Robert Bly

But the goal of advertising is not to be liked, to entertain, or to win advertising awards; it is to sell products.

“placing 100 percent emphasis on how the reader will come out ahead by doing business with you”), you’ll see that there is a creative challenge in writing copy that sells.

Direct marketing … is the only form of accountable advertising. It’s the only kind of advertising you can ever do where you can trace every dollar of sales to every dollar of costs.

Ads are not written to entertain. When they do, these entertainment seekers are little likely to be the people whom you want. This is one of the greatest advertising faults. Ad writers abandon their parts. They forget they are salesmen and try to be performers. Instead of sales, they seek applause.

“Fundamentals never change but current variations of how to best use those fundamentals are something you must always stay on top of.”1

“I think we’re going to see the rise of digital marketing professionals who not only understand digital but understand people—how they think, what motivates them, and why they purchase.”

Some marketers are so data-driven that they ignore strong emotional copy, which frequently generates higher response rates than the mediocre copy used in so many tests.

Smart marketers are increasingly finding honest and clever ways to get their stronger, bolder, more specific ads approved by Facebook and other media controlling compliance.

The headline is the most important element in most advertisements. It is the telegram which decides whether the reader will read the copy.

On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.

If you haven’t done some selling in your headline, you have wasted 80 percent of your client’s money.

But think a minute. When you make a purchase, do you want to be amused by the sales clerk? Or do you want to know that you’re getting quality merchandise at a reasonable price?

The answer is clear. When you shop, you want products that satisfy your needs—and your budget. Good copywriters recognize this fact and put sales appeal—not cute, irrelevant gimmicks and wordplay—in their headlines. When readers browse ad headlines, they want to know: “What’s in it for me?”

The effective headline tells the reader: “Hey, stop a minute! This is something of interest to you!” As mail-order copywriter John Caples explains, “The best headlines appeal to people’s self-interest, or give news.”