Write Killer Ads to Attract Motivated Sellers in Droves

When writing killer copy for an ad, there are several components that need to be addressed. The first of these is to grab the reader’s attention. If you don’t get the reader’s attention immediately, you will lose them. You need to remember that the average person is bombarded with hundreds of advertising pieces per day and yours needs to stand out. The second component is you have to raise their interest. Is the ad going to be something of interest to them? Does it spell out what you can do for them? The third component to a killer ad is desire. This is where you list proven benefits to your seller. And the fourth component to a killer ad is a call to action. You have to tell your seller what you want them to do or they won’t do anything. So let’s address these components one at a time.

The key component for writing any ad to attract motivated sellers is to begin with a killer headline. This headline has to answer the big question “what’s in it for me”? Using a really great headline can mean the difference between your success or failure at attracting motivated sellers using ads. Your headline is the very first thing a prospect sees when looking at your ad, or while scanning a page of ads, so it must deliver a clear and understandable message that makes your seller want to know more. You only have a fraction of a second to grab their attention so your headline needs to be strong and benefit driven or you’ve lost this prospect forever.

On the average five times more people will read just the headline as opposed to the copy, so your headline has to draw the reader in and make them want to read more. No matter how good your ad copy is, if you don’t have a headline that draws their attention immediately, you’ll quickly lose their interest. Your headline has to grab their attention and say, “Hey, I’m talking to you!!” It doesn’t matter how good you are at helping sellers if the sellers don’t know it.  

For example, a headline we see a lot in real estate investor ads is “We Buy Houses”. This headline has been used for ages, but you have to admit, it’s not benefit driven and it’s become rather cliché if you ask me. Additionally, it’s all about you, the investor, instead of the prospect whose attention you are trying to get. Your headline should not speak in generalities; it needs to be very specific.  I personally use a different headline in my ads. In fact, in a classified ad, it becomes the whole ad. It is:

“Sell your house for a fair price,
on the date of your choice, without doing any repairs”

That’s it, that’s the whole headline and in some cases, the whole ad. It tells the reader exactly what they want to know which is “What can you do for me?” This headline is all about the seller and lets them know exactly what you can do for them. It sends a strong, benefit driven message that they can’t miss, which is; that they can sell their home for a fair price, on the date they choose, without having to do any fix up to the property. This ad addresses every concern a seller may have. My headline stands out like a beacon among all the other ads that surround it because it sends a distinct message to potential sellers.  It makes them want to read the rest of “the story”, which significantly increases the response rate to the ad. Another sample of a killer headline would be:

 “I Can Pay Your Price if You Sell on My Terms”

Getting the seller to read the rest of your ad and respond to it is the whole purpose behind a great headline. When writing headlines for your ads, you need to test new headlines to see which ones bring the best response. Sit down with a piece of paper and write several headlines, the more you think and write, the clearer your intent will become and the more practice you will get at writing grabber headlines. When writing a headline, make sure you use capital letters and lower case letters instead of using all capitals. It makes it much easier for your prospect to read and understand your headline.

Using quotation marks has also been tested and found to significantly increase readership as well. I always say that you should do that which your competition will not to get ahead in your business and creating killer ads is one main way for you to do just that. The most critical impact your headline needs to have is to make the reader want to continue reading, whether it’s an ad, an article, an advertorial or a special report.

Now let’s talk about the second important component which is grabbing their interest; the “what’s in it for me?” This portion sets the stage for the rest of the copy in your ad. Each sentence should make the reader want to read the next one and so on. Keeping your reader’s attention and conveying your message in a way they can understand and respond to in every advertising piece you create is the key ingredient to finding all the motivated sellers you will need for your real estate business. Just learning this one concept for attracting motivated sellers can make you rich. You need to give your seller a reason to keep reading.

Moving on to the third important component in writing a killer ad is the “desire”. This is where you might use bullets for example to provide a full list of stated and proven benefits to the seller. This is where you might say something like:

• I can take over payments and provide debt relief
• I can stop foreclosure and help you repair your credit
• I can close on the date of your choosing so you can close when you need to
• I can buy your house in the condition it’s in so you don’t have to do any repairs

You get the idea. This is where you make your case and you could even back it up with testimonials from satisfied customers if you are doing an advertising piece like an advertorial for example. You can leave it this short or you could expound on each point if you want. You just need to let you seller know why they should want to sell to you and how you can help them solve their problem. After all, that’s the whole point isn’t it? We want to create win-win solutions for ourselves and our sellers.

And last but not least is the “call to action”. What do you want your prospect to do? How do you want them to contact you? You need to let them know this in no uncertain terms. If you don’t tell your seller what you want them to do, don’t expect them to do anything.

For example, putting your phone number at the end of an ad doesn’t tell your seller what you want them to do, but the words “call me now” and then your phone number does. If you are writing an ad and you can give them more than one way to contact you this is even better. For example, you could put “call me now” and your phone number and then also provide the prospect with a website to look at as well. Now they have more than one way to contact you. When you give prospects more than one way to contact you, more of them are going to. You want to make it as comfortable as possible for sellers to contact you.

Now that I have covered for you the four components to writing a killer ad, you have no excuse but to go out there, run some ads in your local newspaper and shopper guide following these guidelines and watch the leads come in. Every ad you write, every advertorial or special report you write needs to meet these guidelines.

For more information on writing killer ads and marketing to find motivated sellers, visit my website at www.marketingmagiclady.com. While you are there be sure and sign up for our monthly newsletter and receive $149.00 in amazing bonuses.