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How to write a good advertisement
Read in 11 min.
Listen in 14 min.
Learn the key ideas of the book by Victor Opper Schwab

How to write a good advertisement

Creating communications that capture the attention of your reader

Writing high quality advertising copy requires a certain level of respect for meticulous rules, starting with an excellent knowledge of the product you are trying to sell. This is as true today as it was in the 1840’s, when How To Write A Good Advertisement: A Short Course In Copywriting was published for the first time. Even though today’s business landscape is radically different, the tips assembled in this guide to writing promotional material are current, and perfectly applicable to copywriting today. 

How to write a good advertisement
Read in 11 min.
Listen in 14 min.
IDEA CHIAVE 1/7

People don’t have time to read long winded content, so their “reward” for taking the time to read an advertisement should be highly noticeable

Let’s start with the numbers: a person will read four adverts in a magazine; to read an entire magazine, it takes at least fourteen hours; according to a survey carried out for the National Association of American Advertisers, over 66% of businessmen and professionals spend at least fifteen minutes or less reading daily newspapers.

Simply put, adverts have to compete with a huge quantity of content and a scarcity of time, so as Arthur Brisbane puts it, they have to be “easier to read than to skip”. To make this happen, companies have to offer a “reward-for-reading” that is so tempting that people will want to read them. A good ad has five characteristics:

  • it attracts attention;
  • it offers an advantage;
  • it explains the reasons for the advantage;
  • it persuades you to take the advantage;
  • it asks you to carry out an action.
  

The key ideas of "How to write a good advertisement"

01.
People don’t have time to read long winded content, so their “reward” for taking the time to read an advertisement should be highly noticeable
02.
To capture people’s attention the first area to focus on is the title, which must entice the reader to keep reading the ad instead of “skipping” it
03.
The layout of the ad is the reader’s second “anchor” in advertising, its task is to make the ad stand out in the midst of the other content
04.
The ad text is all played out in the first paragraph: the promise that the headline makes must be confirmed and clarified quickly and easily
05.
The longer the ad is able to hold the reader’s attention, the greater chance the product has of being successful. There are some golden rules to follow to achieve this
06.
Quotes
07.
Take-home message
 
 
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