Tadah’s Creative Director, Paul Renhard gives his three top tips for writing effective advertising copy. Paul has over 30 years experience at the forefront of multiple award winning radio campaigns and offers an insight into his writing process.
Know what you want to say – and say it concisely. I’m constantly looking at or listening to commercials and thinking “what are they trying to say?” I’m sure they didn’t mean to say “we have no idea how to create effective advertising” but that’s exactly what they’re doing. It’s more important than ever that advertisers clearly define what it is they want to say to potential customers and then for creatives to convey this message concisely and memorably. Top Tip: Write it down in a single sentence (note: a list is not a sentence).
Say it, say it and say it again. When writing effective advertising copy remember if something’s worth saying, it’s worth saying twice (at least). Once you know what you want to say (see tip one) don’t confuse people by telling them something else. “What do you want me to remember? The first thing you told me about your business or this new thing? Oh you know what? I can’t be bothered, I just won’t remember anything.”
Make it easy. The truth is people will respond in the way they want, not the way you want. So make it easy. They’re going to Google you, so try to make sure they’re entering the right search terms. Text is good, but not for everything. Make sure the way you want people to respond is a good fit with the way they will respond.
