Powerful emphasis in ad copy writing

The use of emphasis (hyperbole) is an important component of ad copy writing, and one every aspiring author has to understand. To see what I mean, take a look at the difference between these 2 sentences...

That's the power of a 5 litre V8
That's the raw throbbing power of massive five litre V8 at work

The first sentence states the facts and moves on. It lacks emotion, and fails to convey anything the writer experienced.

The second sentence uses the words 'raw' and 'throbbing' to emphasise the power, and convey something of the almost sexual nature of the experience. The word 'massive' has been used to make it absolutely clear that five is a lot of litres (i.e. s/he isn't assuming his/her readers know this).

The phrase 'at work' is added to the end of the sentence. In this case, it serves to lend credibility given the hyperbole that precedes it. There's no doubt the car being described is one serious machine.

It's also worth noting that the number '5' was changed to the word 'five'. This was done to inflate the perceived quantity being described, and make it clear the car has a big engine. Find out more about using numbers powerfully in your ad copy writing.

Words that add emphasis can also be used to remove it. Imagine that you sell 'Product A', and a competitor sells 'Product B'. Take a look at these 2 ads...

Product A contains 500mg of widget juice. Product B contains 100mg
Product A contains a whopping five times more widget juice than Product B

The first sentence tells you the facts, but fails to convey any emotional excitement. The second sentence doesn't even bother to tell you the relative quantities. If you're interested in 'widget juice', you now know you'll get 5 times more of it from product A.

The author further emphasises this fact by preceding it with the word 'whopping'. The author could have used the more sedate 'more than' if the target market called for formal language. The key fact is further emphasised by underlining it.

Writing lead generation copy is hard enough, so you definitely want to pull out every weapon at your disposal in the ongoing challenge to overcome human inertia. Words that add emphasis are probably the most useful tools in the copy writer's toolbox.