Decide what the ad is for
Pick one thing you want a person to do after seeing it: visit the shop, call, book, open the website. An ad that asks for three things gets none of them, because a person sees it for a moment and keeps one idea.
Write for one kind of person
Picture the person who should say yes: someone who lives near you, someone who has just moved, someone planning an event. Write to them, in the words they would use. An ad for everyone reads as an ad for no one.
Say what you offer, then what to do
The headline names the offer in plain words: what it is and, if it helps, where. The next line says the one step: come in, call, book, learn more. Leave out the history of the company and the list of everything else you do; the website is for those.
Fit the words to the format
- Banner: a few words and a clear picture.
- Native: a headline that earns the click and one sentence under it.
- Full-screen: one strong picture and one step.
Our guide on banner, native or full-screen says which suits what you have.
What to leave out
Words you cannot back up: “best”, “cheapest”, “guaranteed”. Anything in capital letters. A promise of a result. An ad that a person can check in the shop and find true is worth more than one that sounds bigger.
If you would rather not write
Ailumic drafts text from your website for you to edit or approve. Treat the draft as a first version: read it against the points above and change what does not sound like you.
Then let the report edit it
Run the ad for a full week, read what it did in the report, and change one thing: the headline, the picture or the step. Changing everything at once teaches you nothing about which part mattered.
Instead of “Quality baked goods at great prices, serving the community since forever”, a bakery writes “Fresh sourdough every morning on Elm Street. Come in before noon.” The first says nothing a person can act on; the second names the offer, the place and the step.