Freelance Copywriter Secrets: Either Make Offers Or Save Your Advertising Money

By: Charles Brown
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:43:25
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Zig Ziglar is a speaker who talks mostly about salesmanship. But one of his comments has a lot to say about a closely related topic, advertising. He describes a salesperson who never attempts to close the deal as a “professional visitor” rather than a “professional salesperson.”

This description has a lot that could help advertisers produce more profitable ads. It is unfortunate, but much of the ad copy written by many freelance copywriters falls into the “professional visitor” category. They are ads that attempt to enhance the company’s “brand” and “image,” without making any use of direct response methods.

These are they types of ads that make no offers to the reader, make no calls for action, nor do they offer benefits in exchange for the reader actually doing something. These ads are the written equivalent of professional visitors.

And tragically, such ads cost many businesses that can ill afford such waste, their very livelihood.

So how should a freelance copywriter make an offer in advertisements? An offer is a benefit tied to an action. The benefit is what the client will get if she will take a specific action.

The action the client must do can be a purchase, but it can also be a lower threshold action such as sending in a coupon for a free information product or a free gift that relates in some way to the services you offer.

The problems with brand and image advertising are almost too numerous to discuss.

First, the most likely response to a brand or image ad is for the reader to put down the magazine or publication and say, “OK, if I ever need these guys, now I know where they are.” The only way the advertiser is going to get business from this person is if they happen to need that service right now or someday develops a need for that product or service in the future, and can somehow remember who the company was that put out the advertisement he saw months or years ago.

Brand and image advertisements imply some vague action to be done by the reader, such as, “contact us if you have any questions.” To this, the reader says, “OK if I ever have any questions, I’ll be sure to give you a call.”

An offer, on the other hand, promises a concrete benefit in exchange for a concrete act. “Fill in your email address and you will get a free ebook.” “Call our office and we will mail a free booklet to you right away.” “Attend our free seminar and we will give you a free meal and teach you how to get more traffic to your website.”

The tragedy of brand and image advertising is that you could be enhancing your brand or image while you are at the same time inviting a direct response.

An ad can do both, make an offer and strengthen your brand identity. For example, I just recently saw an ad by Morgan Stanley that offered a free analysts’ report on the economic outlook for the next business cycle.

Such an ad clearly heightened their image as knowledgeable investment advisors, while at the same time offering a benefit (the free report) in exchange for the reader taking action (sending in the coupon requesting the report).

I can’t think of any business that couldn’t make a similar offer. Not only would such an ad enhance your business’ brand image, you would also gather leads of potential clients and build a database from which you could send out future mailings of interest to that group of people.

Remember, the most profitable advertisers are not “professional visitors,” even on paper. Always be a “professional salesperson” and you will see new business, new customers as well as a heightened brand awareness.

freelance copywriter, writing web content, copywriting tips, ghost writer

COPYRIGHT(C)2006, Charles Brown. All rights reserved.

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