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.
Below are some ideas that will help you craft the perfect headline for every direct marketing situation.
The points to pay close attention to are:
Does your headline drive the prospect to want to buy now - or later?
Starting off with a yawn could make it seem as though even an extremely enticing product has no sense of urgency attached.
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.
This means that you have to point out the useful aspects of your product immediately. Flash can get attention, but substance will keep it.
Headlines need to stand out
If a headline looks the same as everyone else's, then the product will seem so, too.
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.
While your writing should never wander away from your points for a moment, your headline needs to be unambiguous enough that there's no possible misunderstanding. Straying from your strongest appeals simply isn't an option in such a short, yet important "pitch."
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.
When you next buy a magazine, ask yourself why did you pick that particular magazine instead of the other. Was it anything to do with the copy perhaps?
Is my headline doing it's job?
When you put these four key techniques into place, your headline will be pulling double duty. It will first grab the prospect's attention then secondly select her. Because it would've said something meaningful to her but on the flip side, had the opposite effect on someone else.
For every five headlines an executive reads, they're only going to read one full proposal. This means that your headline is worth five times as much money to you as the rest of the copy involved.
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.
About the Author: Ready for the babyboom crisis? Then get Celine Horan's FREE report now! Celine Horan is a niche marketing specialist, gunslinger and industry expert who offers high level marketing ideas coupled with profit boosting, agency level copywriting services to the career development, recruitment, LMS and e-learning industry.
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