Radio Ad Copywriting

Within this article on radio ad copywriting, we will look at what makes up a successful radio ad.  Copywriting is similar because you are always trying to sell a product but the way that you write and sell will be different depending upon the particular media vehicle that you choose to use.

Whenever you start to do radio ad copywriting, you must make sure to first do your research.  Research is one of the most important parts of the job and this is true no matter what type of copywriting you are doing.  If you do not do your initial research, you will not know how to present your message to your target audience.

When you are looking into doing radio ad copywriting, you should talk with the particular station that you are thinking about advertising with.  They should give you an idea of the typical demographics of their listening audience.  This will allow you to know which particular radio station you should work with in getting your message out. 

When you are looking at doing radio ad copywriting, you must make sure that you are much more direct with this particular form of advertising than you would if you were writing a sales letter.  You have a much shorter period of time in which to make an impression upon your prospects so you must be completely focused with your message.

One way to make sure that you are writing for a good radio ad copywriting is to listen to the ads that your competitors are running on particular radio stations.  Each radio station focuses on a particular and very narrow demographic so if you continue to hear the same ads over and over again, you will have a good clue that they are probably very successful.  Pattern your ideas in a similar vein to what you're hearing.

Here are a couple of quick hitters to help make your radio ad copywriting successful. You must make sure to not just list a bunch of facts but rather try to tell a story.  This will keep your audience interested.  If you are trying to sell a technical product, make sure to use technical jargon early on so that you can get your target niche within your demographic tuned in to what you have to say. Radio ad copywriting must also use testimonials if you can because of the credibility towards a product that you are selling. Hopefully these quick hitting tips can give you some idea of what to do when writing your radio ad copywriting.

Hopefully this article on radio ad copywriting has helped you out.  Copywriting is a large field and if you choose to write on radio ad copywriting, listen to radio stations to see what works.  You must continue to learn and be educated and this is a way to do it on your off time.  You must make sure that you are very correct in your writing because you only have a short amount of time to impress a particular product or service upon your target audience.

Review: Words That Sell

It's the Golden Rule of copywriting.  "Know your target audience."  It is impossible to persuade someone you know nothing about to take any type of action.  But the question remains: How - exactly - do you get to know your prospective customers?  

For copywriters, this task is the most time-consuming.  When you're faced with making a connection with someone you've never met, it can be frustrating.  That's why I was excited when I found out about a series of reports entitled "Words That Sell".

How would you like it if someone else did the hard part for you?  Then take heart!  The people at The Brooks Group (publishers of these reports) interviewed hundreds of professionals in a wide range of occupations to get the specific information included in the ebooks.  

These reports target people in 38 different industries in detail including medical professionals, chief executives, entrepreneurs, human resources, dentists, doctors, hospital administrators, engineers, real estate managers and so many others.  What do they deliver?  Details.  Exact details about what words work, what words don't and why.

What's Good About These Reports

A lot of research went into the making of these reports.  It took years to interview countless professionals then compile and sort the data.  Then the creators of the reports developed easy-to-read ebooks written in everyday language for each profession.  Inside you get:

• Background and personality profile
• Psychological profile
• Exact wording to use
• Reasoning behind why some words work and some words don't
• Exact wording NOT to use
• Sample letters, headlines and copy to use
• And more

You get a lot of information in each report.  These are not just 5- to 8-page lists of words to use.  Each report is 20-25 pages long and has insightful, specific information that will make your job as a copywriter go much more smoothly and quickly.

I also liked that I could buy each report individually or in "combo" packages for a discount.  That way, if I need just one, I only have to pay a small price.

These reports are quick to read, and for busy copywriters, that's a real blessing.  I find myself going back to them over and over and - because of the simple layout - I can get the information I need quickly without having to reread the entire report again.

What's Not So Good About These Reports

They need more examples.  Yes, you do get examples of how to use the information, but more would be nice.  (Can we ever get enough examples?)  The examples given are definitely suitable, but could be more "real world."  They seem rather elementary to me.

