Writing trade Ads, or any Ads for that matter, that sell is an art that can be learned quite easily. Here are some tips straight from the horses mouth so to speak.

Master copywriter Bob Bly has given me this article so I can share these winning tips with you.
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How do you create an industrial or trade ad that gets attention, wins high readership scores, and generates a steady flow of valuable inquiries that convert easily to sales?
Here are some ideas, based on studies (conducted to gather material for my book, Ads That Sell) of some advertisements that have proven successful in the marketplace:

1. Put a benefit in the headline.
The most successful ad I ever wrote (which was the number one inquiry producer in four consecutive insertions) had the headlines:

HOW TO SOLVE YOUR EMISSIONS
PROBLEMS…
… at half the energy cost on conventional
venturi scrubbers.

The headline combines a powerful benefit (“half the energy cost”) with the promise of useful information (“how to”) addressed directly at the reader’s specific problem (“solve your emissions problems”).

2. Ask a provocative question.
My friend Bob Pallace wrote an ad that generated an immediate $1 million increase in billings for his ad agency in Silver Spring, Maryland. The headline was:

ARE YOU TIRED OF WORKING FOR
YOUR AD AGENCY?

The ad ran only one time in each of three magazines (High-Tech Marketing, Business Marketing, Inc.) and immediately brought in five new clients.

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Robert Bly is a freelance copywriter specializing in business-to business and direct response advertising. He writes ads, brochures, direct mail packages, and sales letters for more than 75 clients nationwide including Prentice-Hall, Grumman Corporation, Sony, Online Software, Digital Linguistix, and Philadelphia National Bank. He is also the author of 17 books including The Copywriter’s Handbook (Dodd, Mead). Bly can be reached at 174 Holland Ave., New Milford, NJ 07646-201/599-2277.

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3. Be direct.
An ad agency asked me to write an ad to generate sales leads for a client that repairs and restores old surgical tables. When they sent me their literature, I used the headline on their brochure as the headline for the ad.
It read:

SURGICAL TABLES REBUILT
Free Loaners Available

The ad was successful, and demonstrates that when you are the only one advertising a particular product or service, or when the nature of your offer is hard to grasp, direct headlines can be extremely effective. Another direct headline I like appeared in an ad running in Network World:

LINIK 8 PCS TO YOUR MAINFRAME
ONLY $2,395

Donald Reddy, president of the firm, said the ad was extremely effective in generating a small but steady flow of highly qualified sales leads.

4. Give the reader useful information.
One way to increase readership is to promise the reader useful information in your headline, then deliver it in your ad copy.
For an ad offering business people a book on how to collect overdue bills, Milt Pierce wrote this headline:

7 WAYS TO COLLECT YOUR.
UNPAID BILLS.
New from Dow Jones-Irwin…
A Successful and Proven Way
to Get Your Bills Paid Faster.

The information-type ad is highly effective in business-to-business advertising. Why? Because the reason business people read trade journals is for information, not entertainment, and such ads to that valuable store of data.

5. Offer a free booklet, brochure, or information kit.
Offering something tangible – a brochure, booklet, information kit, videotape, audiocassette, research report, checklist, or other material the reader can send for – has never failed to increase response for me in nearly a decade of ad writing.
At the end of your ad, put in a subhead offering the material (for example: “Get the facts – FREE!”). Then describe your brochure or booklet, show a picture of it, and explain what the reader must do to get it.
If you can add something to a sales brochure to make it of lasting value, so much the better. More people will request your piece and more people will keep it.

6. Use a coupon.
Coupons visually identify your ad as “direct response,” causing more people to stop and read it (because they know that coupon ads usually offer free things of value). If the ad is one-third page or less, put a dashed border around the entire ad to create the feel and appearance of a coupon. Copy them instructs the reader. “For more information, clip this ad and mail with your business card to {company name, address}.”

7. Use a headline with multiple parts:
A headline does not have to contain just one sentence or phrase set in one uniform type size. Often, you can create a more eye catching and effective headline using what I essentially a three-part headline.
The first part, or kicker, is an “eyebrow” or short line that goes in the upper left corner of the ad, either straight or at a slant. On good use of the kicker is to select a specific type of reader for the ad (e.g., “Attentio COBOL Programmers”). Another effective technique is to let the reader know you are offering something free (“Special Free Offer – See Coupon Below”).
Next, set in larger type, comes your mail headline, which states your central benefit and makes a powerful promise. Then, in the subhead, you expand on the benefit or reveal the specific nature of the promise. Examples:

$500 A DAY WRITER’S UTOPIA
Here’s the breakthrough offer that opens
up a whole new world for writers or those
who hope to become writers:

FOR HIGH SPEED HIGH PERFORMANCE
DATA INTEGRATION, LOOK INTO MAGI
MIRROR. Now you can move data instantly from
one program to another right from your PC screen.

