influencers are not necessarily the end users. Young children neither buy nor influence their parent’s purchase of cough syrup, but they are a major factor in deciding on purchases of toys, games, and cereals. Know for whom you write . . . and why!

2. Have carry-over power that will get readers from the headline into the ad itself. Let’s assume that you are writing an ad for a bicycle shop that has added a line for senior citizens. In writing your headline, don’t try to be clever or funny. That usually fails, even when attempted by professionals. Rather, begin by stating the most obvious fact and let your ad develop from there. For instance, you might try BIKES FOR SENIOR CITIZENS This approach will keep you out of trouble, but is unlikely to attract very many from the audience you want, unless you spice it up with some benefits. Two of the all-time best benefits are “new” and “free,” so let’s try to get at least one of those into the ad, perhaps as easily as this: NEW! BIKES FOR SENIOR CITIZENS Notice the difference between “NEW BIKES and “NEW! BIKES.” In this instance, the second version is probably preferable. With a different product— insurance, for instance—“NEW BENEFITS” might well do better than “NEW! BENEFITS.” Always think of what will appeal to your specific audience and write accordingly. But there is still nothing in the headline to get very many readers from “A” to “R”—to motivate Attention into Readership. So let’s strengthen the headline with stronger benefits and, if room permits, more of them, like this:

NEW! SPECIAL OFFER FOR 50-PLUS BIKERS or FREE TEST DRIVE OF SENIORS’ NEW RECREATIONAL BIKES Free Lessons For Nonbikers Who Purchase Note the change from “SENIOR” to “50-PLUS” in the first headline, and think about how you might make a similar change in the second. In writing headlines, keep refining, with three goals in mind:

1. Broaden the appeal where possible, but take care not to lose your targeted audience. “50-PLUS” may well capture the attention of seniors, plus attract a bonus group in the close-to-senior years. But broaden one step further to “ADULT,” and not only have you lost the focus on your real audience, but you’ve picked up a number of possible meanings of “adult” that will simply confuse your message. In writing your ad, every single word must be considered for the effect it has on the total message, and nowhere is this more true than in the headline.

2. Get at least one major benefit into your headline. “NEW” and “SPECIAL OFFER” show benefits in the first example. The offer might well be the test drive and free lessons spelled out in the second sample, or it might be something entirely different.

3. Fit the headline into the basic design you’ve elected as your model. Count the number of letters and spaces in the headline rather than its words, and work within that limitation. Don’t cheat.

A Note on Guarantees, Promises, and Offers If there is to be any limitation or qualification on an offer—such as free lessons only to those who make a purchase—state this immediately in conjunction with the offer. Unless qualified, a “free” offer is legally free to anyone who requests it.

WRITING THE BODY OF THE AD

All your hard work in developing benefits will now pay you back, because this part of the ad should just about write itself.

1. Take the benefits you’ve put on individual cards or sheets of paper, and arrange them in order of importance to the person you are trying to sell.

2. Check your design model, and see how much room you have for copy.

3. Within your space limitation, put as many benefits as will fit, using a _ small box,

• bullet, or _ check for each. This is the “telegraphic” style and gives a feeling of importance and urgency to your ad:

• Lets you write incomplete sentences.

• Gets the most benefits in the fewest words.

4. Highlight each benefit with its own bullet, box, or check. You want your readers to know how much they will get. Don’t be afraid to pile it on!

5. Separate the benefits from the offer by the use of a “subhead,” a smaller headline within the body of the ad.

6. Your offer can be a continuation of the bullet/box/check format, or it can go to a normal paragraph format. Which it does will depend on the room available and the details of the offer. The goal is to make the offer easy to understand and impossible to resist. Always edit yourself with that in mind.

Features, Too! What does your audience have to know about technical specifications, size, weight, colors, materials, packaging, and so on, to anchor the benefits to reality? Consider “Available in blue only” versus “A rainbow of 14 color selections.” Or “1/4-hp motor” versus “3/8-horsepower, three-speed motor with reverse option.” Or “All standard sizes” versus “20-gallon drums only.” Recall how irritated you get when you respond to an advertisement, only to learn that it left out the one key factor that would have told you it wasn’t for you (or when you didn’t respond and found out too late that it was for you). Benefits, yes! Pile them on. But don’t forget the features. They’ll help draw the right customers in and, equally important, keep the wrong audience out.

ONE FINAL CHECK BEFORE TYPESETTING

You know the audience you need to reach, and you have developed a cornucopia of benefits and offers that should make them buy. Now is the time to analyze your finished copy and layout for its appeal to that particular audience. Answer the following ARM questions:

• Does your headline shout for Attention from your specific audience?

• Do your benefits Retain and heighten the interest of that same audience?

• Does your offer Motivate the audience to the action you want it to take? If the answers are all “yes,” and if the amount of copy matches the model ad you’ve chosen, you’re ready to go to production.

PRODUCTION: FROM MANUSCRIPT AND LAYOUT TO FINISHED AD

You’ve picked a design and written the copy. Now all you have to do is set the type and get it to the media in a form acceptable to them. Fortunately, that’s the easiest part, and the next few pages will tell you how.

SUMMARY

• Use a telegraphic style for the body of the ad.

• Concentrate on benefits, but don’t forget the features.

• Let the offer itself determine its writing style.

• Complete you logo with all the ways someone can contact you: address, phone, fax, e-mail, and website, if applicable. Your readers won’t do it for you.