Before Creating Your Ad – Know Your Hook

Go CSI on Your Product or Service

Many marketers say to work on a killer offer first, then the rest of the ad. I do agree that an urgent and motivating offer can make an ad wickedly effective but, it needs to hook them first.

Offers lose to a hook because the offer is the action inducer, not the attention and interest getter. Most will not get to your offer.

What’s a hook? A hook is simply something interesting/unique about you or what you are selling.

If you sell online memberships, what is it about you or the site that is interesting? If you clean carpets, what makes you different from anyone else.

A hook to me is a spiced up USP. Something that makes you or your offer unique mixed with dramatic appeal. John Carlton is one of my favorite copywriters and a hook finding genius.

Let’s take a headline that Carlton did for a mundane and rather boring financial newsletter. Rather than write the typical sterile "Make Better Investments Using Our Proven Methods", he decided to go Columbo.

What he did was research all the material he could find. Buried in the material was a little quote from Money Magazine referring to this mutual funds wizard as a "human computer". I am sure you’re thinking that was all that was needed.

No, the hook was justified because this "human computer" in a typical quarter could crunch the numbers of 14,000 different companies offering stock… IN HIS HEAD!! So he could now talk about that in the copy.

The Headline?

"Mysterious Arizona "Human Computer" Humiliates Wall Street "Experts" For 21st Consecutive Year!"

I guarantee that grabs attention

That hook can now be the base for the entire ad. Now you are thinking that your carpet cleaning business is different. I have no super computer article to use. Maybe not, but you do have something.

Maybe the way you clean carpets destroys 96% of all allergens within the carpet. Maybe your a single father of three kids…

"Single Dad Protects His Children From Allergens And Now Offers to Keep Your Kids Safe Too"

Put that up against "Get $50 off Any Full Service Carpet Cleaning" and see which one gets more attention.

The single dad headline is true and now has a human interest side. How will the other generic ads out there compete with this guy?

You have a hook, I guarantee you do. You may need to dig into you or your product/service to find it. Write down a list of things that come to mind in your search. As you can see it could be very simple.

Make sure the copy in the ad resonates with the hook. Keep that interest intact. As soon as you get generic they’re gone.

The less interesting you find your product or service, the less interesting your ad will be. Get fired up about what you’ve got. In that aroused state of mind is when you want to start digging and writing.

Go get some

Paul

Tagged with: advertising • copywriting • direct mail • direct marketing • flyers • marketing • postcards

Filed under: Small Business Marketing

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