The Second Most Important Element of Your Ad... after the Headline

Hi {FIRSTNAME Friend},

Next time you're flicking through your local newspaper, take a good hard look at the ads. And notice how many of them give you a compelling reason to pick up the phone and get in touch with them now. You'll need to look closely because?

FINDING AN AD WITH A POWERFUL, KNOCK-EM DEAD OFFER IS LIKE LOOKING FOR A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK

But why is a powerful offer so important?

Listen: People will only give your ad a few seconds. If you're lucky enough to catch them with a strong headline? then they'll read your ad? but if they get to the end of it and there's not a dynamite offer to knock their socks off, they'll turn over to the next page? and your opportunity is gone? FOREVER.

You need to apply offers differently based on the type of business you operate?

1. A service business with a high value product (solicitor, accountant, real estate agent, consultant, copywriter) could offer a FREE REPORT of some sort. Here's some examples:

Free Report Reveals How To Make Your Assets As Secure As Fort Knox And Deter Any Scumbag From Taking Everything You've Got (solicitor)

Free Report Reveals How To Sell Your Home Faster And For A Higher Price (real estate agent - for generating listings)

Free Report Reveals How To Write Ads And Sales Letters That Practically Make People Line Up And Beg You To Take Their Money (copywriter)

Get the idea?

2. A business which has products which customers keep buying over and over again (e.g. ice cream shop, grocer, restaurant, hairdresser etc) would approach things a little differently. Here's some examples:

Anyone who says there's no such thing as a Free Lunch hasn't read this letter

Free Ice Cream? simply present this offer in our store before (date) to collect yours

Free Haircut to introduce you to our new salon

Now you may well wonder? how can I make any money by giving everything away for FREE. The answer is simple.

You must identify the lifetime value of your customer. That is, how much does the average client invest with you over a lifetime.

To work it out, you need to identify:

a) Your average sale
b) How many times the average client purchases from you in a given year
c) How many years a client stays with you

For instance, if a hairdresser's average client...

- Gets a haircut from them 10 times a year.
- And stays with them for 3 years
- And spends $40 on each visit

That's 20 visits at $40 a pop = $1200. At a 50% profit margin, each client is worth $600 to them.

Suddenly a free haircut on a day you're not busy anyway... doesn't really seem so much does it?

Warmly,

Scott Bywater, Copywriting That SELLS

Visit my web site for your complimentary copy of my ebook (valued at $29.95) and free subscription to my valuable ezine "Copywriting Selling Secrets" where you'll discover how to write ads and sales letters that make people line up and practically beg you to take their money.

Here's the address: http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Copywriting Information:

Related Articles

Lapsed Donors: How to Write a Fundraising Letter That Wins Them Back
Your definition may differ, but I define a lapsed donor as someone who has not donated to your organization within the last year, two years or three years. Donors who have not sent you a gift in over three years are not lapsed donors.
Freelancers Can Jump-Start Your Publicity Initiative
If you find that your progress is blocked by a lack of time or experience, consider hiring a freelancer to jumpstart your project.Writer's block got you down? Don't let it.
Fundraising Letters: Where To Find Creative Ideas For Your Appeals
How do you make your fundraising letters creative and fresh year after year when your needs don't change all that much? I am not talking about new initiatives. I'm talking about the programs that you run year after year.
Advice From Successful Freelancers: Starting & Maintaining A Freelancer Career
For the e-book, Advice from Successful Freelancers: How They Built Their Careers & How You Can Too!, I asked ten questions of freelancers who were living their dream life. Following are some of their answers.
Discover Your Creativity
You have a choice. Do you want to be constructive and positive in a unique way? Or do you want to be destructive and negative in a unique way? History has proven the futility of the latter goal.
The Power of Saying You Can
If you have children, you will doubtless remember saying to them, "You can do it."It's what we say when our toddlers first struggle to their feet.
The Truth About Negative Commands (Dont Read This!)
Everyday when I read promotional emails and advertisements, or listen to television commercials and dialogue in shows and movies, or hear people around me in everyday life use commands such as the following examples, I feel dismayed for them.This is because I understand something that many others do NOT!And, since learning what I now understand, while I am BOMBARDED every day from all directions with commands like those listed below, in all their variations, I feel worse and worse for not speaking up!I feel especially badly for all those advertisers out there who are ignorant about this, because I also realize they are often sincerely excited about what they are sharing and are working very hard to attract the attention of others.
Five Keys To Leaner and Meaner Copywriting
Grab 'em and don't lose 'em. Every marketer knows that one.
Can You Become a Freelance Copywriter in Los Angeles?
Is it out there? The chance to be a freelance copywriter in Los Angeles? For those looking to become a copy writer, finding employment in various cities can be difficult. In fact, most freelance writers around the world struggle to find employment or jobs that are within their own cities and home towns.
The Lead: Sinking The Hook Into Your Prospect
You only have an instant to capture your prospect's attention. No matter the medium - a sales letter, print ad, or commercial - she's going to make an almost instantaneous decision about whether you are worth her time or not.
How To Become Qualified As A Proofreader
The field of proofreading is not as easy to get into as you might think. In fact, there are many proof reading qualifications that you must possess in order to qualify.
Are You Making These Press Release Mistakes?
You've done it. Gotten that press release written.
Organizing Your Data to Write Better Copy
Last quarter I talked about interviewing / gathering data. So now you've got several thousand words of notes, hopefully digitally recorded.
Impulse Writing for Better Ad Headings
Writing headlines for your ads is the most important part of your online presence.When posting your ad to classified sites, directories, message boards, newsgroups or mailing lists, the only part of your ad that is showing is the heading.
Memorable Sales Copy -- How to Write it
Want to know the secret of creating MEMORABLE promotional copy? Sales copy that actually stays with your customers long after they've finished reading it?Then master the art of using words to create pictures in your customers' heads.If you can describe your products or services in such a way that it forms images in your customers' heads, well, then you've just created something that will last long after the marketing is over.
Buy My Book for $27 and Ill Give You Bonuses Worth a Gazillion Dollars!
Subhead..
Dont Be Satisfied With Your First Draft
Sometimes it's a struggle to figure out what's the best thing to say. You're writing a heading, the first sentence of an email, the introduction to a newsletter, a short description on a homepage.
Copywriting for Astrology, Numerology, Tarot, and the Mystic Audience
These days, you don't have to traverse the dark forest on the eve of the Full Moon to find a gypsy, psychic or "intuitive" as many now call themselves. Chances are, the local astrologist or tarot reader is making more than a comfortable living for herself in a corporate complex near you.
Prevent Procrastination With Positive Pressure
My wife and I recently bought a house.It's currently being built and moving day is slated for December.
How To Find Freelance Jobs - Writing About Food
Did you know that jobs writing about food are available? These opportunities are available in a variety of areas. Employment in these fields is an exciting concept.