The main ingredient behind captivating ad copywriting

Adverts are meant to do two things and two things only: capture a reader’s attention and convert them into a customer. Sounds pretty straight forward, doesn’t it? On the contrary, merely achieving one of these takes a crazy amount of skill. Ad copywriting is vastly different from writing copy for blogs, press releases, and other longer-form pieces of content. This article has a look at how to craft ad copy that grabs attention professionally, piques interest, and leads to enquiries:

• The purpose of ad copy

There are many different types of advertising copy, each unique to the platform through which the advert is being promoted. Social media ads are constructed differently to PPC (pay-per-click) adverts. Before looking for the secret weapon that will render every piece of ad copy you write captivating, you need to know the purpose behind the advert. Is it a brand awareness campaign, which will likely focus on a specific aspect of the brand and not feature a call-to-action? Or is it a product push, where encouraging a reader to take action is the main goal?

• Finding the ‘ah ha’ moment

Here it is the main ingredient behind captivating copywriting. It’s all about working towards giving your reader an ‘ah ha’ moment. This is when they are surprised by something, or they’ve realised something important, or they are finally seeing something that they were oblivious to before. If you can make the reader go ‘ah ha’ then your copywriting has that secret ingredient which has been shown to enhance conversion rates dramatically. While it might seem simple enough, getting a reader to that point takes writing skill and the optimising of all parts of the advert.

• Main parts of an advert

A highly-effective advert is a culmination of professionally-optimised elements that work together to take the reader on a journey to enlightenment. Start with your heading. Is it powerful enough to convince the reader to find out more? Has the purpose of the advert been summed up somewhere in the advert? Are the sections of copy filled with emotive, positive, active wording that will resonate with the reader and spur them into action? Finally, is there an action that the reader can take to move the ball further, by enquiring about a service or making contact with the brand?

With thousands of adverts being shared across television, print media, and digital channels every day, being able to write captivating advert copy is a vital copywriting skill for any copywriter hoping to capture and keep the attention of a reader.

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