If you’re in the right industry and addressing a need – instead of chasing money – then all that stands between you and your first (or next) million is advertising and sales.
The better you get at both, the faster you can scale.
Today we’ll look at the first half of that equation: how to write million dollar ads.
Now, of all the books and courses and confusing crap you could study to improve your advertising skills, start here: with this epic used car ad.
In case it’s blurry, here’s the ad, transcribed:
CALL OR TEXT RIGHT NOW [BLANK] OR JUST SHOW up AN BUY THIS SH*T AT [BLANK] AUTOS
[BLANK] AUTOS
PLEASEEEEEE READ CAREFULLY SO THERE’S NO MISUNDERSTANDING
2002 OLDSMOBILE ALERO LOCATED AT [BLANK] AUTOS
Nothing special or pretty about this car.
200k miles
Rust on the side. I even zoomed in on the rust so you can see it. This car runs and drives. The air blows cold and it has a cd player. Thats it. Nothing more nothing less. Dont bring your ass down here saying it looks different in the pics or you didnt know it had that much rust. Im telling you right now. This b*tch rusty. This sh*t is $900 dollars. You’re getting 900 dollars worth of car. Dont ask me about the check engine light or this light or that light. Its 900 dollars. Its gone be some lights on in this mothaf*cka. As is. Dont bring this sh*t back for nothing. It has 200k plus miles. You damn right u gone find something wrong with it but as for now it cranks. Steers an drives. Blows cold ass air. An wont leave your pockets bare. This will get you from A to B. Just dont try to make it to C. This car will last you at least ALL SPRING ’17
Now. To anyone who could care less about advertising, they probably had a good laugh. They may even think the person who wrote it is a moron. “They” would be wrong.
Because, you know what? I’ve read all the books. I’ve studied the best copywriters and advertisers of all-time. And I’ve ran well over a million dollars of paid ads for my own businesses.
And I’ll tell you this: whoever wrote this ad is a damn genius. The car sold the very next day.
And here’s what you should learn from it:
1) If you can get away with it, write ads exactly like you talk. If this means slang and bad grammar and the occasional f-bomb? So be it. As you read the ad above, couldn’t you almost see the salesman who wrote it? You might’ve even thought, “Damn, I like this guy.”
2) Be brutally honest. Make “damaging admissions.” Point out what’s wrong with your offer and the prospect will trust you more and be more likely to do business with you. Common sense, but so few companies do this.
3) Use pictures or other multimedia to catch the eye, support the text, and make the product come to life.
4) Anticipate questions and objections and address them within the advertisement. Our poet above set expectations, justified the asking price, and addressed the “refund policy” as if he knew what a prospect would be thinking as they skimmed the ad. You wanna do the same: enter the conversation that’s taking place in the mind of your best buyer.
5) Speaking of which, don’t try to sell to everyone. Great ads attract the right buyers and repel the wrong ones. Notice how our wordsmith stiff-arms anyone who might have the wrong idea about what you’re really getting when you pay $900 for a clunker with 200,000 miles on it.
6) Benefits over features. Rather than just listing facts or stats, effective ads paint a picture – so that the consumer can see how their life will improve after buying the product or service. In this example, the Alero will take its new owner wherever they need to go, with good music and cold air, without breaking the bank. Right? But you wouldn’t have visualized that if the ad, instead, just talked about interior color and rim size and miles per gallon and a passenger side air bag.
7) Make it easy and obvious for readers to take the next step. In this ad, you can call or text or just show up with $900 and the ’02 hooptie that “cranks,” “steers an drives,” and “blows cold ass air” is all yours.
If you never study advertising again, but remember this ad and these tips, you’ll do better than most.
