Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Evan Carmichael Top Header
Share for a Cause









Is Your Advertising Amoral?

Written by: Jay Hamilton-Roth

Article Overview: You already know that a strong headline gets people to start reading your (advertising or marketing) copy. You also know that the purpose of every paragraph is to get people to continue to read the rest of the copy. But what happens when people get to the end of your copy?

Free Download - Marketing Happiness By Jay Hamilton-Roth
Name: Email:

Is Your Advertising Amoral?

You already know that a strong headline gets people to start reading your (advertising or marketing) copy. You also know that the purpose of every paragraph is to get people to continue to read the rest of the copy. But what happens when people get to the end of your copy?

Each of Aesop's Fables end with a brief moral (”One bad turn deserves another” or “Appearances are deceptive”) that summarizes the point of the story. Does your copy end with a moral-like statement? I think of this phrase as a “toeline” (the opposite of a headline). While a headline focuses on the benefit to the reader, the toeline focuses on your offering with a reminder about the benefit.

For example, if you’re selling raw, organic cat food (called Purely Cat Food), your headline might read: “Keep Your Cat Healthier Naturally“. Your copy would describe why most commercially available cat food is bad for cats, and by feeding your cats this food they’ll live longer and be sick less. Most people end the copy with “Now available at your local store”.

Instead, create a toeline that echoes the headline. For example, “Purely Cat Food Ensures Your Pet’s Health”. Notice it starts with the offering, then mentions the benefit.

Related Articles
  Is Online Advertising Cost Effective?
  Advertising And PR Guidelines In All Forms Of Media
  Advertising: The Nuts And Bolts Of Making It Work: Step Three: Make sure your advertising is specific, has substance and is credible
  Appeal To Virtue
  Why Use an Advertising Agency

Home > Small-Business-Consulting > Jay Hamilton-Roth > Is Your Advertising Amoral
Article Tags: aesop, aesop s fables, benefit, cats, echoes, health, local store, marketing, organic cat food, paragraph, phrase, reminder, style text

About the Author: Jay Hamilton-Roth
RSS for Jay's articles - Visit Jay's website

Jay Hamilton-Roth founded Many Good Ideas (http://www.ManyGoodIdeas.com) to help small businesses brainstorm, design, and implement effective marketing strategies. He combines creativity with common sense to demystify the process of getting great results. He has used his high-tech background from MIT to help him launch five businesses. He consults with companies in a wide range of industries and publishes a monthly marketing newsletter and daily marketing blog (http://ask.ManyGoodIdeas.com). He is the host of the new TV series "Business With Passion" (http://TV.ManyGoodIdeas.com).

Click here to visit Jay's website
Dashed Line

More from Jay Hamilton-Roth
How To Field Others Pitches
Business Marketing Top 10 Rules Corresponding With Clients
Is Your Elevator Pitch a Monologue or a Dialogue
Book Review Ogilvy on Advertising
Advertising That Drives People Away


Related Forum Posts
Top 19 Copywriting books Top 19 Copywriting books - 1. Ogilvy on Advertising. David Ogilvy. Wiley. 2. Positioning: The Battle for your Mind. Al Ries and Jack Trout. Warner. 3. The New Positioning. Jack Trout. McGraw-Hill. 4. Tested Advertising Methods. John Caples. Prentice-Hall. 5. How to Make your Advertising Make Money. John Caples. Prentice-Hall. 6. Guerrilla Advertising. Jay Conrad Levinson. Houghton Mifflin. 7. Direct Mail Copy that Sells. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall. 8. Sales Letters that Sizzle. Herschell Gordon Lewis. NTC Business Books. 9. Herschell Gordon Lewis on the Art of Writing Copy. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall. 10. Romancing the Brand. David Martin. American Management Association. 11. The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, George Gribbin, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves. NTC Business Books. 12. Confessions of an Advertising Man. David Ogilvy. NTC Business Books. 13. My Life in Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books. 14. Scientific Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books. 15. How to Become an Advertising Man. James Webb Young. NTC Business Books. 16. The Lasker Story as He Told It. NTC Business Books. 17. Advertising Concept and Copy. George Felton. Prentice Hall. 18. The Copy WorkShop Workbook. Bruce Bendinger. The Copy Workshop. 19. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Luke Sullivan. Wiley. This should keep you busy for at least a year. Enjoy!
Ideas for developing my business Ideas for developing my business - Advertising is the life-blood of any magazine. Get some advertisers and you're set. You've got your target market, now start working on the "buzz" around the mag.
Good Adwords Books? Good Adwords Books? - I've just purchased "Ultimate Guide to Pay-Per-Click Advertising" by Richard Stokes. Has anyone read it, and if so what do you think? Does anyone have any other recommendations for books relating to Adwords? Thanks,
Re: Why Some Websites Sell and Others Don’t? Re: Why Some Websites Sell and Others Don’t? - There is myth that if you build websites people will come. It is never through, you need to do a lot of things to make your website to work. You have many models of attracting traffics to your site. PPC Article Marketing SEO Press Release Banner Ads Forum Posting Classified Advertising Media Buying Solo Ads and a lot of more. If you are not doing any of the above your websites will just be one of the millions of the unknown sites in cyber space
New Idea...suggestions please New Idea...suggestions please - The one concern I would have is if your revenue is solely based off of advertising, would there be enough to pay out to people and make a profit? Advertising is way over-rated online. Most people don't make as much as they thought they would. good idea, but like you said, there are some kinks that would need to be worked out. There are some other complications too, I'm in a hurry at the moment. I do have experience starting businesses in these two industries (self help and affiliate programs / opportunities) that you are describing. If you want more of my thoughts, just send me a message and I'll get back to you later.


Recommended Article for You close

  Is Online Advertising Cost Effective?

Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.



Featured Article


Bottom Footer
Share for a Cause












Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

How To Become A Member of the Paparazzi

Multilevel Marketing: 4 Tips To MLM Success

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.