How can copy be used to influence audiences?

Transcript

– So, how to use copy to influence the buying decision of the people who are seeing your ad, who you’re showing your ad to. So, in the context of social ads and in the context of search ads, we don’t have a whole lot of space to be able to write reams and reams of copy about why our product or our service is better than the other ones that are available. We have a very short, bit of space to be able to actually write a little bit of copy about what it is that our product does, why it’s better than our competitors’ products, why it’s better than our competitors’ services.

– So, when it comes to writing copy for your website, I wouldn’t use jargon and long complicated words if you don’t need to. I’d keep it simple and try and convey a message that your reader is actually going to understand. You don’t want to scare them off right off the bat.

– When you’re running any campaign, you have to make sure it’s completely and utterly holistic. Whether that be the video you utilise, or the copy that goes the advert, it all really matters. And one of the big things to always talk about whenever you’re running some sort of campaign for a consumer brand is the story it tells, the message it unfolds. And a great place to utilise that is with your copy. Now, many people will try and be all fancy with their copy and create long wieldy paragraphs, or some cases do real nice short uses of emojis. And to be honest with you, it really depends on the audience you’re utilising. Now, if you’re looking for a high cost purchase, something that’s got a long thought process, one of the things I often like to recommend doing is stories. Develop what that customer really wants, consider the actual message they’re going through, and what they’re really thinking about. And if you’re looking for a short, snappy instant purchase, then the use of short copy, utilising emojis and really emotive messages really makes a big, big impact. But all of this means nothing if you have a terrible image or a terrible video or a pointless advert. So never be focused on one aspect, just make sure that all of it comes together beautifully.

– I think when writing copy on ads, it’s important not to go for a hard sell. You need to build the relationship with your audience to start with. If you go in straight away trying to sell, people are just going to ignore it, they’re not going to want to interact.

– On a similar note as well, you don’t want to go too salesy, too hard, on the first page. There’s no point, if they’re just landing on your web page, they don’t want to be scared off with, “Buy this, buy now. Buy this, do this, do this, do this.” You need to strike the right balance between having that information there and then actually making them want to progress forward with that.

– So what I emplore people to do with this is be really short and sweet with it. Try and stop yourself from elaborating on things, really clearly communicate what it is that you need to get across in your copy really quickly, really in a short way. Because I see ads a lot where it’s full of copy and it’s reams and reams and reams of the stuff, and it hides behind that See More button. And I just scroll past it. I’m not on Facebook, on Instagram, on whatever to read all of this content about why your product is better than someone else. It’s just, people are under no obligation to read the adverts that we put in front of them. Therefore, the adverts that we do put in front of them have to be short, snappy, and have to capture attention. So what I suggest that you do is try and focus on communicating what your product does, in as short way as possible. And then onwards from that, see how many words you can take out of that sentence. And then once you’ve got that, see how many more words that you can take out of that sentence. After a short while you’ll have something that’s really neat and concise, and that’s what you’re going to use as the copy for your adverts.

– Because I work with Google Ads, I see this quite a lot, where the message on the ads doesn’t really reflect what they have on their website, and what the ad is trying to convey. So, I’d just try and keep it simple. Keep the message relevant, keep the message understandable and clear throughout, so the user doesn’t get confused at any part of their journey.