The Difference Between Rules and Guidelines
When developing skills for ad copy, or continuing on in learning from what we've already done, it's good to take pause and consider a crucial aspect of the business of copywriting to remains successful.
I look at as the difference between breaking rules and following guidelines. There's a subtle difference between the two as they relate to ad copy that we must understand.
The guidelines of ad copy have been used for literally centuries. There are basic, general structures that remain in force today as they were from the beginning. It's a huge risk to break the guidelines.
Now within those guidelines, there are rules. It is in those rules where a lot of the creativity and innovation should take place.
I'll use an obvious example to just illustrate the point. You wouldn't change that long-standing practice of writing a healing to grab hold of reader's attention. If you were to do something that obviously wrong, you would destroy any chances of people reading your copy.
But within that headline and its placement, there can be all sorts of creativity and innovation, like we've been talking a lot about lately.
While rules are meant to be broken, guidelines for the most part aren't. Only those with a huge amount of experience in copywriting should play around much with the fundamentals. Even those with a lot of experience understand the parameters they must keep and those they can push the envelope on.
Ad copy exists for the sole purpose of selling what it is you're offering. Keeping to the fundamentals while you experiment with the rules is the key to being successful in it.
Other Ad Copy Sources:
Ten Ways To Get More Out Of Your Copy
Devastating Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
The Effect Ad Copy Endings Have On Your Sales
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