The best way to write copy for magazine adverts

The concept of adverts in magazines deals with print ads which appear in local or national magazines. When you speak about magazine advertising, most people have an image of the large, glossy, national publications which full of big brand advertisers. And it may seem like smaller businesses don’t belong alongside the “big guys”. But that’s just not the case.

Of course, advertising in magazines with a national distribution is going to be expensive and it’s not the way to go for most small or mid-sized businesses. What a business really needs is to choose publications that are closely associated with its target audience.

One possibility is to go really local with free magazines that you would find in supermarkets or pharmacies. The emphasis of these types of publications is on home sales, cars, boats and other topics. A company doesn’t have to tie straight into the topics of any one of the magazines This is as long as the readers of those magazines would also be interested in its product or service. Remember, it’s the audience that counts and you can find an audience for your business in any number of places.

How to write copy for a magazine advertisement

Know your prospects

The first requirement for writing a magazine ad is to knowing the specific prospect you’re trying to communicate with. For example, if a magazine advertises a circulation of 200 000 readers, not all of them are prospects for your client’s product. Perhaps, 10% of them are real prospects. You should recognise this fact and based on this you should plan your ad in line with this.

To get to know your prospects, ask yourself the following questions:

• What does this person desire the most?
• What is the most significant problem this person has?
• How is this product or service going to answer to this person’s problem?

Know how the product solves the prospect’s need(s)

Your prospect will buy the product only for the end results, and not for the physical product itself. Sell the sizzle and not the steak. The sizzle is what benefits your product has for the buyer, and not what your product is all about.

The most vital part of your ad: YOUR HEADLINE

David Ogilvy is known for saying: “Five times as many people read the headlines as reading the body copy.” Thus, the great importance of headlines. If your headline is strong more prospects will read it.

How do you make your headlines strong?

There are many formulae for writing headlines. For example, if you have news about your product, you should include this news in your headline or a benefit of your product.

Your lead paragraph should expand on the benefit promised or news offered in the headline. This is the best way to convert the prospect’s attention into interest.

Convert curiosity into desire

You must visibly illustrate how your prospect is going to BENEFIT from buying the product or service that you’re selling. You must show all the nicer things that this product will bring to your prospect’s life. And if your product is truly exceptional, if it offers a truly exclusive benefit, then you can absolutely differentiate your product from your competitors.

With this bespoke feature, you can create a Unique Selling Proposition. You must also create a belief in your claims. Why do you need to be believed? Well, prospects are sceptical and if they don’t believe in your claim, they won’t act on your offer.

One of the simplest ways to build belief is through testimonials. A testimonial enables you to show the doubtful prospect that what you’ve said is true as here’s a customer/ user is saying about your product.

Call to action

You can tell your prospect to phone a number or to write in for a free brochure. And here’s where your magazine advertising can turn into a scientific endeavour. It is possible for you to assign specific codes in your response method.

Don’t write your ad in reverse, in other words having white type on a black background as If you run your ad with black text on a white background you can boost results by 200%.

Usually, put your ad in three columns and don’t put a big picture at the bottom of the page. This picture, if it belongs in your ad, should be at the top of your page.

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