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.