Comms 211 Ad Writing Basics

1. Ad writing basics
Comms 211

2. Goals of ad writers
► Communicate availability of products and/or
services to audience
► Communicate products and/or services
benefits to audiences.
► Provide accessible information about
products and/or services
► Communicate main ideas about products in
a few words

3. Other reasons for communication
► Image building
► Good corporate citizenship
► Response to disaster/crises
► Public service messages
► Response through media
► Crisis control

4. Basics of ad design
► A headline
► An illustration, which may be graphic or
dramatic
► Advertising text – from a few words to a few
pages – describing the product
► A signature or logo, usually at the close of
the ad

5. Advertising principles
► Truth
► Substantiation
► No misleading comparisons
► No bait advertising
► Specific guarantees and warranties
► Price claims
► Genuine testimonials
► Taste and decency

6. Message development
► Target audience
► Positioning
► Perception vs. competitors
► Benefits
► Approach and tone
► Appropriate medium

7. Determining your audience
► Age group
► Demographic profile
“cluster”
► Consumer segmentation
► Business-to-business

8. Choosing the medium
► Television
► Radio
► Newspapers
► Magazines
► Billboards
► Direct mail – brochures
► Web, e-mail

9. Writing the ad
► Decide on a product (existing or imagined)
► Then ask the following questions:
► Who or what is the target audience
► What are their likes, dislikes, educational
level?
► What is the medium?
► What tone would be appropriate?
► What might offend?

10. The writing process
► Information gathering
► Thinking
► Listening
► Drafting the ad
► Rewriting
► Sharing
► Polishing

11. Tips that sell
► Touch on the selling points
Focus on concrete reasons for the purchase.
An abstract reason to buy a Subaru wagon
is safety, but a concrete selling point is
buying a Subaru keeps the driver from
shoveling snow or paying a tow truck.

12. Tips that sell
► Sell the benefits. Find and list the benefits of
your product that are important to your
audience. Build your ad writing around
these benefits. List them in the ad if you
can, but be sure to mention them in some
way. Don’t forget to look for intangibles,
such as the mood that a perfume creates or
a feeling of belonging that comes from a
health club. Again, the viewer or reader
should experience the product.

13. Tips that sell
► Identify the single greatest benefit of your
product and/or service and feature it in the
headline. Research should identify the
quality of your product or service that is
most meaningful to your intended audience.
“Mmm, Mmm, good!” Campbell’s Soup (taste)
“Just Do It!” Nike (discipline)
“If you don’t get it, you don’t get it”
Washington Post (social alienation)

14. Assignment
Prepare a concept for a
display ads for a public
service campaign
IDEAS
Vote in November
Run
Become a foster parent
Volunteer for communty
service at the Service and
Learning Center
Be a tutor
Get prepared for an
emergency
Read your scriptures