Also, it would have been my preference to include a table of contents with clickable navigation links.  A minor point?  Maybe, but when you use the reports, as much as I do, it would save a great deal of time over the long run.  

Overall, the Words That Sell reports are a huge timesaving tool.  They are interesting, accurate and very useful.  The sales copy claims you'll double, triple or even quadruple your profits.  I can't attest to the quadruple part, but I have seen the use of the information in these reports double and triple sales for some of my clients.

Are they worth the $28 (each) price?  Absolutely!  They'll save you way more than $28 in research and brainstorming time, and you'll have a powerful new tool for converting lookers into buyers for 38 different industries.

Sales Letters that Sell!

The average consumer is inundated with sales pitches. So if you’re selling a product or service to today’s ad weary consumer, if you want your sales letters to get results, you’ll need a step-by-step plan that breaks down the barriers to buying. A plan that bypasses the head and goes right for the heart. 

If the heart’s in it, the brain will follow.

Buying anything is largely emotional.  Whether it’s paper clips or plain paper copiers, emotions lead the purchase.  Facts, specs and the like are simply used to justify the decision, once made.  Which means that everything about your sales letter, every sentence, every phrase must appeal to your customer’s emotions.

What emotions?

The simple truth is, there are only two emotions that really motivate people: The promise of gain or the fear of loss--with the fear of loss being the stronger. Example: Given the choice of headlines: “Save money in legal fees.”  Or  “How to keep from being sued.” The latter will probably get a better response. 

Supporting the promise of gain and the fear of loss are seven key emotional hooks or basic human needs. No matter what your product or service, to be effective, your sales letter must directly address as many of these basic needs as possible:

• Safety/Security

• Wealth

• Good looks

• Popularity

• Self-satisfaction

• Free time

• Fun/Excitement

So how do you get them to act? How do you go from head to heart? What’s the copy paradigm?  Imagine you’re in a baseball stadium facing an audience in rows of bleachers.  It’s the game of the century, ninth inning, bases loaded.  And you’ve got a bag of peanuts you absolutely must sell or the boss will fire you on the spot.  What would you do to get their attention? Yell “Peanuts?”  

Start with a verbal “2x4”

You’ve got to hit them over the head with an emotional motivator.  And that means you start with the envelope.  Remember-- gain or loss--it has to be right there on the outside, in bold. (When was the last time you rushed to open a plain white envelope?)  Two examples:

Gain-- “We Put a Money-Making Miracle in this Envelope.”

Loss-- “Throw This Away and Work Hard for the Rest of Your Life.”

Okay.  They’ve opened the letter and what do they see?  A boring paragraph about your leadership in the industry?  Stuffy sentences about commitment, innovation and dedication? 

Whoosh.  In the round file it goes.   

Time to visit our key motivators--gain or loss. Again, it’s got to be there in a headline they can’t miss.  And it must reinforce the headline that compelled them to rip open that envelope. Both headlines must dovetail in their message and emotional impact.

Example: “Finish reading this letter and you’re halfway to becoming rich.”

Next comes the all-important body copy.  What to say to leave them begging for your product. For this we go right into the consumer’s emotions, mining for clues to the perfect selling pitch. 

What’s the problem? 

A while back, McDonalds was beating the pants off its competitors. So Burger King hired a big powerhouse ad agency to gain them market share. They tried everything--analyzing secret sauces, elaborate contests, toy tie-ins. Nothing worked. Finally, they sent out questionnaires, did focus groups, and literally stopped people on the street.  And you know what they discovered?  Not what consumers liked, but what they didn’t like about hamburgers. For on thing, the leading hamburger came practically “factory made” with everything on it.  Some folks liked pickles, others hated onions or mayo.  That was “the problem.” The solution was simple: hamburgers made to order, followed by the now all-too-familiar slogan “Have it Your Way.” The point is, you’ve got to find and exploit your consumer’s problem.  And make your product the hero. 