If your headline is designed to arouse curiosity or grab attention and does so at the expense of clarity, then be sure to make nature of your proposition immediately clear in a subhead or within the first sentence. Otherwise you will lose the interest of the reader whose attention you worked so hard to gain.

Bob Bly is a prolific writer and master copywriter with a string of bestseller books to his name. You can get more information about him and his work here

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Hope you got some good info you can put into use straight away.

Leave a comment and let me know – I’m always interested in your thoughts.

Stuart.

Here’s a great article I was graciously given permission to use. It’s written by world renowned copywriter Bob Bly, the man McGraw-Hill calls ”America’’s top copywriter.”

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To define what constitutes good print advertising, we begin with what a good print ad is not:

• It is not creative for the sake of being creative
• It is not designed to please copywriters, art directors, agency presidents or even clients.
• Its main purpose is not to entertain, win awards or shout at the readers, “I am an ad. Don’t you admire my fine writing, bold graphics and clever concept?”

In other words, ignore most of what you would learn as a student in any basic advertising class or as a trainee in one of the big Madison Avenue consumer ad agencies.
Okay. So that’s what an ad shouldn’t be. As for what an ad should be, here are some characteristics shared by successful direct response print ads:

1. They stress a benefit. The main selling proposition is not cleverly hidden but is made immediately clear. Example: “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
2. They arouse curiosity and invite readership. The key here is not to be outrageous but to address the strongest interests and concerns of your target audience. Example: “Do you Make These Mistakes in English?” appeals to the reader’s desire to avoid embarrassment and write and speak properly.
3. They provide information. The headline “How to Stop Emission Problems – at Half the Cost of Conventional Air Pollution Control Devices” lures the reader because it promises useful information. Prospects today seek specific, usable information on highly specialized topics. Ads that provide information the reader wants get higher readership and better response.
4. They talk to the reader. Why are so many successful control ads written by direct response entrepreneurs rather the top freelance copywriters and direct response agencies? Because, although these entrepreneurs may not be professional writers, they know their product, their audience and what holds their audiences’ interest. And that is far more important than copywriting technique or style.
5. They are knowledgeable. Successful ad copy reflects a high level of knowledge and understanding of the product and the problem it solves. An effective technique is to tell the reader something he already knows, proving that you, the advertiser, are well-versed in his industry, application or requirement.

   An opposite style, ineffectively used by many “professional” agency copywriters, is to reduce everything to the simplest common denominator and assume the reader is completely ignorant. But this can insult the reader’s intelligence and destroy your credibility with him.

6. They have a strong fee offer. Good ads contain a stronger offer. They tell the reader the next step in the buying process and encourage him to take it NOW.

All ads should have an offer, because the offer generates immediate response and business from prospects who are ready to buy now or at least thinking about buying. Without an offer, these “urgent” prospects are not encouraged to reach out to you, and you lose many potential customers.

In addition, strong offers increase readership, because people like ads that offer them something – especially if it is free and has high perceived value.
Writers of image advertising may object, “But doesn’t making an offer cheapen the ad, destroy our image? After all, we want awareness, not response.” But how does offering a free booklet weaken the rest of the ad? It doesn’t, of course. The entire notion that you cannot simultaneously elicit a response and communicate a message is absorb and without foundation.

• They are designed to emphasize the offer.
  Graphic techniques such as “kickers” or eyebrows (copy lines above the headline), bold headlines, liberal use of subheads, bulleted or numbered copy points, coupons, sketches of telephone, toll-free numbers set in large type, pictures of response booklets and brochures, dashed borders, asterisks, and marginal notes make your ads more eye-catching and response-oriented, increasing readership.
  Why? My theory is that when people see a non-direct response ad, they know it’s just a reminder-type ad and figure they don’t have to read it. But when they see response-type graphic devices, these visuals say to the reader, “Stop! This is a response ad! Read it so you can find out what we are offering. And mail the coupon – so you can get it NOW!”
• They are clearly illustrated. Good advertising does not use abstract art or concepts that force the reader to puzzle out what is being sold. Ideally, you should be able to understand exactly what the advertiser’s proposition is within five seconds of looking at the ad. As John Caples observed a long time ago, the best visual for an ad for a record club is probably a picture of records.

