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How some of the best advertising writers write ads
The highly curated advice on the best ad lessons from the best advertising writers
What's up, Marketers! This is Aazar.
This newsletter is about leveling up your paid growth marketing skills by analyzing the best brands' paid strategy, tactics, positioning, and value props.
This newsletter is divided into:
Sharing what I've learned
Sometimes sharing some other marketers’ lessons with you (this issue)
And I analyze & compare the best ads on the internet
BEST LINKS OF THE WEEK (on popular demand)
My favorite finds
I’ve made a point of studying the world’s best advertisers to become better at this craft.
For example, I just read The Copy Book (Taschen), a collection of copywriting ad pieces, with rules and tips from some of the most incredible advertising writers. So of course, this is what I’m going to feature today: a few rules, tips, insights and knowledge that are helping me to become a better copywriter.
Shlomo Genchin recommended I read it. He was a guest in my previous issue, and his course is truly a masterpiece. I didn’t think I wouldn’t learn anything new about advertising, but after taking the course, I believe it is the best advertising course that any marketer or creative strategist could take.
If you’re interested, check it out here (caveat: he focuses on B2B, but those frameworks can easily be applied to B2C or D2C).
This newsletter will focus on lessons + ads. Prepare to be mind-blown.
Here are all the lessons from all the best copywriters:
From David Abbott:
Put yourself into your work. Use your life to animate your copy. If something moves you, chances are it will touch someone else, too.
Think visually. Ask someone to describe a spiral staircase and they’ll use their hands as well as words. Sometimes, the best copy is no copy.
If you believe that facts persuade (as I do), you’d better learn how to write a list so that it doesn’t read like that.
From John Bevins:
If you don’t enjoy writing it, no one will enjoy reading it.
When we borrow attention from total strangers or worse, steal their precious time, we should strive to give something valuable back. If we do that, wonderful things happen.
Copywriting has taught me that you don’t write great ads, great ads write themselves. All you need is to do is dig relentlessly for gems in the most unlikely of places.
Copywriting has taught me that branding has nothing to do with a big logo, nor the brand name in the headline, or even mentioning the brand early in the copy.
Don’t be afraid to use no words. Words are not always the best way to express what you’re trying to get across to the reader. Why use 200 words when none will do?
From Tony Brignull:
My own copy improved when it occurred to me that we can relate to a company as we do to a person.
The voice thing is very important. Copywriting can help establish a tone of voice that customers recognise just as we do our friends. If you think about it, successful companies are recognizable. Volkswagen, IKEA, John Lewis, etc… we sort of know how they sound.
If I am in doubt, I ask myself: would I walk up to a stranger at a drinks party and say these words (headline copy or ad itself) to her? If she is interested, amused or engaged, I write on. If she starts looking over my shoulder or reaching for peanuts, I start again.
From Simon Dicketts:
Every ad is an opportunity. This could be a great ad. Every word you write now will be with you forever. Find the right tone and stick with it. Don’t just write as a series of facts, but find an attitude. And remember, once it’s printed you can’t change a thing. You want to be able to read this ad in years to come and be proud of it.
Copywriting doesn’t mean copy writing. We are not machines. Develop your own style. Celebrate your individuality. It is a lot more interesting. It is certainly a lot more fun.
From Sean Doyle:
The more ideas you come up with, the less obvious the later ones are going to be, if only because you have to avoid repeating those first thoughts. So you’re bound to a more original idea. (…) Don’t think, just do, and thoughts will definitely happen along the way.
Always be collecting. Wake up early. Beware of the committee. Less isn’t always more. Pick a side. Avoid brainstorms if you want.
From Malcom Duffy:
Don’t write. Re-write. I like to go through my words over and over and over. Then go through them again five more times for good measure. It’s always gotten better, not worse.I sometimes used to go through my copy so many times I knew it by heart. Ask yourself, is your copy worth memorizing?
Go for the element of surprise. If your words can’t surprise you, they won’t surprise anyone else. Very few products are so amazing that all you have to do is tell people that they exist. That’s why every word you write is so important. Use word-play, alliteration, quotes, observations.
From Paul Fishlock:
We’re not in the entertainment business, we're in the influence business. Our job is NOT to make people think, “what a great ad,” it is to make them think, “what a great product.
Creativity underpinned by proven principles of persuasion works better than creativity flying blind.
We influence some of the least important decisions in people’s lives. Real people aren’t as interested in their choice of toothpaste as you are. But often, the best thing you can do for Mrs Smith is to help her drop something into her trolley without thinking. Life’s too short to do a cost-benefit analysis every time you want to buy something.
Now, we’ll take a look at these copywriters’ ads and learn some key principles.
Ad #1 — Vivid emotions in the headline
Principle #1: Use the “emotional” word to make your point
Principle #2: Make some look forward to reading the ad while at the same time, pissing others off
Ad #2 – The bittersweet scenario
Principle #1: Show the transformation over time and how your product fits
Principle #2: Even in the worst case, we’re there for you
Ad #3 – You can do it without the copy
Principle #1: This is from the lessons about no copy. Why use 200 words when none will do?
Ad #4 – The analogy ads
Principle #1: Use analogies to communicate your point
Ad #5 – Use fear to prevent something
Principle #1: Use numbers to convince your users what NOT to do
Ad # 6 - Demonstrable product
Ad principle#1: Show the best demonstration and say you did it
Ad principle #2: Use red to stand out in the feed.

Here’s a similar ad concept but with even better copywriting.
The first line is the slippery slope: “Whoever said the camera never lies was, to put it bluntly, lying. And there’s no bigger lie than the Olympus Superzoom.” … This got me interested in reading further.
Ad # 7 – Don’t hide it
Principle #1: Use insights that are obvious but ones nobody wants to share. And use them to your advantage.
Principal #2: Use the product space for written text. I rarely see such ads in my feed lately.
Enough of ad lessons.
But if you are an ad nerd like me, Shlomo’s course has 35 ad recipes. He also provides this cheat sheet (see below) that makes it easy to review the concepts and immediately apply them to your ads. So, basically, you will never run out of ideas.
Why not take advantage of having an unfair advantage to get ahead of 99% of the marketers out there?
Thanks to our partners who support this newsletter.
Tools worth checking out:
Atria: You're only as good an advertiser as your swipe file. Atria helps save good ads and analyze them in-depth. But the best part? Their AI helps me create concepts and scripts within seconds. Check it out for free. Most importantly, they now have built-in ad analytics to make more winning ads.
Creative OS: Don’t waste your designer’s time in copying swipe files. Get all static ad templates to increase your experiments and ad creatives’ velocity. Check it out here.
Happy Growing with Paid Social,
Aazar Shad
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