Report outlines 6 critical factors you need to include when you are writing an advertisement for your business.

1. How To Write Ads That Sell
potentmarketing.co /how-to-write-ads-that-sell/
Alistair Bull
by Potent Marketing
99% of ads are a giant steaming pile of wasted money (and broken dreams).
Ask any ad salesman.
In fact, don’t bother, they won’t tell you.
They will spend a lot of time telling you all about the viewership or readership of their publication. How
they have the biggest distribution in the region, and on and on.
They’ll spout on about repetition, and ‘brand awareness’.
But ask them to show you cold hard numbers, or help you test your results from your ads…
Forget about it! They don’t want to know.
In fact, I’ve had a radio sales person tell me that if I want to measure results then they don’t want me to
advertise with them. (He was trying to use a takeaway sales technique – so I let him take the offer
away).
Why? because they know that most ads are a waste of time, space, airwaves and most of all money.
And to be fair to the to the salesman, if your ‘chucked-together-at-the-last-minute’ ad is terrible, it’s not
their fault… But they don’t care either. They just want the sale.
Now listen… If you’re worried this sounds a lot like your advertising, stop!
It’s not your fault.
It’s what everybody does, and how do we learn to market our businesses? By copying everyone else.
The good news, you can fix it.
Click here to get the FREE 30 Minute Ad Formula Cheat Sheet
Here’s an example of a typical ad that you’ll see when you flick through your local newspaper or Yellow
pages:
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A big logo at the top of the ad which shouts ‘look at me’ and tells the reader nothing.
List 2 to 6 general products or services offered. Or profess to specialise in ‘everything’.
Address and Phone Number at the bottom of the ad but giving no reason to use them.
————————————————————–
Sure, it might have a nice background image or a ‘clever’ slogan which says exactly nothing to the
reader. The problem is, the ad is written entirely for the advertiser.

2. It offers nothing for the reader unless they happen to be looking for one of those products or services at
that exact moment.
The ad isn’t actually doing any selling! Another common ad you’ll see, again in the newspaper or a
flyer, is the “Huge discounts”, “all stock must go”, “Offer must end on Sunday” type ads.
Actually these all work. but these ads have two really big problems.
1. Your ads will get some business by ‘skimming the cream’ of customers who just
happen to be ready to buy right now. But it will be ignored by most potential
customers.
2. The biggest problem is they are training your best customers to expect a discount
on your products or services. They are cheapening your position in the market and
slashing your bottom line.
I bet you can name a handful of businesses that you would never consider purchasing anything from
them unless they are running a sale.
Click here to get the FREE 30 Minute Ad Formula Cheat Sheet
6 Step Formula For Writing Successful Ad’s
Now first, I want to be clear. Successful copywriters are paid ludicrous amounts of money for what they
do.
I recently listened to an interview with the CEO of a marketing company that makes tens of millions of
dollars every year, and he proudly proclaimed that he pays his top copywriters more than he pays
himself.
Why? Because a world class copywriter can make a campaign, and literally millions of dollars.
Now top copywriters take years, probably decades to refine their skills to this level. And yes, I know,
you don’t have years to get good at this stuff.
But the good news is you can learn the nuts and bolts of writing a good ad that will put you miles ahead
of your competition.
Let’s get started.
For the rest of this report I’m going to focus on print advertising, however all of this transfers easily to
radio, tv and online. The principles are the same.
How hiding your ad can get it read by up to 5 times more people
Huh? That doesn’t sound right. Wait I’m not talking about blending in with your competition.
Think about this: When did you last pick up a newspaper to read the ads? Exactly. You read the
newspaper for, wait for it…
The News!
Wow, that’s a massive revelation isn’t it?
Ok, studies have shown again and again that articles get read 5 times more than ads.
So what can you do with this juicy piece of information? easy…
Create ads that look exactly like….. Articles. Amazing!