At about this point, someone from DDB will stand up and object: “Wait a minute. You said these are the characteristics of a successful direct response ad. But isn’t general advertising different?”
Maybe. But one of the ways to make your general advertising more effective is to write and design it as a direct response ad. Applying all the stock-in-trade techniques of the direct marketer (coupons, toll-free numbers, free booklets, reason-why copy, benefit-headlines, informative subheads) virtually guarantees that your advertisement will be better read – and get more response – than the average “image” ad.
I agree with Howard Ruff when he says that everything a marketer does should be direct response. I think the general advertising people who claim that a coupon or free booklet offer “runs” their lyrical copy or stark, dramatic layout are ineffectual artists more interested in appearance and portfolios than results.

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Robert Bly is a freelance copywriter specializing in business-to-business and direct response advertising. He writes ads, brochures, direct mail packages, and sales letter for more that 75 clients nationwide including Prentice-Hall, Grumman Corporation, Sony, Online Software, Digital Linguistix, and Philadelphia National Bank. He is also the author of 17 books including The Copywriter’s Handbook (Dodd, Mead). Bly can be reached at 174 Holland Ave., New Milford, NJ 07646 – 201/599-2277.

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Hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I did. You can find out more about Bob Bly’s products and services here

Speak to you soon,

Stuart.

Here’s a great little article about the marketing diary written by Marlon Sanders…

Dear Friend,

You may or may not know, but I just launched a brand new product that involves Matt Adler, who works here with me in my home office.

Most of you know Lisa, who has worked with me for years. Well, about a year ago, I added Matt to my team. Matt was working with Carl Turner right down the street from me.

Carl has worked as Jay Abraham’s sales person, on and off, for as long as I can remember. I don’t think there’s anyone in the business better at selling big ticket seminars than Carl Turner.

Anyway, Carl was living down the street and had hired Matt as his administrative assistant. But after only a few months, Carl’s plans changed, so in a jiffy, he put his home up for sale and bolted off into the wild blue yonder.

Matt had mostly done admin work for Carl, so he had almost no marketing experience (other than listening to Carl on the phone for 12 hours a day).

But Carl said Matt was the brightest and best worker he’d ever employed. And recommended him highly. Since Carl used to hire nuclear engineers, I figured that was quite an endorsement and snapped Matt right up.

I put him through a VERY intensive training program for 90 days. I also had Matt keep a diary. And EVERY day he would write an entrie about what he learned that day.

It’s very step-by-step.
Take a look

But there’s a few things you should know about this new product:

1. IT ISN’T ABOUT GOOGLE ADSENSE

Yes, I realize that many people have Google Adsense on the brain right now. And the income claims are flying around like junk yard dogs to a wagon of steaks.

But what we do here in my business is teach people how to sell stuff. Why? Because that’s how people have been feedin’ their kids and payin’ the bills for the past 10,000 years.

So whatever you learn from me about how to do that is gonna have value to you till the day you die. It isn’t going to “go out of date” next month.

See, the psychology of selling and the processes of marketing do NOT go out of date. Yes, some of the methods you USE change. But most everything I teach is evergreen.

It’ll work just as well 10 years from now as it does today. That means your investment goes a long way and you learn a skill that can benefit you for life.

Yeah, I don’t teach the “quick kill.” If you want “quick kill” marketing, then you’re wasting your time reading me. Go read someone who will tell you what you wanna hear, even though it ain’t true.

There’s always a market for blue sky and fast-appreciating swampland.

Which leads me to point two…

2. THERE ISN’T A BIG INCOME CLAIM

I don’t think I’ve ever seen income claims so out of control. You have your choice today of whether or not you wanna make six figures in 6 weeks, a million in 6 months, or a million in 30 minutes or a few hours, or any variety thereof.

However much you wanna make, there’s someone who’ll teach it to you.

I’m NOT in the “money business.” By that I mean, I’m not here to teach you the latest, greatest way to make money on the Internet.

I AM here to share what I know about selling products and services on and off the Internet. As you know, before the World Wide Web even existed, I was selling stuff on AOL and CompuServe, doing freelance writing and so forth.

One of the popular arguments nowadays by Internet “gurus” (i.e. teachers) who wanna shoot down other teachers credibility is to say, “Well, they ONLY sell Internet marketing stuff and WE sell in niches, or do ppc, seo, blackhat, whitehat — or whatever.”

My response to that is, “Have YOU ever gotten paid $10,000+ to write even ONE sales letter for a client that had nothing whatsoever to do with Internet marketing?”

Were YOU marketing back on AOL and CompuServe?

What were YOU doing back in 1978 when I got started in direct response marketing? How many clients ever sent YOU a check for $5,000 for 5 hours of consulting?

How many times have YOU ever sat in Starbucks and made $1500 writing 2 pages for a client in an hour?

