Would people buy the same product if it weren’t for the advertisement?
Yes, but it wouldn’t have been most of our first choice then. That is how influencing copywriting can be. Copywriting is the ability to craft words to persuade, engage and influence a specific target group to take action. We see different forms of copyrighting as advertisements or any marketing messages on online media platforms, in print (newspapers), on billboards, on public transport, on radio/tv, etc.
Examples
Some of the very familiar examples of good copywriting are the taglines used by companies in their advertisements, like “KFC, finger-lickin’ good”, “McDonald’s, I’m lovin’ it”, etc. Given that companies use copywriting to market their sales, how exactly does copywriting influence our choices? Copywriting is a smart act of being persuasive to sell any product/service. These writing pieces are properly strategized to ensure attention from the target audience and set up a trend. The conventionally fancy catchphrases that sometimes sound like fairy tales are used as hashtags and taglines. Why would someone not go to a restaurant which advertises itself with a “Game of Thrones” reference? Every post relevant to the product is attractively presented with condensed information that is easy and fun to consume. People are fascinated by what they see or read online and end up using those products and joining the fancy trend on social media.
Such a trend urges people to buy products from the same brand simply because everyone is buying from there. These trends are successful because they connect with people’s subconscious affinity toward unique and catchy content. The copywriters make sure that their work triggers certain emotions in people relevant to the product. They use storytelling, humor, and emotional resonance to build their brand value. Trivago uses a tagline, “Hotel? Trivago!” The simplicity of this short phrase is what makes this a smart approach to copywriting and ultimately one of the prominent things that make people inclined towards choosing Trivago. Couldn’t crack the smartness of the tagline here? They just made “Trivago” a companion word for “Hotel” for their audience. Even though these might be pieces of writing, they have proved to influence people’s choices significantly. For instance, if you’re in need of a facial product and at the same time you see an Instagram post that says-” Garnier men; Grooming expert for men”, it is more likely that you’ll click on the ad to find out more.
These types of advertisements are done through active engagement with the target audience by feeding them what they might want to buy. However, it is less likely that we are manipulated into buying something that we never needed. We wouldn’t just buy a yacht regardless of how attractive an advertisement is about that, but if we did want to, it would make us aware and help incline us toward a certain brand. So, one can conclude that the level of manipulation does entirely depend on the nature of that particular piece of advertisement.
Some directly tell you that they are the best in the field and you should buy their product/services, whereas others may give you constant reminders of their k9existence. They point you towards what you want to want. In a way, it is a necessary manipulation because they don’t mostly state blatant lies; they glorify what they have.