Writing Potent Copy

I borrowed this post’s title from David Ogilvy, arguably the most famous advertising professional. Many professional people who are not in the advertising profession have heard of him, and as a testament to his ability to promote, a lot of these people would find it difficult to come up with another name associated with advertising (I can’t, off the top of my head).

Ogilvy was a great believer in research and in using the knowledge gained from   research to develop successful advertisements. To him, advertising had only one purpose – to get people to buy the product. He claims to have little patience for ‘artistry’, ‘creativity’, ‘novelty’, all of which he considers an exercise in self-amusement by the advertiser at the expense (financially and otherwise) of their client. Sales was of paramount importance.

In the chapter ‘How to Write Potent Copy’ from his book, ‘Confessions of an Advertising Man’, he gives some advice about how to make your copy more memorable. I’ve picked out below some of the most reusable ideas.

The Headline

Advertisements without a headline is an absolute no-no. He calls it ‘the wickedest of all sins’. The reason? Most people read only the headline. If you don’t have one, you automatically give up your chance of hooking your readers. The headline is your tool for grabbing hold of your reader they scan the pages.

Know who it is you are writing for (which is never EVERYONE; it is always a subset of the readership), and use the words that address what they are looking for. His example: if you are selling a product for people with bladder weakness problems, use ‘BLADDER WEAKNESS’ in your headline.

But be careful not to exclude a good number of the people who are not your target. If your product is targeted for senior people with bladder weakness, don’t write headlines addressed to females only. Why risk alienating male readers with bladder weakness?

Always include the brand name in the headline, because most people read only the headline. If that’s all they will read, make sure the product name makes it way into their head. How many times have I seen witty slogans like the one from a moving company: ‘You will be moved by our service’. I remember the slogan, but do not know what their company name is.

The headline should invite the reader to read the body of the advertisement. Make them curious. Make them want to read on. But since you do not have any assurance you’ll succeed in pulling the reader in, make sure the headline stands on its own. It must make sense even without reading the body of the advertisement.

The Body

His advice with regard to the body of the advertisement is simpler less wide ranging. First, be specific and be factual. Avoid superlatives, generalisations, platitudes. Especially in these times when people are swamped in information. Just tell the truth, but make it fascinating (his words).

Testimonials are your best friend. Use them when you can. Ogilvy wrote these words in the early 1960s and notice how prescient they are. How many times do you look for testimonials before buying a product (testimonials and reviews from strangers on the internet!)

Give helpful advice the reader can use. Readers appreciate this.

Write plainly and avoid the temptation to produce ‘literature’. Use simple words so that you don’t fail to communicate what you want to say to the reader. Ogilvy says he once used the word ‘obsolete’ only to discover later that many of his target readers did not know what that word meant.

Transferable Advice?

Is his advice transferable? Many of us are not in the advertising business, but we are all in the sales business. Can you use his insights in the forms of communication you use? I believe so, and I certainly will try.

Market Share, Market Risk

Even as Company A owns and enjoys the biggest share of demographic market for teens, it begins to direct a zealous eye towards another section of the market, the one dominated by competitor Company B. 

Company A looks at the sales and profits of Company B and decides: “we’d like that share”.

Company A undertakes a campaign to grab market share from B.  A few expensive months of marketing begins to make substantial progress.  After a couple of years, Company A is swamped by regulatory demands which were never a problem with their other market.  Consequently, the profit margins end up far far less than originally expected, and the headaches far, far more.

Companies do this all the time.  They notice a market share and say: “we’d like that”. 

But they forget that markets are characterised not only by profits: they also come with market costs, market responsibilities, and market risks.

It seems company B was more adept at managing the risks of that market, hence its profits.  Company A did not have the experience managing the risks of that market, hence its headaches.