Let's say you want to promote your editing service in the Penny Saver, or maybe sell your old gas-guzzler on Craigslist, or unload a warehouse full of whisk brooms. This isn't an occasion for an artful essay. What you need is a good ad. And Mr. Ulysses G. Manning--"the well-known advertising specialist of South Bend, Indiana"*--is here to tell you how to write one.
I believe that the chief essential in advertisement writing is to say one thing at a time, and to say it in just as few words as possible. Let every thought stand alone. If explanation is necessary, let it stand alone also. . . .
Simply take a piece of paper and start somewhere. Think hard as to what the main thing is to be said. Put that down. Don't worry about what is to follow. You will have another idea by the time you are ready for it. Seize it before another idea gets in the way, and put it down. Keep on until the important things have occurred to you, and then stop. Don't grope around for ideas. If you can think of but one or two things to say, these things are perhaps all that need be said. One or two good ideas forcibly expressed are worth a dozen dragged in by the hair.
With your crude material before you, sort it and arrange it. Put down your ideas in the order that seems most logical. Introduction, description, argument, price, is a form of construction that will answer in most cases. The matter of headline can usually be left until last.
If a catchy heading occurs to you first and helps to bring the other ideas, so much the better. Let your headline epitomize the ad, that is, be a summary of it. "Stop that cough" reveals the cough ad and catches the eye of those you wish to reach. A heading of this sort is always better than a blind one. If you are offering whisk brooms at half price, say "Whisk brooms at half." If a headline of this sort cannot be employed, try to use some phrase that will arrest the attention of the particular class that needs the goods advertised. Don't forget the juvenile method of composition. Use short forcible sentences. Avoid parenthesis. Shun the semi-colon and use the comma as little as possible.
After your ad is written, try to condense it. Leave out every unnecessary word or sentence. The more condensed your ad is the harder it will hit.
Manning's article originally appeared in a journal called American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record--in the issue dated February 10, 1897. "Juvenile" or not, his method of composing an ad still sounds pretty sensible today.
* Timothy Edward Howard, A History of St. Joseph County, Indiana (The Lewis Publishing Company, 1907)
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Comments
I’ve done this sort of writing for many years and completely agree with your directions. That is how it’s done. Great piece!
Sue