Are you trying to master the best qualities of good advertisement copy?
Copywriting can be one of the most rewarding skills you learn, but mastering its principles can take a long time.
And since you’re likely already juggling tons of tasks, you probably can’t spend years practicing. Luckily, you’re in the right spot.
Because we’re going to teach you 7 qualities of good advertisement copy that you can start implementing today. But first, let’s get clear on what we mean by “advertisement copy.”
What Is Advertisement Copy?
Advertisement copy are text-based messages used on advertising platforms that are designed to get you conversions.
Now, to be clear, these conversions can take many forms. You might write ad copy for:
- Direct sales
- Email captures
- Ebook downloads
- Webinar registrations
- And more…
One of the problems many new companies face are getting traction from these advertising platforms. That’s because pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be expensive to start.
While there are many factors that will influence your campaign’s overall success, I always tell clients to set aside a few thousand dollars for testing.
Why? Because here’s what usually happens, particularly to smaller SaaS companies:
👉 They put aside a few hundred for ads to test for 1 month
👉 They don’t see any ROI from those few hundred dollars
👉 They decide paid advertising is a waste of money and move on to other strategies
Most every company, particularly business-to-business (B2B) can leverage a paid ad strategy. The problem usually comes down to not leaving enough time or money to properly test the campaign.
And, of course, you need to learn the qualities of good advertisement copy if you want your message to get a higher click-through rate (CTR) and boost conversions.
With that in mind, let’s look at the 5 tips for improving your paid ad copy.
5 Qualities of Good Advertisement Copy
The best advertisement copy is compelling, relevant, and targeted.
Therefore your job is to craft a message that resonates with the right prospects for your business who are in the market for what you offer.
This can be achieved by mastering five qualities of good advertisement copy.
1) Copy Is Tailored to the Platform
The first thing that you need to know is how to structure your advertisement copy to the platform you’re writing on.
You can compare the difference in ads, for example, from Google…
…with LinkedIn:
There are different rules/character counts depending on where you’re placing these ads. Here are the top 5 heavy hitters along with the character counts that dictate the length of your copy:
- Google Ads:
- Headline (up to 3) – 30 characters
- Description (up to 2) – 90 characters
- Display URL Path (up to 2) – 15 characters
- Facebook Ads
- Text: 125 characters
- Headline: 40 characters
- Link description: 30 characters
- LinkedIn Ads
- Headline – 25 characters
- Description – 75 characters
- Instagram Ads
- Headline – 40 characters
- Body text – 125 characters
- Link descriptions – 30 characters
Keep in mind that these change frequently and also depending on what type of advertisement you’re running.
Use the above as a general starting point for how concise you need your copy to be (not a whole lot of fluff you can cram into 40 characters).
But before you start writing any copy, check the character limits for the platforms you plan to run ads on.
Pro-Tip: Not sure which PPC platform to advertise on? Some products/services fair better in some environments than they do in others.
That said, I’m partial to Google Ads. That’s because you can literally “buy” the user’s intent. When people type something into the search bar, they’re doing so at that exact moment with a specific pain point in mind.
Other platforms, like Facebook or LinkedIn, for example, let you target based by general demographic information.
Personally, I like knowing that my reader is actively searching for the type of advertisement I want to place before them.
2) Copy Is Benefit-Driven
Remember, your advertising copy is meant to connect with your reader. And since you have such limited space to resonate with them, you need to instantly show the benefit of your product/services.
In other words, how can you most quickly answer this question:
How will your product or service directly benefit the reader?
If you can answer that in 40 characters or less, you’re golden.
As you sift through ads on social media, take a look at which messages do this well and which ones don’t.
One of my favorite copywriting tools, Copy.ai, does this really well:
Right away, they address a pain-point for their target audience: time.
With this headline, you know that you’ll be able to write great marketing copy in seconds.
Then the description text further emphasizes the quality of the copy with this line: “Get great copy that sells.”
This is something that I often see businesses miss the mark on. They talk about their product more than the result that the reader is looking for.
Most don’t want to write copy for the fun of it (even though it IS loads of fun… not being sarcastic). What people want are more sales from this product.
It’s like the famous copywriting quote by Harvard Business School Professor Theodore Levitt: “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!”
Make sure you know what benefits your readers are looking for and lead with that.
3) Copy Prioritizes the Reader
4) Copy Is Clear Before It’s “Clever”
5) Copy Grabs the Reader’s Attention
The best way to figure out what your audience wants, needs, and desires are is to ask them directly!
This can be done through a survey or by speaking with your customers who are already using your product.
Another method for this is by using a technique known as “personas.” That’s when you create fictional characters based on the people that represent your target market. Once you have an idea of what makes them tick then it should be easier to tailor your message for them.