For those unfamiliar with the term, ad copy simply means the written part of your advertisement. This is also an important piece of the presentation, though for me not as much so as the pictures and video. Buying a horse is far more visual in the ad, and kinesthetic in person. Couple that with the fact that nearly every single ad you’ll ever read sounds exactly the same… FEI Potential! Uphill mover! Olympic Gold Medal Prospect! Great hind leg! Etc. Etc. Etc. Then you look at the pictures and the horse looks like it hasn’t had a bath since it’s mom first licked it clean when it was born, and the video shows a horse that’s lame in all 4 legs and is so hindquarters-high that you’ll get a nosebleed if you were to stand up on it’s rump like it seems so popular to do these days.

But still, some effort should be put in writing the copy. There is nothing that buyers hate more than a misrepresented horse, so don’t say your horse has FEI potential if it fits the above description. That’s not to say you should make your copy a laundry list of the problems it has. Again, we’re trying to leave the buyer wanting more information so they call you. But barn blindness is a real thing, and the best thing you can do for your reputation as a seller, and to keep people coming back to buy more, is to honestly and objectively represent your horses.

Psychology plays a big part here though, so do try to word your ad to play more on emotion than logic. There’s a common saying in marketing that when someone comes in to buy a drill, that’s not actually what they want. What they want is a hole in something. You don’t sell them the drill by listing all it’s technical features. You sell them the drill by showing them how easy and wonderful of a hole they’ll get with it. Sell the hole, not the drill.

If your horse is being marketed as a pleasure horse that is easy to ride, never spooks, is low maintenance, etc, then paint a picture of how the buyer can enjoy peaceful trail rides where they can just let their worries disappear for a while. Or perhaps it could also be marketed as a “husband horse” so you can spend more quality time doing things together. If it’s truly a top quality competition horse, paint the picture of the rider progressing through the levels with the horse and going to championships.

Be creative, but also be honest in your ad copy. Again, it’s the sellers that misrepresent their horses that give a bad name to all sellers. But for the seller that can create an honest picture of how their horse will help the buyer achieve what they want, there’s a deal ready to be made with that buyer who is desperately searching for your ad after 6 months of frustration looking at bad ads and misrepresented horses.