Life without your product--miserable

So, you’ve succeeded in getting your reader’s attention. You’ve discovered their “problem.”  Now it’s time to remind them how many ways that problem affects their lives. If you’re selling a cordless electric lawnmower, you’ll want to remind them of all the headaches of their old gas powered mower.  Like running out of gas, finding the gas can, taking it to the gas station, driving back with a can full of smelly gas in the car, maybe spilling gas on the carpet. Once at home, there’s the annoyance of yanking the starter until your arm feels like a wet noodle. And the fire danger of having a can of gas in the garage with kids playing near it.  The point is, you want to paint a very troublesome picture of life without your product.

Life with your product - absolute bliss

Now that you’ve raised your reader’s interest by making them feel the pain of life without your product, it’s time to provide your solution.  Here’s where you’ll briefly introduce yourself and your product or service.  No more running out of gas, no more smelling gas cans in your new car, no more yanking that starter cord till your arm falls off.  Just flick the switch and you’re ready to mow. Plug it into your electric outlet and it charges overnight.  Your worries are over. You go on and on, hammering home the fact that your product or service is the perfect solution.  At this point, your reader will probably ask, “Sounds interesting, but who the heck are you to think you can solve my problem? I never heard of you.”

Credentials time

Here’s where you build trust by detailing key facts that build confidence in you and your company. You could start by listing some testimonials from satisfied customers.  If these come from people in the industry who your prospect is familiar with, so much the better.  And if you can get photos, phone numbers and so forth, it will add even more to your credibility. This is also the time to mention how long you’ve been in business and any articles that about your company and/or its products that have appeared in the local or national media (these can be particularly valuable, since they come from an impartial source).  

Now that you’ve assuaged their fears about doing business with a complete unknown, they’ll want to be totally sold about your product or service.  Here’s where you go into detail.  And this is the perfect time to do so, because you’ve established trust. They won’t be thinking about who you are, but what you can do for them--how you’re going to solve their problem.  

Detail benefits, not features

A key caveat here.  Don’t get your reader quagmired in “Featurespeak.” It’s easy to do and it’s what most unskilled writers fall victim to.  Featurespeak is for your sales team, not your potential customer.  Avoid things like “Our new cordless electric mower features the X9T Autoflex handle, or the PT600 Zenon Battery. Better to say, “Our new electric mower’s handle easily adjusts to your height for maximum comfort.” Or “The easily rechargeable battery lasts up to 5 years without replacement.” If your product or service has more than three major benefits, list them in bullet point form to make them easier to read.  

Make them an offer they can’t refuse

This is the crucial part of your sales letter. Your offer should be compelling, irrefutable and urgent. You want your reader to say, “This is a great offer, I’ve got nothing to lose but my problem.” Try to combine the big 3 in your offer--irresistible price, terms, and a free gift. For example, if you’re selling a cordless electric mower, your offer might be a discounted retail price, low interest rate, and a blade-sharpening tool.  Try to raise the perceived value of your offer by adding on products or services--for electric mowers, it might be an extended warranty or safety goggles.  Augment this with compelling benefits these additional products or services will provide. 

Assuage with a guarantee

There’s a little voice in the back of every customer’s head that whispers, “Buy this and you’ll be sorry.” So make your offer bulletproof.  Take the risk out of the purchase. Give the absolute strongest guarantee you can.  It tells your reader you’re confident in your product or service.  Enough so to back it up with a strong guarantee. Don’t be afraid to make this final commitment.  

Motivate the procrastinators

So they’re reading your letter and are pretty convinced that your company and your product or service can solve their problem.  They want to buy.  The mind is willing but the flesh is weak.  Time to bring in our key motivator—fear of loss.  One way to tap into this fear is by convincing your reader that because this is such a good deal, only a scant few mowers remain.   Or that the extended warranty is being offered only for the next few days, or for the next 50 customers.  Our old motivator--gain--can be used here as well.  Example: “Buy now and get a $20 gift card--FREE!” 

