…when you don’t know what to write.

Ads are expensive. Full page color ads, especially so. So are landing pages, when you count the cost of the traffic.

So, here’s one, an insert in my New York Times from Alyse Myers, SVP of the NY Times.

Dear New York Times Subscriber,

You’ve probably heard about our great new rewards program called TimesPoints. This free program gives you exciting new opportunities to …

and on and on for five paragraphs.

Or, this one from Wilson Audio, which sells $50,000 stereo speakers. From the top:

of tweeters and truth

There isn’t a marketer alive, who, when asked what they most desire, won’t tell you: a simple message.

I’m not making this up. I would reprint the entire ad but you would have to flee in pain. Here’s the last line:

To say that our new speaker is worthy of your attention because it boasts this or that tweeter would be, at the very least, a half truth. And that’s the whole truth.

Oh.

If you don’t know what to say, don’t say anything.

If you don’t have an ad worth reading and acting upon, don’t run it.