Using this technique for brand marketing slogans can increase the approval rate by 80%!

Text inserting is a rhetorical device that inserts insignificant elements into your text to prolong the important words or highlight their meaning.

1. What is text inlay?

1.1 Why use copywriting inlay?

I knew that half of my advertising dollars were wasted, but I didn't know which half. The famous advertising master John Wanamaker said this 100 years ago.

In order to avoid falling into the Goldbach conjecture in advertising and marketing, many advertisers try to find different marketing methods. Many behaviors that the other party hates, such as "make the logo bigger, make the phone number bigger", etc., are one of the ways to avoid wasting advertising costs.

When we talk about copywriting, one writing method that can be used is to write your product brand directly into the slogan or title. It is best to include the brand name every time the slogan appears.

Users may not have time to read your copy, so giving you a few seconds to look at your title is already a great favor to you. So, we want users to quickly remember a key point within these few seconds. This key point can be the biggest advantage of your product or your brand name.

At this time, the simplest way of copywriting is to embed the brand name or company name in the slogan, so that when users see the copy, they can remember your information to the greatest extent.

1.2 What is copywriting inlay?

Before we begin, let me ask you, what is inlay?

What we understand as inlay is to embed something or add a border around it; inlay means to fit a smaller object into the recess on a larger object. Inlay is to put one thing into another so that the two can blend together.

Inlay is common in various types of craftsmanship. For example, in the watch copy I wrote for a certain brand before, the inlay technique alone can be divided into groove inlay, nail inlay, tooth nail inlay and aperture inlay, etc., which is extremely complicated.

So, what is the inlay of copy?

This is a rhetorical device. A rhetorical device that inserts insignificant elements into your copy to prolong the important words or emphasize their meaning.

These insignificant elements include the use of words, such as empty words, numbers, specific words, synonyms, heteronyms, etc.; there are also the use of phrases, such as interlacing two two-syllable words AB and CD into the four-character form ACBD.

According to my understanding, the rhetoric of inlay can be divided into three types: inlay, embedding, and spelling. The following is an interpretation of each of them.

① Inlay

The purpose of inlaying words is to extend the syllables of the language itself or to emphasize the artistic conception of the text. The most common practice is to insert insignificant numbers or empty words between words to lengthen the length of the copy and highlight the subtext you want to express.

Case 1:

Now that things have come to this, let's just go all out.

In this sentence, it is acceptable for the copywriter not to include “If you do it, do it thoroughly.” However, adding this phrase actually highlights the character's personality.

Case 2:

Guo Sanmaizi was also frightened and also went to the town to recuperate on the pretext of illness.

In this sentence, most people would not speak like this. They would just say "Guo Sanmaizi is also scared." However, the copywriter here embeds "了" in the middle of the verb, which instead emphasizes the tense and tone of "Guo Sanmaizi"'s speech.

In the method of inlaying words, you can add numerical words, such as: (one, two...nine, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, billion, etc.), or meaningless words, such as "了" in the text, etc. You can also add synonyms to increase the sense of language.

For example, when writing "language", it would be written as "thousands of words"; when writing color, it would be written as "colorful". Adding numbers and meaningless words in the text is called inlaying words.

② Embedded characters

Embed a sentence, a group of words, a line of phrases, etc. in your copy in a scattered manner, either at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence. Because the text is arranged in a tortuous way, the new copy becomes clever and humorous, and is often more interesting to read.

Case study:

You can pick lotus in the south of the Yangtze River, and the lotus leaves are so lush. Fishes play among lotus leaves: fishes play on lotus leaves in the east, fishes play on lotus leaves in the west, fishes play on lotus leaves in the south, fishes play on lotus leaves in the north. (Han Dynasty Yuefu "Lotus can be picked in Jiangnan")

Go to the East Market to buy a fine horse, go to the West Market to buy a saddle, go to the South Market to buy a bridle, and go to the North Market to buy a long whip. (The Ballad of Mulan, a folk song from the Northern Dynasties)

In these examples, the copywriter is "talking nonsense". For example, in Example 1, it says "fish playing among lotus leaves". Fish in the water will of course swim to the east, south, west and north. The copywriter says this and deliberately repeats it, which highlights the large number of fish and the fun of picking lotus.

The method of embedding characters can embed relatively characteristic or fixed words into the text. This category of words includes fixed words such as east, west, south, north, front, back, left, and right, or specific names of people, places, products, and brands.

③ Spelling

Split two fixed words in the copy, or elements in a compound word, into two or more words and use them alternately. Because the copy breaks down fixed words to form new word meanings, the copy is more contagious to readers.

Case study:

Mrs. Zheng thought about it carefully and was reluctant to give up, so she said: I have a point. (Feng Menglong's "Warning Message")

In this sentence, the general way of writing is "Mrs. Zheng was very hesitant", but in order to highlight Mrs. Zheng's hesitation and reluctance, the two words "left and right" which indicate direction, and "think" which means thinking, are recombined to form "left think right measure", further highlighting the character's complex emotions.

2. Brand inlay and inlay

When we talk about copy embedding, it means inserting advertising information elements such as company names, brand names or words related to products into advertising slogans in different forms in order to strengthen the brand.

How can you embed your corporate brand and product brand directly into your advertising slogan? Here is a copywriting formula:

High conversion rate advertising slogan = [brand name] + [reason for purchase] + [verb introduction]

The brand name here is your brand name or product name; and the reason for purchase is what kind of benefits your product can bring to users after using it. It can be the result of solving user pain points, or it can be a description of a better life in the future.

