Successful Marketing from the Top: Headlines That Turn Heads
All marketers want to find that perfect headline time after time. It’s not just for the sake of looking clever- a poor headline will often destroy a presentation, just as a sweaty handshake at a job interview hints at your inability to rise to the occasion under stress. After all, that whole “looking absurdly clever all the time” part never hurt anyone in the business world.
In this article I discuss five questions you must ask yourself that will go a long way in helping you write stronger headline copy than ever before.
The questions you must ask yourself are:
Does your headline drive the prospect to want to buy now - or later?
The most important thing you must achieve in your headline copy - is give the prospect every possible reason to desire your product now, and not later. You could say things like - ‘while stocks last’ or ‘offer ends today’ etc., in your headline copy.
Read lots of direct-mail campaigns that come through your door, and especially those that drove you to buy straight away - study their headline copy. You’ll learn a huge amount.
Is the product or service valuable to them?
Assuming that you already know, hand on heart that your product or service is something the public wants, then expressing this in your headline copy should be a piece of cake.
But do check to make sure that you’ve described the product or service in such a way that it sounds so useful, and so interesting that the prospect will want to keep on reading to find out more about it.
Does this product stand out from the rest?
This is where your headline should outline the uniqueness of the product or service.
It’s always important to discover as many unique selling points this product or service has, during research time (if it’s not your product). Then if you’ve done a good job of explaining it’s uniqueness in your headline, the reader will have no choice but to continue reading to find out more about it.
Headlines need to cut to the quick
Being ambiguous is not an option.
It’s vital to be clear, concise and specific throughout your copy but especially in your headline. This is where the prospect gets their first glance at what it is you’re offering. So it’s vital to tell her, very quickly what she should expect, should she decide to read through the letter.
The masters of headline copy are magazine writers. You only have to visit any newspaper stand or shop to see the row upon row of magazines and newspapers on offer.
Copywriters know their audience very well, and write very compelling copy, in as few a words as possible to ensure their headline are punchy, and compelling.
Just looking at the magazines you browse everyday critically should give you an idea of how you can best tailor your writing to a specific gender, age range, or special interest group.
Is my headline doing it’s job?
Simply use the above as a checklist. Headlines that meet those criteria will choose readers, repelling those who would never be interested to begin with.
It’s interesting to note; prospects read headers five times as much as they read the whole copy, which means for every dollar the advertiser spends, 80 cents of his advertising dollar is spent on the header.
According to world famous copywriter David Ogilvy, the headline is the most important part of an advertisement.
It all adds up to one conclusion: if you want to make waves, make a knockout headline, and even if you let the rest of the copy slide a little, you’ll be fine.
That’s just how important the headline is.
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Tags: Copywriting