Copy Tip 24: Headline Wrap
Today I want to wrap up everything we’ve covered on headlines.
There’s a lot!
As I mentioned early, it’s worth getting into headlines in depth because they often account for 70 to 80 percent of your readership.
If you get this wrong, and only get 20 percent of your prospects, you’ll have to work 5-times as hard as you could with an effective headline.
Ouch!
Conversely, get this right and you’ll get 5-times the result of a poor headline!
Now that’s something worth achieving!
So here’s what you now know…
Copy Tip 10
- Relating to current news is a great way to capture attention. I gave you a list of 50 top news headlines of 2008 — published here in Melbourne, but a great list to study themes that grab attention.
- Magazine covers contain some stellar headline examples for your swipe files
- Using accurate specific numbers (eg “5415″ instead of “nearly 6,000″) makes your headline more believable
- You now have two ways to get magazine headlines for FREE
Copy Tip 13
- Headlines can work in ANY size campaign, whether with a low or high budget. I gave you some examples of fantastic results for three campaigns spending (1) less than $400; (2) $109.90 and (3) less than $100
- The inside secret about headlines: the headline is the “ad for the ad” — its only purpose is to persuade your prospect to keep on reading (or watching/listening) … and nothing else.
Copy Tip 14
- The absolute critical role your headline plays: it must get the attention of qualified prospects
Copy Tip 15
- The power of leverage: how to instantly create your own headline swipe file resources for free
Copy Tip 16
- A free, must-have marketing resource (for headlines and lots lots more)
Copy Tip 17
- The power of personalisation: including an example that resulted in a 95 percent same-day response (and what to avoid when using this technique)
Copy Tip 18
- How to use your headline to qualify your prospects: who it attracts, and who it turns away (and why that’s a good thing)
Copy Tip 19
- An example of copy that didn’t use a headline (and the surprising results it created)
Copy Tip 21
- A free resource on headline formulas (previously only published exclusively for paid members) … plus another free way to get live examples of what’s working from one of the world’s top marketers (you can also apply this strategy to other top offline and online marketers)
Copy Tip 22
- How to use your free resources for your maximum benefit. Includes a specific example of how to borrow and adapt a headline. Also reveals how value is much more important than price.
That covers a LOT of ground about headlines!
Some of this information took me YEARS to learn from my mentors and from working on hundreds of client and my own projects … here you have a fast-track to the winner’s circle.
To wrap up headlines, I want to reinforce a couple of major points …
“Big Benefit” Promises
If you include a big benefit or claim in your headline about what your product or service can do for your prospect, you’ll want to address their likely response: “yeah sure”. Another very successful marketer, Gary Bencivenga, expands on this superbly in his Bencivenga Bullet:
The Two Most Powerful Words in
Advertising.
(No, they’re not FREE and NEW.)
The Bencivenga Bullets are yet ANOTHER must-have resource. I share these resources with you to save you the time and effort digging through the internet to find the expert brilliant content for yourself!
As Gary alludes to in his Bullet, your qualified prospects nowadays are a lot more attuned to hearing big claims in advertising (and being quite sceptical about those claims). They have their “BS-detectors” turns on and — rightfully — question everything you promise or say.
That means you have to work hard to back up what you claim: prove it! Proof can come from many elements: there are lots of ways to boost your believability and credibility. You’ll need to use them to get effective results.
Gary also reveals a very effective formula that smacks “yeah sure” for a home run … using the “If/Then” formula. It’s worth reading this Bullet!
Actually — along with “yeah sure” — you’ve also got to address other similar “resistance” going through the mind of your prospect … “so what?” “big deal!” “who cares?” … your copy needs to address and answer these concerns quickly so they’ll keep on reading.
The big lesson, as Gary concludes, is this: never make your claim bigger than your proof.
Emotional Headlines
Using an emotional-based headline captures attention because it goes much further to “resonate” with your prospects on “what’s in it for them”.
You turn a feature into a benefit into the feelings they’ll get from that benefit.
Or you could focus on a fear your prospect has (and the promise of your product or service to bridge that fear).
Rather than me outline all of this again … I’d be only repeating the content available to you — for FREE — that I mentioned in Copy Tip 21. That gives you 8 ways to use your headline to engage your prospect and dozens of great headline ideas.
Remember, you don’t need to “reinvent the wheel” — find what works (I’ve done this for you) and adapt it for yourself!
Later in this Copy Tip series I’ll cover some very important formatting issues — but for now, that covers the topic of headlines!
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