Ad Copy That Sticks

 Ad copy is an art, and when executed appropriately, can be very effective. Ultimately the goal of any copywriter is to sell something. However, in order to begin to understand what kind of language will convert, a copywriter should have a deep understanding of their desired target market.

Target markets can be defined by your client or by the product you are selling. Tailoring ad copy to mesh with the brand voice and demographics can make an impact on the effectiveness of copy to drive clicks and conversions.

My client’s primary target demographic consists of girls aged 15-25 who are fun, adventurous, and trendy. Only three months removed from college, I have first-hand knowledge about how this target market communicates, acts, and lives. However, in order to nail down what messaging would stick with them, I researched to acquire a better understanding of what drives these consumers. My focus while drafting ad copy for this demographic was to implement language that was familiar to them and that would resonate with them, while also creating copy that mirrored the brand’s voice.

The copy we ultimately created incorporated phrases like: “Style that Slays,” “An Adventure You Can Wear” and “Fresh, Flirty, Fun.” Phrases like these captured the vibrant, youthful personality that our demographic owns while also aligning with the brand voice.

Once we were able to finalize copy that we thought would resonate well with the target market, we began testing. To judge the effectiveness of language in our copy, we ran an ad copy test. This test compared value (low cost) messaging in text ads against the “Fresh, Flirty, Fun” messaging that mirrors the brand voice, with the ultimate goal being to pinpoint language that sells to our target market.

After allowing the test to run for a couple weeks, we were able to uncover the top performer. During the duration of the test, we observed that the “Fresh, Flirty, Fun” ad drove more sales than the ad that contained value messaging. Not only did the brand-voice messaging garner more conversions, it had a higher CTR, higher conversion rate, higher ROI, and lower CPA than the value messaging. Needless to say, our client decided to stick with the “Fresh, Flirty, Fun” copy. We are now testing this copy again, but this time we are testing it against other copy that fits with the brand voice and target market.

Creating ad copy that resonates with your target market and mirrors your brand’s voice is one way that you can potentially increase performance. Ad copy testing is a tangible way to understand how your target market is influenced by the ads you serve. Constantly testing and re-testing copy will give you valuable insights into your target demo’s preferences and communication style, ultimately allowing you to create ads that are the most relevant for them. In order to reach and resonate with the target demo, brands should incorporate language that their customers are familiar with and that echoes the brand’s voice, so that the ad’s message has the best chance to stick with consumers.