I have been
playing catch up the past 10 days; the hip surgery put me on the disabled list
for 10 days and I couldn't get the docs to let me travel, but eventually I just had to get out to the real world and touch and feel what was going on in the trenches.
I was happy to
see that many of the programs we planned in June were being adhered to as
were the schedules.
Unfortunately, the execution on the communication was
mediocre at best. Headlines were filled with the names of the center or the
name of the program or even just the words, “New Men’s League Starting On September
5th at 630pm.”
Really? That's about as exciting as watching water boil.
So I decided to devote just a short blog on
how to write a headline which is the most important element of your
communication. As I have said in the past, “You may have the greatest program
in the world, but if you cannot get people to read, listen or watch what you
have to sell; its game over!!
Your
headline is the first -- and perhaps only -- impression you make on a
prospective reader.
On average, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline
copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. The better your headline, the
better your odds of beating the averages and getting what you’ve written read
by a larger percentage of people.
Tip #1:
Make sure there is a clear and discernible benefit in your headline.
Here’s an example, “How to Learn to Bowl
Better in Just 20 Minutes a Week.” If your audience is league bowlers, the
headline gets very specific about a benefit that the customer will get by
reading the body copy.
Or “The Secret To
Improving Your Bowling Average Revealed.” Here’s one that may even be
better; “How I Learned the Secret of
Improving My Average by 20 Pins in Just 20 Minutes a Week.” It’s a little longer than I would like, but it
will work well with a picture of the person and then I would write the copy in
the voice of the 1st person
Tip # 2: Stop being cute. Save that for your kids or grand kids. You might think that the previous headline sounds
too “salesy”. Well it is. It is the same formula that Fortune 500 copy writers,
world class bloggers and digital marketers use simply because it works. It’s all about the benefits and the more of
them you can show in your body copy.
Tip # 3: Even though my examples above are more than 6 or 7 words, (there
is one that is 7 words) ideally, I try to keep my headlines to no more than
seven (7) words.
There is a
whole art and science to copy writing and there is a reason that the very
successful people who write long copy ads for publications like The National
Enquirer both print and digital get paid enormous 5 figure fees…simply because
their story works.
And yours
should too.