Call to action - KISS

You and your staff know what readers need to do to buy your product or service, but your readers are inundated with offers every day. And each offer has a different procedure for buying. Give them a break and walk them through the order/purchase process. And KISS (keep it simple stupid). Use simple action words like “Pick Up the Phone and Call Now!” If your phone number spells out a catchy slogan or company name, always add numerical phone numbers. If they need to fill out a form and mail it, say so.  And if possible, use large type on your form—especially if you’re selling to seniors.  Be clear on what they’re ordering and for what price. 

ABC!

Follow Alec Baldwin’s admonition in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross - “ABC…Always Be Closing.” Sprinkle your call to action throughout your letter.  Ask for the order.  Then when you give the call to action at the end of the letter, it won’t come as a surprise, but just another reminder.   Better still, if they’re ready to order halfway through your letter, they’ll know what to do.  

Postscripts are magic

Nobody reads postscripts, right?  Wrong. The P.S. is the third most read element of a sales letter - after the headline and any picture captions. The top wordsmiths use several (P.P.S) in their letters.   It’s one of the best places to remind readers of your irresistible offer.  But you have to be brief and compelling, establishing urgency and value, and drawing on your key motivators of gain and loss. 

Drive it home on the order form

The order form is where some of the greatest sales are won or lost.  It’s where that little voice in the back of your customer’s head comes alive once again and says, “You’ll be sorry” or “You sure you want to buy this now?” It’s what I call Preemptive Buyer’s Remorse.” Time to bring in our top gun persuaders--gain and loss--one last time.  Use the same persuasive arguments as before--only be brief, more compelling and urgent.

Do you want the steak knives or the El Dorado?

Okay, you’ve got the prized Glengarry leads. And the formula for writing a winning sales letter. Start by knowing your prospect’s problem, then drive home key benefits using the emotional motivators I’ve described. And don’t forget Alec Baldwin’s other maxim, AIDA--Attention. Interest. Decision. Action.  Get their attention, build their interest, convince them it’s the right decision, and finally, urge them to act.  Good luck.  You’ve got 26 letters in the English alphabet.  How you use them can make all the difference …between getting the steak knives or the Cadillac El Dorado.

Search engine copywriting

Search engine copywriting is a field that continues to develop each and every day.  Copywriting as a field continues to grow but this particular niche is growing at a much faster rate than the overall field.  As the Internet continues to grow, more and more companies are relying up on the Internet for a higher percentage of sales.  This will ensure that search engine copywriting will continue to be in demand.

To give a general background on search engine copywriting, we must first look at why this field is growing so rapidly.  The number of searches that are done on the Internet is in the hundreds of billions annually. The way that most people are able to get to a website these days is through search engines.  It is much harder for your website to be highly ranked without being optimized for search engines.  The number of pages on the Internet has grown to over 4 billion so increasing importance has been placed upon the fact that your webpage is easy to search and is indexed by search engines.  If this is not done, you will find that you will not have the sales results that you would like from the Internet.  You are able to buy traffic to come to your website but you will find that you are missing out on an important piece of the sales pie by not focusing on organic traffic.  This traffic can often be more highly concentrated and better leads for you then can traffic that you buy to send to your website.

To get your website indexed within the search engines, you must have original content that is in high demand.  Search engines index web pages by sending their search bots through these different web pages.  The search bots are looking for many different factors but the key is that your writing on certain topics and at the information is valuable.  The information must be valuable both to the search bots so that they index you as well as when people were searching for your information.  Search engine copywriting companies play an important part in this role because they can help develop your website to be optimized for search engines as well as convert traffic into sales.  While it is important for you to get traffic, the key is also to make sure that this traffic can turn into dollars in your pocket.

Search engine copywriting is a growing field which demands that you must have knowledge of how the Internet works as well as great copywriting skills.  If you are able to provide both of these skills, you will be able to write your own paycheck.  If you want to learn more about search engine copywriting, search on the Internet under the terms "SEO tutorials." This can give you a great deal more information as far as what search engines look for and how different search engine copywriting firms operate.  There is a great deal of competition in this field today so if you're interested, there is a great demand for your services.