You’re speaking at whatever seminar next month? Oh yeah, well I’ve spoken at like 130. You got 100 to go before you catch up.

Name a big city you’ve done a big seminar in. I can probably name 10 times I’ve done a gig there.

Blah, blah, blah. I could go on and on and toot my own horn. I mean, in a horn tootin’ contest, I reckon I could toot with the loudest of ‘em if’n I wanted to.

Instead, I spend my time thinking about how I can help you sell stuff. I wouldn’t even bring it up at ALL and waste your time except some people pedal that dribble non-stop to their list and people buy into it.

None of that has anything to do with YOU selling YOUR product or YOUR service. And that’s why I normally avoid all the chest beating. It’s NOT about me. It’s about YOU and what you got to sell and how to do it better, faster, simpler, easier.

3. BUT THERE IS SOUND MARKETING INFORMATION

There IS sound marketing information on what it takes to sell products.

I’m about selling products and services. Why? Because it’s something that ain’t gonna be worthless a year from now.

People have been making money selling things and/or bartering for the past 10,000+ years. And 10,000 years from now, they’ll still be doing if the countries of the world don’t kill each other off by then!

Funny story I learned in Psychology. Put a dominant and submissive rat in a cage with a piece of glass down the middle. One one side you have electricity. On the other side of the glass is no electricity.

You teach both rats they can avoid getting jolted by jumping over the piece of glass. Now…

Put both the dominant and submissive rat on one side, turn on the juice and what do you think happens?

True story. I’m not making this up. The experiment was done by psychologists years ago. The dominant rat jumps on top of the submissive one to make sure HE doesn’t get over the glass.

And they BOTH get jolted. Now, let’s just hope those 2 rats don’t get elected as heads of countries!

There’s a sober thought that’ll keep you up at night!

4. BEHIND THE SCENES

When Matt started with me about a year ago, he couldn’t write a headline, couldn’t write an email. I honestly don’t think he knew the difference between a feature and a benefit.

He knew C Notes in music but couldn’t generate a C Note through marketing if his life depended on it.

I took a lot of time to teach him what I call “THE ROPES.” Just the stuff I thought he needed to know about selling products. That’s really what the product is about.

A lot of things I taught him that aren’t things you’d normally read in an info product. They’re insights, nuances, strategies. Kinda like a lot of littles add up to something big.

I call this “the bones” of marketing.

See, the skeleton isn’t sexy. It isn’t pretty. It doesn’t make heads turn like a beautiful face or gorgeous hair.

But take the most drop-dead stunning model in the world, remove their skeletal structure, and what do you got?

A lump of skin.

So in my estimation, putting together your foundational skeletal marketing structure is ALL important.

The bones of business always has been, always will be finding demand in the marketplace, creating products and services to meet the demand and keeping a share for yourself, for your bills, for your kids, family and
future.

I’m definitely against the grain on my opinion in this respect. Almost everyone in this market has gone to selling the “I can make you more money in the least steps with the least effort” kind of products. Because for the most part, that’s what is selling best.

I’m stickin’ with my guns of tryin’ hard to do the best job by anyone anywhere of teachin’ YOU how to get people to buy your product or your service.

If you wanna discover the secrets of selling stuff, come to Marlon Sanders. If you want the “quick kill” or to learn any of the other stuff, go to someone else.

For more info on the Diary, go here

Is Your Money On Marketing Info Wasted?

One of the things that bothers me is I get emails from people saying they’ve “wasted all this money” on Internet marketing stuff and when is their ship gonna come in.

Maybe they bought gimmicky stuff that won’t work a year from now. So maybe they did waste money. But if what you invest in is the “know how” of how to sell products and services, and if you’ve increased your knowledge and skill, I absolutely don’t understand how that is a waste
– even if it hasn’t paid off yet.

That’s a skill that applies to ALL of life. It’s something that has value your whole entire life. And in that regard, the answer to the question is self evident. If you’ve invested in increasing your knowledge of how to make money by selling things and you still aren’t making money, then,
by definition, it means you still aren’t selling things.

Which means you haven’t learned all you need to learn. There’s more to learn. See what I’m saying?

And if you know more and understand more TODAY than you did six months ago about how to make money by selling things via marketing on or off the Internet, I can’t see why that would be “wasted money”.

I would see it differently.

I would see it as look how much TIME you WASTED by not discovering the secrets, the information, the systems earlier.

An investment in yourself, your mind, your know how is the best investment.

Best wishes,

Marlon Sanders

PS: Head to the Marketing Diary right away to learn more about it and how it will benefit YOU.