The haiku of the advertising world
A haiku is a Japanese poetic form; it’s a poem consisting of three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. For example:
moonlit pines
dimming
the flashlight
In haikus, less is definitely more. Ambiguity, and space, lets the reader construe and imagine the context.
The haiku of the advertising world is, of course, the Adword. For many conventional marketeers this presents a massive problem. You’ve got 3 lines, 25 characters, 35 characters and 35 characters. So in 95 characters (which includes spaces!), you’ve got to carry all your usual brand values, and message??
Well actually no, the most effective ads will make no effort to communicate brand values. Here’s a few guidelines:
1. Forget your brand.
2. Use the language of the buyer (if they’re searching for ‘lobster thermidore’, make sure ‘lobster thermidore’ is in the Ad title.
3. Include price if possible.
4. Exclude time wasters
5. Forget your brand. Really. I’m convinced brand building on Google is futile.
On this last point, have you noticed that when people buy from the high street they’ll tell you the name of the store. But when they buy from the net, they rarely name the store.
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Usability guidelines for writing good microcontent (such as: titles, headings, subject lines etc.).