Rashida
Expert ad copy is compelling. It grabs your audience’s attention and pulls them in.
The thing about awesome ad copy is that it’s not easy to come by.
It’s easy enough to write copy, but writing compelling ad copy is another story.
So, how do expert copywriters do it? What makes them stand out and why is their copy so dang good?
Today, we’ll take a closer look at high-converting ad copy and what sets it apart.
Problems and Solutions
People want solutions. If you can provide them with a solution, they will listen.
One of the best ways to grab their attention is with a headline that presents a pain point and a solution.
What is the main goal your target audience wants to accomplish? What are you offering that can help?
One short, sweet example of this is this ad by Asana (project management tool). They use an image with the tagline “Make work less work” and the simple phrase “Whatever you do, you can do it in Asana.” By the CTA, they urge you to sign up to “get organized. Stay on track. Hit deadlines.” Without diving too much into their features, they bring to mind a common problem and make it clear how they help.
Include Statistics
If you want to exude credibility, include a statistic or expert quote. You can select statistics that apply to your market (and their problems) or to how your service helps.
For example, at Content Cucumber, we could leverage a statistic like “A 2019 survey found that 19% of bloggers spend over 6 hours on a typical post.” This would set up the pain point of spending too much time on writing, time away from your core competencies.
However, we could also make use of statistics about our business and the solutions it provides. We could gather data from our clients and say that x% of customers found that our writing service saved them at least 10 hours a week, or something like X% of our customers improved their marketing ROI with our service.
Create Urgency
Emphasizing problems and solutions is a great way to get people interested. However, you want to get them more than interested, you want to get them to act.
Create a sense of urgency in your ads to compel your audience to action. If they feel like the offer is temporary, it elicits them to take action sooner and with more force than they normally would.
There are many ways to create a sense of urgency with your ads. Here are a few ideas:
- Limited time offer
- This deal ends in X minutes, days, or on this date
- X spots remaining
- Showing a counter of spots available/ offers left
- Last chance
- Offer ending soon
Here’s an example of a Brain Sensei ad that makes use of urgency.
Promotions
you might not have control over the promotions your company offers. Think outside of the box. What is part of your normal offer that may sound like a deal?
For example, maybe you have a company that sells fitness bikes. Every sale includes a free pair of biking shoes. To you, that is just part of the normal purchase, but to your audience, it could sound like a freebie/deal. That’s something to emphasize in the ad copy. “Purchase your bike now and enjoy a free pair of biking shoes!”
Include Target Keywords (Naturally)
You want to write compelling copy, but you still want it to get in front of the right people. Make sure you leverage relevant target keywords in your ads. The keywords should be relevant to the purpose of the ad as well as the search query.
Make a Promise
For high-stakes offers that relate to commercial intent keywords, consider taking an authoritative approach.
This can take many different forms. You could say something like “you only pay once you see results” or the word “guaranteed.” It could also mean referring to your brand as “Recommended” or something similar.
Here are a few examples of relevant Google ad copy headlines for the term “Fraud lawyer”:
- [Recommended] Fraud Attorney-Stoughton
- Morgan & Morgan Law Firm-Pay Nothing Unless We Win
- Ask a Lawyer: Fraud Will Answer in Minutes
Combine Copy and Design
To write stellar ad copy, you must be able to write for the design. The ad image or video is largely what will grab people’s attention. This doesn’t mean the rest of the writing is for nothing, but it does mean that ad copy within the image matters a LOT.
When planning ad copy, work simultaneously on the design. You need to have a sense of the design you are working with, and the designer can also adjust based on copy. Ideally, you should collaborate on the design and copy together, so that you can create a coherent ad that leverages the powerful combination of the two.
Short and Sweet
One of the biggest challenges of ad copy is saying what you need to, in the most compelling way possible, without rambling on and on. It’s hard to be concise, and for ads, you need to be very concise.
The challenge is to get the point across in as few words as possible. For this reason, every word is important.
Writing ads, which are often under a few hundred words, seems easy at first. But you may quickly find that it’s not as easy as you expected to write something so short.
Don’t be afraid to take a few stabs at it. To create multiple versions, and to come back the next day with a fresh perspective.
Make it Fun
Some of the best ads are the most fun ones. They take a tone that resonates with their audience, and they play on fun literary elements. There are many ways to make ads more fun, here are some examples:
- Rhyming
- Alliteration
- A relevant, appropriate joke
- Words that elicit emotions
- Conversational tone
There are endless examples of fun ad copy, but this billboard by Air Asia is just *chef’s kiss* 10/10:
Always Include a Call to Action
Never end an ad without a Call to Action. Don’t assume your readers know what to do, tell them.
The CTA will depend on the content of the ad as well as the goal of it. Not all ads are intended to get someone to buy. You may also be trying to get them to sign up for your newsletter, visit a certain page, reserve a spot in a webinar, etc.
Practice Makes Perfect
Ultimately, writing winning ads takes practice. You may have a few duds along the way, but the more you do it (and analyze the results) the better you’ll get!
The only issue? There’s a good chance you have a lot of other things on your plate aside from writing ads. But we have good news for you, we can help!
Our team at Content Cucumber is filled with experienced, dedicated writers who can help. Our writers have a myriad of different backgrounds, and at least a few know how to craft some darn good ad copy.
If you need help writing awesome ad copy (or blogs, newsletters, web copy, and more), then we are here to help.
And yes, you can try us out! Just purchase your sample article today!
Learn more about Content Cucumber and how we can help you with your content needs today by booking your free call with one of our specialists!