This reason to buy must be clear, relevant to your brand and products, and helpful to the user. You need to speak clearly so that users can understand.

But how can we direct users' attention to the brand? Then you need to use verbs to call. Give users clear instructions, reduce their decision-making costs, and make it easy for them to choose your products in the red ocean of the market.

Advertising slogan example:

To prevent hair loss, use Bawang (Bawang shampoo)

Three trees, live immediately (Three trees paint)

If you are afraid of getting angry, drink Wanglaoji (Wanglaoji Herbal Tea)

Love cleanliness, stay at Hanting (Hanting Hotel)

Send elders golden wine (golden wine)

We analyze the first text example according to the formula of [brand name] + [reason for purchase] + [verb introduction]. [Brand name] is "Bawang" shampoo, [Product effect] is that it can prevent hair loss, and [Verb introduction] uses the word "use".

The same goes for the other text examples, which highlight the product’s usage effects and use verbs to guide users to focus on the product’s brand. Using the formula is that simple.

Case study:

With KFC, life tastes better (KFC)

Once Remy Martin is opened, good things will come naturally (Remy Martin XO)

Drinking Wahaha makes food taste delicious (Wahaha)

Take Gaitianli every day to add calcium and vitality (Gaitianli)

Everything is achievable, but love is priceless (Mastercard)

Drink the wine of Confucius Mansion Banquet and write articles for the world (Kongfu Banquet Wine)

Drink Huiyuan Juice, and Take the Road to Health (Huiyuan Juice)

Of course, you don’t have to apply the formula before and after. You can put the [introduction verb] as the first word, then attach the brand name, and finally highlight the product’s usage effect. For example, the above examples "Drink Wahaha and your meals will taste better" and "Drink Huiyuan juice and stay on the road to health" are of this form.

The above is the application of embedded words in brand inlay, which completely inserts your advertising information elements such as company name, brand name or product-related words into the slogan to give it new meaning.

Once you have this slogan, in order to avoid wasting your advertising budget, you must repeat it over and over again, for half a year or even decades, before you can embed this purchase reason and brand name into users’ actions.

A negative example is the slogan of Red Bull. The earliest slogan was “When you feel sleepy or tired, drink Red Bull”. It is a very simple and straightforward sentence. Whenever users need to refresh themselves, they will think of it.

Later, this sentence was changed to "Your energy is beyond your imagination". Starting from the spiritual attributes of human beings, and communicating with the group's inner needs, it ended up giving up the brand assets that had been accumulated for a long time, which is a pity.

Finally, Lehu came out and took over its position, with the slogan "Drink Lehu when you feel sleepy or tired, drinking Lehu will make you more refreshed." Red Bull's move can be said to have wasted previous advertising costs.

3. Brand inlay and inlay

Finally, let's talk about spelling. That is to separate the brand and company name of the product, insert them into your copy separately, and combine them with other copy descriptions to form a new interpretation of the brand. This is also called a split tessellation.

Let’s talk about the simplest way first, which is also the most commonly used way. Make your brand name two words. If there are no two-word phrases, you can use two commonly accepted brand words, then split them and put them in the context of the copy.

Case study:

Work with sincerity and act with perseverance (ICBC)

The first sentence in the example is a very typical mosaic of spelling. Take the two words "ICBC" from the brand name of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and put them in the first sentence of the copy.

In the past, I have used this trick when talking about the brand slogans of some traditional companies, and the results have been very good. They don’t dare to say that you write badly. If they deny your copy, they are denying their brand. Generally speaking, the rejection rate is very high.

Case study:

Good builders go their own way, good builders build banks (CCB)

Easy to surf the Internet, as easy as pie (NetEase)

Because of the changes, it is beautiful (Belle)

In addition, it does not have to be placed at the beginning of the sentence, it can also be placed in the second word of the slogan, such as CCB’s “Those who are good at building banks, those who are good at building banks”. Or it can be in the middle of the slogan, such as NetEase’s “Surf the Internet with ease”, or at the end of the slogan, such as Belle’s “Beautiful because of its versatility”... There are no strict rules for putting the brand name there, and it can only be arranged based on the key content you want to express.

The second way is, if your brand name is composed of multiple characters, such as four-character words or five-character words, it is difficult to put the brand name completely in the copy. In this case, you can take one character from the brand name as a keyword to highlight the brand value, and then expand it to form an advertising slogan.

Case study:

Breakthrough in technology, inspiring the future (Audi)

Pay attention to cars and care about others (General Motors)

Your health is of paramount importance (Tianda Pharmaceuticals)

In the above examples, the brand name is split and only one of the characters is taken, such as the "迪" in Audi and the "用" in General Motors; you can also use two-character words, such as the "天大" in Tianda Pharmaceutical.

You must choose how to split the brand name based on the content of the copy. You should try it a few more times and write more sentences to see which sentence, after being split up and combined with the new content, makes you more excited, and then choose that sentence.

There is also the term "inlay" in couplets, and there are strict requirements on the position of inlay. There are neat inlays and scattered inlays, and among the scattered inlays there are vertical inlays, horizontal inlays, recursive inlays, hidden inlays and so on.

Vertical embedding is divided into head embedding (the first word of the upper and lower sentences), tail embedding (the last word of the upper and lower sentences), belly embedding, inserted embedding, etc. I will not go into details one by one. Students who are interested can search for further information.

Source: Golden Sentence Copywriting (ID: fengshaoye30)