The Fundamentals of Direct Response Copywriting
During the holiday season we will be looking back to our best blog posts of the year.
Here is Number 8 by Kim Chapman!
In the industry that I work, good copy is very important. You can have the best placement and offer, and beautiful creative, but without exceptional copy, your ad will most likely fall flat.
In the best-selling book “Successful Direct Marketing Methods”, Bob Stone, the pioneer of direct marketing, writes in length about this ever-important form of marketing, including some tips for copy.
While a copy’s success greatly depends on the strategy and concept, I would agree with Bob that there are certain elements almost every copy deck should include:
– Whatever is being sold needs to be believable in the minds of your audience. This usually take place in the form of brand equity, and/or legitimate-looking design.
– Benefits are a direct response copywriter’s best friend. They emphasize a product’s best attributes, and give you good reason for purchasing it.
– Supportive copy does just that. It supports the claimed benefits with convincing facts, testimonials, etc., thereby sealing the deal.
– Descriptive copy helps showcase and clarify what’s being sold, and helps answer the audience’s question “What am I getting?”
– Incentives can sweeten the deal, but they need to be chosen thoughtfully, ensuring that they truly complement what is being sold, and not cheapen it.
– The call to action should be measurable, and clear, not hidden, or confusing.
If you utilize all of these elements, you will have laid the groundwork for great copy.
[…] […]
[…] copy seems to be a lost art among copywriters. If your target audience includes GenXers and Baby Boomers (those born prior to 1980) you should […]