How to Create Effective Advertising Copy
The impact of language is profound, especially in the field of advertising.
Effective writing can motivate, enlighten, entertain, and persuade.
It has the ability to lead people to make a decision, whether it’s buying a product or interacting with a brand.
Becoming a skilled copywriter involves understanding how to interact with your audience and being innovative in your message.
The digital advertising landscape is constantly evolving, making it a challenging task to stay up to date with the latest trends and innovations.
However, one constant in the digital tide is the enduring importance of copywriting.
When copywriting is masterfully executed, it captivates and holds your attention. It can catch you by surprise with its sharp humor, evoke powerful emotions, or provoke thoughtful reflection.
Exceptional copywriting is instantly recognizable and, if truly impressive, can linger in your memory long after your first encounter.
Regardless of the advertising medium – be it video ads on TikTok, pay-per-click campaigns or native advertising – the words you choose to use are crucial to grabbing your audience’s attention and convincing them to engage, click and ultimately become a customer.
Effective copywriting can do more than simply encourage immediate conversions; it plays a significant role in fostering brand awareness and affinity, setting the stage for a growing customer base and future conversions.
Developing compelling copywriting is both a creative endeavor and a methodical pursuit, requiring a mix of ingenuity, strategic planning, and a nuanced understanding of your intended audience.
Let’s dive into a presentation of some of the most compelling copywriting examples and decipher the elements that make them successful.
Create Captivating Ad Copy for Summersalt on Facebook
Effective advertising copy is skilled at conveying the value of a product or service in straightforward terms. Given the brevity of attention spans on the web, this challenge becomes even more pressing. Character restrictions imposed by digital ad platforms add another layer of difficulty, requiring careful word selection when creating ad copy.
Summersalt, a brand in the fashion industry, stands out for its understanding of its potential customers – those with disposable income who value quality rest – and its advertising copy reflects a mastery of language designed to capture their interest.
The ad’s headline proclaims its sleepwear as ‘The most comfortable pyjamas’ – a common claim in the retail world. However, the most striking aspect is the engaging description within the ad. It entices with phrases like ‘buttery soft pyjamas’ that promise to induce a state of zen. More than simply highlighting what sets the product apart or its superiority, this ad cleverly charms the audience by allowing them to virtually touch and feel the enchantment of the pyjamas.
As you quickly scroll through your Facebook timelines, the Summersalt ad, with its emotive language and sensory appeal, has the power to grab attention and encourage active engagement with the ad’s narrative.
Fun Approach: HoneyBook Search Ad
Creating effective PPC ads goes beyond the technical aspects; it’s all about creating ad copy that directly answers users’ searches. HoneyBook, a company specializing in business software, takes a unique approach that stands out. They create unexpected ad copy that breaks the mold and sticks in the viewer’s mind.
In one of its campaigns, HoneyBook used a competitor’s brand name as a keyword. This strategy propelled HoneyBook to the top of the sponsored search results with a bold and playful question, “You Mean HoneyBook, Don’t You?”
This approach of using competitor brand names in sponsored search results isn’t unprecedented, but it’s the bold statement in the ad headline that really sets HoneyBook apart. Once they’ve captured the searcher’s attention, they make no mistake about it, quickly pointing out that their software is tailored to small businesses. Even though HoneyBook wasn’t the company they were initially looking for, their ad quickly seizes the opportunity to present their solution as the ideal alternative through persuasive copy.
Using Reverse Psychology in a Hinge Display Ad
When writing advertising copy for the digital space, it’s essential to be clear and concise. With online advertising becoming more and more popular, standing out means getting your message across quickly and clearly, ensuring your audience instantly understands your offer.
The ad for dating app Hinge is a great example. It hits the mark with humor while remaining memorable. The headline speaks to the target audience’s main goal with the direct statement “Fall in Love.” The real surprise, however, is the campaign’s unique approach, telling potential users to “Delete Hinge.” This clever use of reverse psychology implies that Hinge is so effective in finding love that users will soon achieve their goal and outgrow the need for the app. It’s a piece of advertising genius: unexpected, concise, and impactful. A masterpiece of creative copywriting.
Explore Spotify's 'Car Thing' Marketing Campaign on TikTok
Before we get into Spotify’s Car Thing, it’s important to note that this product has been discontinued. However, the creative approach used in the launch campaign is still noteworthy.
At its core, the Car Thing functioned as a voice-controlled Bluetooth device that managed your smartphone while you were driving. While the gadget itself wasn’t a groundbreaking innovation, its marketing cleverly addressed the common issue of playing music while driving. And it did so using a simple term: THING.
The choice of 'Car Thing' as the product name broke with conventional naming schemes. Instead of potentially pretentious titles like 'touchless melody maker' or 'voice vibrations', Spotify opted for a name that was simple and memorable.
The ad theme played on the idea that drivers rely on their phones for everything, including music. However, it suggested an alternative – Car Thing. The promotional content was light-hearted, embracing the simplicity of the name. In fact, this approach to advertising copy was somewhat surprising.
Impactful Statement: Ad in The Economist
The Economist, always embracing a wise persona, sometimes adds a touch of unexpected humor to its ads. Known for its clever ads over the years, the magazine has featured messages like “Great minds like to think” and “It’s lonely up there, but at least there’s something to read.” It commits itself to writing content that is not only intellectually stimulating, but also innovative.
In one particular ad, The Economist puts a new spin on the common saying “Crime Doesn’t Pay,” engaging the reader with an ingenious twist on the phrase that makes one think twice.
Rather than overwhelming its audience with flashy slogans, The Economist distinguishes itself by its long-standing reputation for in-depth journalism and insightful commentary. This shines through in its advertising, which is characterised by being original, catchy and clever, standing out in a sea of repetitive marketing messages.
It can be challenging to differentiate cow’s milk from plant-based alternatives, a fact recognised by the dairy industry and the European Parliament, which in 2020 backed stricter labelling rules for plant-based dairy products.
In defiance of these rules, Oatly, the Swedish oat milk company, partnered with Wetransfer to create an intriguing campaign. They cleverly used a captcha-style image, asking people to identify the milk carton among the images, satirically addressing the regulation controversy.
In addition to the humor, the ad also served as a call to action, encouraging people to sign a petition against restrictions that Oatly considered unfair language censorship on its products.
The campaign’s clever use of language led to extraordinary engagement, with hundreds of thousands of interactions and a significant proportion of people redoing the captcha for fun. Impressively, the European Union eventually repealed the controversial Amendment 171, demonstrating the power of impactful wording.
A Narrative Unraveled: Google’s Annual Research Roundup
The essence of life is often reflected in the words we use, and Google's annual Year in Search videos brilliantly capture this, showcasing the most captivating search queries from the previous year.
Google stitched together the year's top 'how to' searches into a tapestry that chronicled the year's collective journey.
The genius of this approach is that it’s based on real Google searches, transcending traditional ad copy to highlight the genuine queries that people were actually looking for answers to.
This shows that sometimes the most resonant messages can be found in the midst of everyday questions and repurposed to extraordinary effect.
The video ends with a powerful and succinct message: ‘Research Forward’. This energetic call to action embodies hope and inspiration, demonstrating the hallmark of all effective advertising: the ability to uplift and encourage the audience.
