The 4 Laws of Incredible Hooks for Ad Copy

Working in e-commerce, you are probably asking yourself daily: “how to write ad copy that sells?”

We have a good news for you: your product already has something amazing and unique to offer. All you have to do is put this uniqueness in words and present it as a hook in your text message – Facebook ad, email, blog post, etc.

An interesting ad hook will help make your advertisement poster or blog post worth the readers’ attention. As you may already know, it takes the reader roughly 20 seconds to judge the value of the written piece. This is exactly why hooks are placed at the beginning, they are short and catchy, and sometimes even shocking.

Let’s take a look at 4 laws of writing catchy hooks.

1. Know who is your audience

As an advertisement maker, you already know the importance of identifying your target audience. It determines your tone of voice, the vocabulary throughout your posts, and the type of the hook you will use at the beginning. However, when thinking about target audience and their problems that could be solved with your product, remember about your most valuable target customers. These people create the most buzz around your offering and create the most referrals for your business.

Another important aspect pertaining to your target audience is the means of communication that should be used by the business to reach them. For example, if your most valuable customers use Facebook daily, then you should focus on ad copy Facebook and provide solutions to your audience’s annoyances through the hooks on your Facebook posts. Professional SEO-writing service may help you reach this target with even more professionalism. For example, if you sell guitar lessons, your hook could be “learning to play guitar like a real rock star”. We will further explore how this hook phrase can be improved even more.

2. Appeal to desire and benefit

When writing for your potential customers, you need to know the desire behind them buying your product or service. In such a way, you will be able to offer a certain benefit that boosts their self-esteem and resolves a certain issue in their minds.

We would like to cover a few advertisement examples that use such formula, in order to demonstrate its benefit:
Your customers want [their desire] to get some [benefit]
Let’s return to our guitar lessons example and build the appeal to desire into it:

Your customers want [to learn to play guitar like a rock star] to get [acknowledgement in their musical community by peers]

When you add the basic desire behind the benefit, you will be able to craft a targeted message that could become your hook. By appealing to the basic feelings and instincts, you underline the benefit behind your offering.

3. Determine your audience’s fears and problems

Your customer chooses your product because it is expected to resolve some issue that is deeply rooted in their personality. One example we already mentioned is learning to play guitar in order to be acknowledged in the musical community by peers. In other words, this skill will resolve your customer’s inner hesitancy and the lack of social support, as you are the one who can offer this skill.

There may be tons of other desires behind choosing your product. If you wonder how to make an advertisement that will appeal to the correct desire, you need to ask your customers what they want most. They may be chasing professional skills development. It may be family reunification or building of friendships through guitar playing skills that you help them develop.

4. Resolve the issues of your audience

As a business owner, you should be constantly asking these questions:

• What is the biggest problem your potential buyer is facing? 

Most likely, this has to do with the lacking skills and embarrassment as so many people today know how to play guitar and can use this skill to improve their relationships and simply become popular in their social circles. Among ad copy examples that resolve a certain issue, you may use something like “Become the most popular among your friends by learning to play guitar like a real rock star.”

• What is your audience afraid of? 

Fear is a very strong emotion. Even though it’s on the negative spectrum, it may still be successfully used in your hooks. For example, your hook may be phrased as “Don’t want to be a social pariah? Learn how to play guitar like a real rock star!” As a matter of fact, research shows that negative emotions have larger impact on the target audience. However, make sure not to overuse them.

• Why does your customer need to change? 

When the person decides to learn or buy something new, this wish is most likely driven by some inner desire for a change. For example, a person who wants to learn to play guitar may be looking to change a career or gain a new relationship. The relevant hooks in this case may be: “Impress that girl with your guitar skills like a rock star!” or “Changing your career? Learn to play guitar and gain new opportunities of a rock star!”

All in all, writing incredible hooks is not a hard undertaking as long as you know both negative and positive inner desires of your audience. In order to discover them, don’t be afraid to ask your web visitors directly – via polls, emails, or even Facebook posts. Staying in touch with your readers is the first step towards knowing how they feel and why.


Jenna Brandon – a blogger at Writology Writing Services and a digital marketing wizard – is also romantic at heart. She enjoys developing her professional skills, this is why she does not miss a single digital marketing webinar. She is a true liaison between the world of online content and her awed readers. Jenna never stops asking questions. In every new travel destination, she finds inspiration which gives more colors to her blog posts. If you have any question – from digital sphere to career development – you should ask her. She will go, find an answer, and offer you - as well as a ton of other readers - a solution. Even though an artsy mess at times, Jenna always keeps structure in her vocation and can offer advice that can make anybody more productive.