Understanding The Length Of Your Adcopy
By: Stacy Karacostas
Have you ever wondered how much text (or copy) you really need in yourbrochure, Website or ad? This is a question I get from my small businessclients all the time. And it’s a darn good one.
After all, we constantly hear that people don’t read anymore. And a lot of
Web designers will try to tell you not to write more than 250 words of copyper page. Yet direct mail and Internet marketers and copywriters have proventime and again that long text usually outsells short copy-even these days.
Just think about all those multi-page sales letters that regularly stuffyour mailbox. Or those super-long Web pages that seem to scroll on forever.Both are examples of effective long copy.
How do I know it’s effective? Because companies wouldn’t keep using it if itdidn’t generate leads or sales!
But, long copy isn’t right for every application. Sometimes a small amountof text is just the thing.
So how do you decide how much text you need?
First, ask yourself, “What is the purpose of this Website, or marketing oradvertising piece?”
If you’re creating something purely for the purpose attracting attention,reinforcing your brand, or letting people know what you do, you don’t needmuch text at all. Good examples of this are billboards and traditional30-second TV commercials. Of course, lots of print ads are designed this waytoo.
But if your goal is to make people take action (and it should be)-whetheryou want them to call, sign up, click to another page, or buy now-you need alot more copy. Why? Because now your text has to do more than just getattention.It has to be your salesperson.
So just like a good salesperson it needs to:
> Grab the attention of your ideal customer
> Speak to their specific wants, needs or problems
> Explain the features and benefits of your product or service
> Answer all their questions
> Address all their concerns and deal with any objections
> Then finally, get them to take the next step
If you can do all that in 100 words or less, great. If it takes 1000 wordsor more, that’s fine too. The key is to use exactly as much text as it takesto achieve these goals. No more, no less. As long as it’s written andformatted the right way anyone who’s really serious about buying will readevery word and be inspired to take action.
