How to Write a Good Advertisement

This book was first published in 1962. But the lessons are still as valuable and as valid today as when first published. This is a great manual on how to write advertisement. Schwab is considered one on the legends in print advertising. He writing is easy to read, well organized and simple to understand. This is a how to manual. Mr. Schwab starts with the importance of the headline - if you can't get people to read your ad it has no chance of getting people to buy the product. He gives you step by step instruction for writing good headlines. From headlines, he goes on to teach about attention getting layout, showing people the advantages of your product, proving your claims, social proof and asking for action. Schwab talks about the copy length, subheads and AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action). At the end of each chapter is a quiz on the material presented. If you want an excellent book on advertising and marketing, this is certainly one. If you have absolutely no experience, you will learn all the basics and concepts from this one book. If you consider yourself knowledgable, this is a great refresher course. Well worth reading if your job involves advertising and marketing.

How much do you know about advertisement? Before reading this book, my understanding of advertisement was from what I learned watching Mad Men. Don Draper tells us in a pitch to a cigarette client: “Advertisement is based on one thing: happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of the road that screams, with reassurance, that whatever you’re doing, is OK. You are OK.” Wow. Mad Men made me feel like an advertisement expert. But, if you sat me down at a desk and told me to create an advertisement for a new brand of sportswear made of hemp, I wouldn’t know where to start. Maybe I’d try to make something that tells the audience that hemp sportswear will make them happy, that wearing it will make them feel like whatever they’re doing is OK. But I wouldn’t know where to start in making that happen. Or what a completed ad looks like. After reading this book, I know what steps to take, and which rules to follow to write a good ad. I don’t work in advertising. I just want to be able to publish my own content that grabs peoples attention and persuades them to take action on my content. This book offers exactly what I needed to learn. Here are the 4 main lessons it taught me: 1. There are 5 basic elements of a good advertisement: get attention, show people an advantage, prove it, persuade people to grasp the advantage, and ask for action. He breaks each element down in its own chapter, providing concrete examples as well as abstract concepts. He adds quizzes at the end of each chapter to make sure you know the important parts. 2. How to write a good headline. I couldn’t believe this book was originally published in 1962. The headlines and advice he offers could easily be used for teaching a masterclass on writing youtube clickbait titles in 2018. At the beginning of the book, he provides 100 successful headlines with comments on why they work, and several sections on effective themes you see throughout the headlines. The way he provides these real examples with immediate feedback on why they work is the most effective way to learn, not employed enough in books. It will also be a resource I use for when I need to get inspired for writing headlines or titles in the future. I used the advice in creating this headline (did it get your attention?). 3. People make decisions based on feelings or emotional appeal they want to experience or avoid, but facts are needed to rationalize the decision to go after or avoid that feeling or emotion. Moreover, the stronger and more effective your emotional appeal is presented, the more readily your facts will be believed. When presenting facts, start with the easy ones you know the reader already agree with, leaving the unfamiliar ones at the end after he or she has already started accepting your facts as true. 4. How to be a better writer. He offers lots of advice on how to write clearly and keep the reader engaged to the end. This is important in copy. The longer your ad holds the readers attention, the more persuasive it is. At one point in the book, he offers 22 ways to hold interest longer. I already wrote them down in a personal notebook to review whenever I write something in the future. This book is worth it for anyone interested in learning about advertisement or how to sell things online. Its well written, timeless, and provides tons of examples and chapter quizzes to make sure you understand the key points it offers. I wrote down so many notes and highlights that I’ll using for reference years to come.

I'm likely going to need a new copy soon. It's that good. Copywriting, the how and reasons for the way to do it? Outstanding. It doesn't matter if you're writing about hamsters or hydroponics, this book will make your writing better. There are short tips at specific stopping points to 'self test' you really got the idea. Don't worry. This isn't like college theory, it's for those who want to get their ads to produce results. And before you pay out hundreds of dollars, get this guide and dive in. Mark it up, highlight what you find and start anywhere you want. You will learn why some ads such in actual buyers, and how you can do your own.

This is an interesting guide for those looking to start on an advertising path. It is not relevant in the computer age in regards to setting up websites and technical information. It is good for general advertising techniques because advertising has never really changed since it started. It's really all the same concept and every advertising book on the book shelf will generally have the same information and techniques. If you don't believe me, buy this and compare it the vast majority of ads in today's world. The emerging ads, that really stand out and are relatively new, are the "high art" ads produced by companies like Apple, or Google, or some clothing designers.

I took copywriting coaching from the legendary David Garfinkel and this is the first book he made me read as part of the coaching. What you will find is the right way to set up the copy to be written by you. Victor Schwab knew what he was doing as a writer and he details the ways to research, what to write and how to write it. If you are looking for the best books on copy this is one of them.

As a new marketer, I spent a lot of time not knowing what I was doing. This book was recommended by in a copywriting workshop I attended. Lots & lots of gold nuggets. I started implementing what I was reading before even finishing the book, and I there is an increase in open rates. I love love it.

Don't miss this diamond in the rough! This is a very overlooked book which touches on a little bit of everything, from soup-to-nuts, about writing copy and placing ads. I'm not sure why it isn't mentioned as much as the more well-known classics like the Ogilvy and Hopkins material is, because it should be. Although the book was written in 1962, it reads like it was written earlier -- perhaps that's why it's often not cited by the greats. Buy it today. You won't be sorry. Even if you're already a professional, the book will serve you well to stir up some good ideas -- maybe even for that promotion you're working on right now!

Very good book, but there are no pictures which i assume are missing in the kindle version.. 5 stars for the paperback version