I wrote about selling your ad.
One of the great copy writers of modern times, takes the thought one step further.
According to Joseph Sugarman, ALL the elements of an ad – layout, headling, sub-head, pictures, etc. – have one purpose and one purpose only:

To get the first sentence read.

Purpose of the first sentence? To get the second sentence read.
The point he is making is that you have to work the reader (or viewer or visitor) into your ad. They don’t just see it and start reading. It’s a series of small steps with the desirable end result of getting your entire message read – and sales occurring.
There is a VERY crucial point about how you do this. See tomorrow’s post on “Being Agreeable.”