AdBriefing Copywriting Tips

Using Experience for Persuasion

2007-02-25T09:27:00.002Z

By Justin Hitt, Professional B2B Copywriter How do you connect with buyers who read your copy in a meaningful and emotional way? To do this you need to have two important insights, easily gained but often ignored. In the November 2008 AdBriefing Newsletter, I quoted David Ogilvy with: "I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have

Using a Gimmick with Your Copy

2007-02-20T18:47:00.004Z

By Justin Hitt, Professional B2B Copywriter A follow up note contains a packet of flow seeds and a note, "We'll make your business bloom" with a simple phone number as a call to action is NOT how to use a gimmick. Grabbers are an excellent way to get your prospects attention if you know how to use the the right way. Some selling guru's get down right enraged when they see sales gimmicks, they

Elements of Writing Bullet Points

2007-02-10T09:32:00.003Z

By Justin Hitt, Professional B2B Copywriter How do you present many benefits, relieve eye strain, and help your reader get more per inch in any sales letter? You use the often abused bullet point. Here are some tips on using bullet points: Think of bullets as classified ads in your copy that prepare the reader for a big offer or call to action. Each point will give the reader a reason to go

Copywriter Specializing in My Field

2007-01-20T08:06:00.003Z

By Justin Hitt, Professional Industrial Copywriter Do you really need to be in a field to write copy for it? Even if you are just starting out, or writing copy for your own company, the answer may surprise you. Eugene Schwartz, author of "Breakthrough Advertising" (available at Amazon UK and Amazon US) once said, "The four most important characteristics of a copywriter are (1) indefatigability,

Are Graphics Saying The Wrong Thing

2007-01-10T15:28:00.002Z

By Justin Hitt, Professional Industrial Copywriter Likely turning in his grave, Claude Hopkin's would be dismayed by today's haphazard use of graphics on websites, space advertising, and in sales copy. "Use pictures only to attract those who may profit you; use them only when they form a better-selling argument than the same amount of space set in type." -- Claude Hopkin, Scientific Advertising

The Curse of Reversed-Out Type

2006-08-20T11:36:00.005+01:00

by Patrick QuinnI know nothing about design. I do, however, know a little about typography, since I started my working life 200 years ago as a hot-metal compositor. And in design terms, I also know what I like. With these caveats, I’d like to say a general word or two about a certain design anomaly in ads and websites that has me more bemused than usual.Clearly, the more appealing an ad, a

Long or Short Term Advertising

2006-01-04T11:51:00.003Z

By Patrick Quinn, Professional Copywriter It often happens – no, it usually happens – that advertisers, once they have run a campaign explaining the basic advantages of their product or service, think that this particular job has been done more or less for good and all. They see and see again their own ads plugging these basics; they see their competitors’ ads doing the same thing; and they come

Raising The Value

2006-01-03T12:34:00.004Z

By Patrick Quinn, Professional Copywriter Every ad, brochure, website or radio commercial should initially fulfill one very important task. And this is to raise the value of your product or service in the potential customer’s mind. This has nothing to do with a policy of low pricing or, indeed, cut-price offers. But it has everything to do with making a sales pitch that immediately demonstrates

Getting Your Message Across

2005-12-12T13:00:00.002Z

By Patrick Quinn, Professional Copywriter It has been scientifically proven that most of us take in only around 40% of what we actually see. Our brains edit out the other 60% of visual information as unimportant. On these grounds, if you have a serious proposition to make in your website, brochure or sales letter, it would be wise to repeat it. And not just once, but several times. Just because

What’s In It For Me?

2005-11-23T11:31:00.000Z

Copywriting Tips This article is brought to you by www.AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. What’s In It For Me? Patrick Quinn

TOO CLEVER BY HALF

2005-08-01T10:14:00.000+01:00

Advertising Tips This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. TOO CLEVER BY HALF Patrick Quinn This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. THE PROBLEM WITH INDUSTRIAL ADVERTISING

HOW TO TEST YOUR HEADLINES

2005-07-04T08:18:00.000+01:00

Copywriting Tips This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. HOW TO TEST YOUR HEADLINES Patrick Quinn This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. IF YOU CAN’T BE ORIGINAL, BE ACCURATE John Powell I’ve just been reading Pat Quinn’s revised book, The

HOW TO BUY BAD ADVERTISING

2005-06-19T18:16:00.000+01:00

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING

2005-06-11T20:27:00.000+01:00

FEATURES & BENEFITS – TELLING THE DIFFERENCE

2005-05-31T17:22:00.000+01:00

Copywriting Tips This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. FEATURES & BENEFITS – TELLING THE DIFFERENCE John Powell All the experts tell us that to produce good advertising copy, you must sell the benefits. That’s because it’s

KICK-STARTING BODY COPY

2005-05-27T16:41:00.000+01:00

Copywriting Tips This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. KICK-STARTING BODY COPY Patrick Quinn Several correspondents to our newsletter, AdBriefing, say that they are having trouble writing body copy for ads. Their problem

HELP ME, SAINT BERNARDINO

2005-05-22T20:45:00.000+01:00

Advertising Tips This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. HELP ME, SAINT BERNARDINO Patrick Quinn By the grace of a national newspaper, I am able to reveal to you a startling fact. There is a patron saint of advertising.

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT – COPY OR PIC?

2005-05-21T17:40:00.000+01:00

Copywriting Tips This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT – COPY OR PIC? When, some little time ago now, I first descended upon the advertising scene, we were a good deal more concerned than most people seem

SOME COPYWRITING TIPS FROM AN OLD HAND

2005-05-20T17:37:00.000+01:00

Copywriting Tips This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. SOME COPYWRITING TIPS FROM AN OLD HAND Patrick Quinn I have been in the ad game for a long, long time. I have trained hundreds of writers, and I’ve been responsible

BOLD? EMPHATICALLY NOT!

2005-05-20T09:41:00.000+01:00

Copywriting Tips This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. BOLD? EMPHATICALLY NOT! Patrick Quinn In my not so humble opinion, the great bulk of today’s copywriting efforts are visual abominations; and I’ll tell you

ANECDOTES FROM THE AD BUSINESS

2005-05-18T15:54:00.000+01:00

Advertising Tips This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. ANECDOTES FROM THE AD BUSINESS Patrick Quinn Rifling through my filing cabinet the other day, I came across two ancient, nicotine-stained items of

AIN’T WE WONDERFUL!

2005-05-17T16:17:00.000+01:00

Marketing Tips This article is brought to you by AdBriefing.com. Our aim is to produce a library of informative pieces that contain copywriting tips, marketing know-how and lessons in good advertising practise. AIN’T WE WONDERFUL! Patrick Quinn It may come as a surprise to you to discover that customers don’t buy your products or services because they feel that you have a

The British and Americans Are Divided by a Common Language. But Why?

2005-05-16T17:32:00.000+01:00

The British and Americans Are Divided by a Common Language But Why. By John Powell Both the Brits and the Americans speak the same language: English. But why is there a large difference in syntax and grammar between the two? More importantly, why do we employ different spellings for words that obviously mean the same thing. You spell program and I spell programme. You write