7 Ad Copywriting Tips to Write Digital Copy That Sells

Regardless of the ad type or platform you use, there is one thing that is essential to the success or failure of your ad campaign – copywriting. 

You need traffic. To get traffic, you need to generate clicks on your ads. There is a lot of competition. As a Toronto digital marketing agency, we understand that strong writing creates strong ads.

Use these seven ad copywriting tips to improve the quality and effectiveness of your ads. Turn them into ads that sell:

1. Know Your Audience

It’s difficult to write effective ads if you don’t understand who you are writing them for. Get to know your audience in order to make your ad copy relatable. Leveraging consumer language is key when writing ads.

General audience influences to get you started may include:

• Who you are writing for (Age, Gender, Location, Demographics)
• How your audience thinks and perceives things (Drivers, Analyticals, Expressives, Amiables)
• What your audience wants or needs (Listen to them, Learn how they live, Ask questions, etc.)

For example, a 20 year old woman living in Europe may want to buy the same thing as a 50 year old man living in Asia, but they will likely perceive the same ad message differently. This is where your copywriting skills need to be as relatable as possible. You will have to figure out the difference between effective copy for the woman, and for the man. Remember, even though they both want the same thing, they will likely require different messaging to be sold.

2. Write a Killer Headline

What are your competitors writing? Do a quick competitive analysis before writing your headlines. Screenshot your competitors’ best ads and highlight the messaging that resonates with you and your team. This will give you direction when creating your own headlines, descriptions, callouts & more.

Your headline is the difference maker. Without a strong headline, you aren’t going to get people to click through to your landing page. Your headline needs to be engaging and include keywords that your target audience is searching for. Try the following options (with examples) to write better ad headlines:

• Ask a question (Rhetorical, Open, Closed, Leading, Loaded, Probing, etc.)
• Lead with a benefit (Enjoy This, Receive That, Discover A, Unlock The, etc.) 
• Address your target audience’s intent (Buy, Rules For, Tickets, Time it Takes, etc.)
• Be empathetic (Don’t think like the customer, BE the customer)
• Use numbers (Try to be specific, 389 looks a lot better than 400 in terms of credibility)

Just like in step #1, it’s important to know who you’re writing for. Keep an eye on the tone and context of your message, for example, you don’t want your title to read like it’s urgent if you’re going for a relaxed tone. Intonation and body language can’t be used in text so you’ll have to get creative to accommodate for the increased barrier to communication. On social media ads, emojis and images can really help.

3. Appeal to Emotions

Creating an emotional response or tapping into a reader’s emotions is a sure-fire way to connect with them on a deeper level. And you don’t have to use negative or fear-based emotional triggers. Positive emotional triggers can be just as effective. You can use humour or affirmations. Again, the type of emotions you appeal to depends on your target audience and what is most effective to engage them. 

4. Tell Them Why

One thing that is often missing from ad copy is explaining why the audience should buy. Even if you have a great headline and provide good information about your product or service, you need to bring it home by telling them why they need to act. 

• Why is the product the best solution for their needs/problems?
• Why should they act now?
• Why purchase it from your company?

Focus on how you can solve their problem, don’t make it all about you.

5. Sell Them on the Benefits

People want to know how a product or service will benefit them. So, tell them. Use your ad copy to explain how the audience will benefit from purchasing what you are selling. Be as specific as possible. Successful ads are not about what your company can do; they explain how the customer will benefit. Take a customer-centric approach. 

6. Quantify Things With Numbers

Adding numbers to your ads makes them easier to read and understand. Numbers can quickly explain things on a deeper level, make benefits clearer, and help to direct the narrative of the ad. Use numbers and stats in your headlines, ad copy and call to action to sell your readers. 

The examples below show how much numbers can add to the effectiveness of ad copy:

“Rent GTA & Toronto Storage Units |Rent Your Unit Online Now”

“Rent Storage Starting At $42 |Get 50% Off 8 Weeks Of Storage | Our Renters Rated Us 4.9 Stars”

7. Tell a Story

Who doesn’t enjoy a good story, right? We’ve used stories for thousands of years. Why? They are effective! You can tie everything together by using your ads to tell a story. The story you tell should connect with your target audience on some level to be effective. People are more likely to resonate with a story than an ad filled with hard facts or hard sales tactics. Great stories are:

• Relatable
• Create an emotional connection
• Introduce a problem or an objective to meet
• Communicate an obstacle to overcome
• Offer a solution (your product or service)
• A call to action

Writing great ad copy is not easy. You shouldn’t do it alone. The best way to write ads that sell is to get a group consensus. As a Toronto digital marketing agency, we highly recommend that you write several ads and get as many people as you can to vote on the best messaging.

To take it one step further, we recommend a/b testing your ads to see what really resonates with your audience. It can take many iterations, a lot of testing, and adjustments to get it right. But, when you do, you’ll have an ad that sells. 

The Marketing Garage is an award-winning Toronto digital marketing agency  that has extensive experience in cultivating effective digital marketing strategies. We help businesses in many different sectors across North America fix their online marketing and branding. Our data-driven mix of SEO and online marketing process is like no other.