SEO Copywriting Services

Within this article today, we will look at SEO copywriting services from a couple of different perspectives.  Within the first half of this article, we'll help you look at good SEO copywriting services and we will use the second half of this article to show you how to develop good SEO copywriting services.

If you are looking for an SEO copywriting services company, there are many to choose from on the Internet today.  When you are looking for an expert within this field, do not take the first company that you come across.  You want to ask certain questions to make sure that his company knows what it is doing and that it has been successful at developing high ranking websites in the past. You want to ask the company how long it has been around and what particular niches it has focused on.  You want to make sure that this SEO copywriting service company can understand your niche so that it can write effectively for both the search bots as well as the people searching for your product or service.  You want to ask for testimonials from a couple of previous clients of the SEO copywriting services company.  Take your time to search the Internet for a couple of different companies that you would like to work with and then compare prices and services of the companies you like.  By doing a comparison as well as checking up on the company for its reputation and pass service, you will be putting yourself in a good position to work with a company that knows what it is doing.

That part of the article focused on how to look for a SEO copywriting services company.  Within the remainder of this article, we will look at ways that you can work to create your own SEO copywriting services company.  This is a very crowded field with many players today so you must make sure that you do something to set yourself apart.  You could be the best SEO copywriter out there but if you do nothing to set yourself apart no one will know the difference.  It may help to focus upon a particular niche where you know that you can write very effectively and with a strong background.  This can be a competitive advantage that you use to market your firm so that companies feel comfortable coming to you.  If you have done little SEO work in the past and are interested in this field due to a passion for the Internet and experience in copywriting, take the time to build a couple websites for yourself.  You can use these as training modules so that when you land a client, you will have some experience from which you can draw on.

Whether you are looking for an SEO copywriting services company or looking to start your own, they key is to make sure that you know how to separate the good from the bad.  Hopefully this article on SEO copywriting services has helped give you some ideas based upon which perspective you are looking into his article at.  The key is to go out and do your research so that you can benefit from the SEO industry as a whole. 

 

SEO Copywriting

Within this article today on SEO copy writing, we will look at the specifics of a search engine optimization world and how copywriting pertains to that.

A brief introduction toward search engine optimization is that its goal is to position your website well within the search engine page ranks so that you can gain a great deal of natural traffic to your website.  One important part of the high page rank work is developing good web content.  The importance of copywriting within this field is that you must be creative in developing web content so that it can meet the demands of both the consumer looking for information on the Internet as well as the demands placed on your website by search engine bots.

There is a great deal of writing on the Internet today which is very boring and does not interest people.  The key behind SEO copywriting is that you are looking to impress both the search bots as well as the people who are surfing the Internet and stumble upon your page.  You do not get a great deal of time to impress your site upon these people so what you have to say and how you say it is going to be the difference between a sale and another lost lead. 

If you are interested in SEO copywriting, look into some of the following sources for more information. Here is the website of one particular company where you can learn more about SEO copywriting in a tutorial forum: http://www.seo-gold.com/seo-tutorial/.  To find many more resources, search the Internet using the following term: "SEO tutorials." You will have great success in learning more about this particular field.

Good SEO copywriting focuses on many different factors such as the good web content as well as keyword optimization.  Keyword optimization is making sure that your website has full use of a particular set of keywords so that when people search the Internet for these phrases, your site will be on the first page of results.  This is how you generate good organic search engine traffic.  This deal does go beyond just keyword optimization when looking into making a website work.  Take your time to learn more from the resources that were listed above.  This can give you a good idea of what you will need to become an SEO copywriter or give you some criteria on when to hire one. 

Just as some general information, a good SEO copywriter should help you develop a high page rank within the different search engines as well as help build the sales at your website.  It is important to get traffic to your website but is also important that you have a good lead conversion ratio.  What this means is that you want more people to visit your sites and that gradually more of these visitors convert to quality sales for you.  By providing good content that sells, you are setting yourself up as a person who excels at SEO copywriting. Hopefully this article on SEO copywriting has benefited you. This can be a very lucrative field if you learn to market on the Internet.

