How To Write An Ad That Makes Money (Part 1)

Here’s something I discovered after being in marketing consulting. 

Most ads can’t get clients.

Some ads make you laugh. Some ads want to be nominated for Oscars. Some ads are memorable.

But if they don’t make money… Does any of that matter?

Here I’ll show you how to write an ad that gets clients, gets leads, and sells product.

Let’s get into it:

What To Avoid When Writing Ads

Let’s start off with a key principle.

If I want you to buy something, could be anything, would I:

1. Dress up like a clown to make you laugh?

1. Distract you with a cute animal like a puppy or a kitten?

1. Hire a whole special effects team to overwhelm you with explosions and dramatic music?

1. Be extremely vague and mysterious about what I want you to buy?

If you answered none of the above, then congratulations.

Because that wouldn’t make any sense to do to get someone to buy something.

The First Step To Write A Winning Ad

So what works?

We think of our ad as a salesman. 

Let’s say we find a good prospect for our product or service and we decide to send a salesman over… What would you want him to say? What would he ask? What arguments would he use to get the prospect to take action?

Let’s try this out. In our thought experiment we’re selling chiropractic care. 

First thing we do is ask: ‘Who is a good prospect for this?’.

Let’s say we decide that ‘someone with back pain’ is a good prospect.

Now we send out our hypothetical salesman to this hypothetical prospect. What does he say?

How about…

…<drumroll>... 

“Hi, does your back hurt?”

How To Beat Writer’s Block When You’re Writing Winning Ads

Starting to write on a blank page is always daunting. A white sheet of paper staring at you, challenging you to fill it with something useful.

That’s why we keep things simple. We start by asking them if they are a good prospect for our service. Here’s some examples:

“Are you a business owner and would you like to attract more clients?”

“Does your back hurt?”

“Are you looking to lose some weight in the next few weeks?”

“Would you like to improve your golf swing?”

“Would you like to easily and effortlessly attract women?”

We start off simple because simple works. It saves us time and it gets to the heart of the matter. Which is what we’re trying to do. 

You’re trying to cut through the garbage and stand out from all the other advertisers. So we take a direct approach. Straight for the jugular. 

Now we have the foundation for our winning ad. In part 2 we’re going to build on this and really see it start to take shape. 

Talk soon,

Nathan