3. Let’s break down an news article into its simplest parts.
All articles have a headline. They often have an image. They then provide new, interesting, exciting
and timely information that is relevant to the reader. And finally, they have a point (or an angle) to the
article.
How do we use this in an ad?
1. Make your ad all about them
What does your ideal customer want (and why do they want it)? What are their biggest problems or
challenges?
The more specifically you can answer those questions, the easier it will be to write an ad that works like
crazy (every single time).
I’m not going to labour the point about features vs benefits. If you’re reading this, you’ve already heard
that a million times before. But remember, your customers aren’t paying for your product or service…
they are really buying a result – more time, prestige, self esteem – you need to uncover that raw drive
and tap into it in your ad.
2. Get attention (from the right people)
The first job of your ad is to get attention.
Now we’re talking about attention from the people who actually want your stuff. You don’t need, or even
want your ad to be read by everyone.
Lets say you sell snowboards…
Would you rather talk to 100 random people on the street about your snowboards, or 100
snowboarders? Or how about 100 snowboarders who are hanging out for the snow so they can rush up
to the slopes, but they have a bashed up second hand snowboard in their garage?
How do you get this attention? The answer is simple…
You need to craft a headline that slaps your ideal prospects out of the nearly catatonic state they’re
living in and sucks them into your ad.
Writing kickass headlines is an art in itself, but luckily you can get along just fine using one of these
simple formulas and tailoring it to your business…
How to… (fix the specific problem)
“How to choose the perfect Snowboard for your riding style”
Curiosity
“How Sarah Jones saved $150,000 on her mortgage”
Ask a question
“Are you ready for the snow season?”

4. Use a short, punchy testimonial from an ecstatic customer.
“I thought my car was a write-off, but it looks like brand new”
To get more ideas try reading your local newspapers and take note of which articles grab your
attention. Tabloid papers and trashy magazines are often the best… They live and die with their ability
to grab attention.
One caveat though. Unlike trashy magazines and Tabloids, your headlines need to actually be true.
Whatever you write, you need to be able to back it up.
3. Get their interest
Great, you’ve got your prospects attention… now what?
Now you have to fulfil the promise you made in the headline. Start by explaining your product or
service, and how it most importantly what it will do for them.
Demonstrate how your product or service is the perfect way to fix their problem that we discussed in
step 1.
I love watching infomercials. It is inspiring to me the lengths that they go to to prove that their product is
the best and only sane option to solve a problem.
4. Make them want what you’ve got
Bring the reader even closer and get them panting for your products or services.
Many years ago, I learnt sales the hard way… Selling door to door, at night, in winter.
Anyway, while I was doing this I learnt that there are a number of hot-buttons that get us all fizzing with
excitement. You can use these in any ad to get readers ready to take some action.
People love to buy things that are popular. Have you ever seen people lining up for a restaurant while
the one next door is empty? This is why.
We also love things that are exclusive. Items that are rare are generally worth more than things that are
easily available.
People hate to miss out. Think it’s hard telling someone they must have something? Try telling them
they can’t have it.
A time limit helps people make decisions. A decision that doesn’t need to be made, isn’t.
We love to get more than we pay for. This is often referred to as greed, but really we all just like to get
the best end of a deal.
Click here to get the FREE 30 Minute Ad Formula Cheat Sheet
5. Make an irresistible offer

5. Here’s the point where you get to close the ‘sale’. It’s also the point where most ads jump from being an
investment to a flat out expense. Why? Because ads run by most businesses never get to the point of
even making an offer.
The best that they come up with is “So here’s our phone number, give us a call sometime, if you want
to.” Or maybe – “Come into our store and see our collection of house stuff”. Not going to cut it.
The trick is to make an offer that is so ludicrously good, that they can’t possibly ignore it. Three things
you need to create an irresistible offer:
1. Offer something that people actually want
2. Really really want (not just what you want to sell)
3. Make it worth so much to them that what you’re asking for it is an absolute pittance
A quick hint on VALUE: We, all of us, are terrible at valuing things. The only way we have to decide how
much something is worth is to compare it to something else. So you can increase the value of a product
simply by being smart about what you compare it to.
6. Remove the Risk
If you’ve done a good job with the rest of the ad, there is one last thing you can do to bring it home.
People don’t buy for 3 reasons.
1. They don’t want what you’ve got
2. You haven’t proved it’s valuable enough to them
3. They’re scared
This is where to address number 3 head on.
They might be scared of wasting their money, that the product won’t work. They might be worried they
won’t be able to use the product. The important thing is you need to remove the risk for them, so it’s no
longer a barrier to them saying yes, making a call or placing an order.
The best ways to remove the risk are Free trials or money back guarantees. But you might some other
creative way to make sure that your customer feels like there is no way they can lose.
30 Minute Ad Formula
Not sure where to start? We would like to give you this fill-in-the-blanks cheat sheet that will help you
write your first ad in the next 30 minutes.
Download the free report and get your advertising turning a healthy profit