How To Write a Great Ad in 7 (not so easy) Steps

It’s harder than you think.

1. Decide what your call to action is. Make it simple and urgent.

2. Decide what you’re selling. Describe it using as few words as possible.

3. Describe its value to your target buyer. Keep it short and sweet.

   “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!”
   Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business School Professor

4. Kill your darlings. This is old writers’ lingo. It means be a tough editor. Don’t fall in love with a turn of phrase or some hilarious double entendre. Edit. Edit. Edit.

5. Take a couple of cracks at it, and then stick your efforts on the wall.

6. Leave them there for a day or two. Look at them now and again, and take note of how they strike you.

7. After a couple of days, edit some more.

The best of what you’re left with – that’s probably a pretty good ad.