SEO Copywriting Makeover: Finding the Right Trigger

You've got a great product or service.  Now, how do you make buyers sit up and take notice?  How do you get them excited about what you're offering?  You have to pull the trigger.

There is at least one trigger for every product or service on the market today.  Finding it is the hard part.  Once you determine what will set your customers in motion, you've won half the battle.  This was the case with ForecastWatch.com. 

With a new site, the owner of ForecastWatch.com (Jeff) was unsure of what to do with the copy in order to connect with his site visitors and cause them to take the action he wanted them to take. Not to mention, Jeff wanted to rank highly with the engines as well, so search engine optimization (SEO) had to be taken into consideration, along with the selling aspects of the copy.

The Problem

The only real problem was finding the right trigger.  The original site had little to no usable copy.  That's not an insult; it's the truth.  Jeff knew he needed help from a professional copywriter, so he spent little time on the site content.

The Solution

To determine the most powerful trigger, I took a look at all the segments of ForecastWatch.com's audience.  It was broken down into three distinct types of customers.  They were all interested in the most reliable weather forecasts possible, but for three very different reasons.

One group was made up of meteorologists.  Their obvious interest was in being able to provide the most accurate forecasts to their viewers and listeners.  A second group was compiled of weather risk managers.  It is the job of these professionals to accurately assess weather for industries such as the stock exchange, construction, transportation, national defense and more.  The last group needed weather forecast accuracy for personal reasons, usually as a hobby or for sports reasons (coaches, etc.).

While the last group was primarily interested in the weather as amateurs, the first two segments (meteorologists and weather-risk managers) have a lot on the line when it comes to weather forecast accuracy.  Their reputations and their jobs are on the line.

And that's the trigger!  I put it right up front in the headline, which read:

ForecastWatch.com
Because Your Reputation Depends on
Being Right About the Weather

The headline hit the nail on the head.  It got the attention of weather professionals, was of great interest to hobbyists and included part of one of Jeff's keyphrases.  The last word in the headline (weather) tied into the first sentence of the copy and, thus, created a keyphrase.

Keep in mind that engines don't read spaces or line breaks or punctuation within the copy, so having one word of a keyphrase in the headline and the remainder of the keyphrase in the first sentence of the copy is an excellent way to make the copy flow and keep in line with SEO protocol.

Now, the task would be to keep that same emotional twist and energy throughout the copy.  With the old copy, Jeff had no rankings with the engines for his chosen keyphrases, so the optimization of the copy needed to give him a presence.

The Rewrite

In the opening paragraph, I touted the praises of weather professionals, letting them know their expertise was recognized and appreciated.  I also used one keyphrase twice and the second keyphrase once.  In addition, I used the individual word "weather" and substituted "specialist" for "risk manager" in some instances to add to the flow and give a well-rounded environment for the spiders and bots.

Next, I provided a good overview of what ForecastWatch.com offered.  Again, a keyphrase was used in the headline (because it worked for both the visitors and the engines, not strictly for SEO purposes), and a keyphrase was used in the paragraph.

Finally, the copy was broken out into segments that targeted specific individuals.  This gave them precise information on what benefits ForecastWatch.com offered them.  Boxes for meteorologists, weather risk managers and weather enthusiasts were created. Within the copy for each block and again in the anchor text for links to internal pages, keyphrases were used where appropriate.  These boxes lead each visitor to information that was most relevant to him/her.

The Results

I always like to let the customer take over in this section.  Here's what Jeff had to say about the rewrite of his home-page copy.

"Traffic has steadily increased, and I've gotten a lot of leads and my largest non-weather-company business customer from Internet search.  The rewrite helped me with more than just the website.  It helped me to define my business goals and to articulate them in other marketing materials as well."  In addition, rankings continue to rise with current positioning in the top five for one of his keyphrases.

Take the time to do a little research.  Put yourself in your customers’ place.  Uncover what's most important to them, and you'll be rewarded with greater conversions in the long run.