How To Write Ads
I believe one of the best copywriters who ever lived was Gary Halbert. He wrote some of the most profitable letters and space ads on history. And, on top of all that, he was a fantastic teacher of copywriting as well.
One of the things I learned from Gary is the importance of making things easy on yourself. For example, let’s say you want to write an ebook on losing weight.
What’s the best course of action?
Would it be a good idea to get a degree in a health and fitness field? Would it be a good idea to take years to study the subject? Would it be a good idea to find the best health and fitness product? No. An easier strategy exists to get your hands on the best health and fitness information available. And you won’t have to do all the work on your own.
Instead of doing things the hard way, Gary would recommend you go out and buy the top selling books and ebooks on dieting. Then you clam up in your office or the library and read. While reading jot down notes. Lots of them. And take out all of the unique, exclusive dieting tips, tricks and secrets in each of those best sellers.
Then you take all that information and write your own dieting book including only the unique and exclusive stuff from each book. The stuff that does not overlap. What you are left with is a compact book on dieting with all the filler taken out.
Smart.
You can do the same thing when creating advertising. In fact, this works great if you have to craft a sales message on the fly for any kind of media.
The formal name for this strategy is… swiping ads. And it really does make it easier. Back in 1996, Gary taught a little bit about swiping during a seminar in Florida. The main focus of the seminar was on swiping great ads for your own promotions.
Look, if you don’t want to become a top notch copywriter and don’t have time to learn all the formulas, etc. then swiping is the way to go. All you have do is learn how to do it right.
Do that and you’ll experience these benefits…
** Thing’s like writer’s block will no longer plague you. Everything you need to begin writing a great ad will be there in the swipe. Blundering your way through thinking about what to write won’t be a problem either. The swipe contains everything you need.
** You’ll write promotions at warp speed. Swiping allows you to write faster. Again, part of the reason is because you wont have to guess. You can look at a great ad and almost fill in the blanks with your copy.
** Your copy will be up to 300% more effective. Whenever you model success the odds of success are on your side. When modeling a successful ad you stand a much better chance of writing a winner.
The moral of the story is: start swiping.
Tags: ad writing, advertising, business, Copy Writing, Copywriting, direct marketing, direct response copywriting, gary halbert, how to write ads, marketing, small business, swipe file, swiping, writing copy