What is Copywriting | Art of the Written Advertisement

What is Copywriting?

Copywriting is the skill of writing an ad. The goal of the copywriter is to set the bait for the customer. They communicate and transfer an emotion from their words to the minds of the buyer.
In today's modern society, internet users are bombarded with ads everywhere they go. Companies are vying to get in front of their customers and they're paying big bucks to do so. With this in mind, we want to make sure that the ads we're spending money on are actually effective.

Step One: The Headline

A person won't read every single line of every single advertisement that they encounter on a daily basis. What they'll do is to skim the headlines and see if anything peaks their interest. That's why the headline is often the most important piece of any ad.
Flyers, brochures, and other ads have about a 5-second window before the viewer decides to toss them out. This means the headline has to hook them in. Ogilvy, a renowned advertiser, says that if you aren't selling in your headline, you're wasting 80 percent of the ad budget. He also suggested that swapping headlines in ads had increased the effectiveness by 10 times!

Qualities of a Good Headline

There are a few qualities that can be found in the best headlines. The first step of any sales process is to grab the attention of the customer. Most ads do it with images but they don't send as good a message as plain text.

What's in it for me?

The best headlines answer the question "what's in it for me?" that the consumer is always wondering. It should address exactly what the buyer can expect from making a purchase.

Extremely Targeted

Headlines can also be extremely targeted so that the right buyers can identify themselves. For example, a headline for a post-pregnancy weight loss program might read "How to lose 10lbs in 3 months after giving birth without a gym". Not the most glamorous headline, but you get the point.

The 5-second rule

We have to deliver a sales pitch in about 5 seconds. People won't read entire ads. They'll skim the headlines, and we better make sure they bite the bait. Think of it as a 5-second elevator pitch. We don't have the luxury of conversing with our customer and so we'll have to cover all of the details pretty quickly.