Most advertising follows a very important rule.
Break the rule, and you get a lower response.
Follow the rule, and it will boost your response and profits.
It’s a secret to marketing success, but largely ignored.
The rule?
Make sure your headlines and copy have the strongest benefit right up front.
Start your copy off with a bang… in everything you write, including emails, ads, videos, landing pages, and direct mail packages.
Otherwise, they’ll lose interest.
And you’ll lose a lead or sale.
The best way to “start off with a bang” is to put benefits right up front – even in the headline.
Here are some headlines we’ve created for different campaigns:
• “God Designed Your Body to Respond to This Amazing, Natural Painkiller”
This headline went with a doctor and a patient. The copy emphasized the unique and amazing way this natural painkiller would be unlike anything else on the supplement market.
• Discover The #1 Recession Strategy for Investment Opportunities in 2023
Prospects immediately learn what they will get out of this special report – critical knowledge about their money.
• Get ready for an astonishing theatrical experience… C.S. Lewis is Coming to Los Angeles
The prospects will be intrigued by an experience that promises to “astonish” them…and claims that C.S. Lewis (a well-loved, but deceased person) is coming to LA.
• At 98: Courage and Persistence [Must-See Note from Reader]
The prospects, which were seniors, found powerful intrigue to draw them into the copy.
• The Incredible Shrinking Dollar – How You Can Survive the Incredible Inflation Nightmare Ahead
Something that has hit everyone is the rising prices. This headline promises how they can survive the daily increases that they are seeing.
• 2008-Style Bank Meltdown Unstoppable: An Economic Time Bomb is now threatening to explode in the United States. But one simple step could protect – and grow – your family’s wealth
Prospects were startled by a powerful and frightening prediction and a solution to draw them into the copy.
Notice how this headline is urgent and attention-catching – predicting a coming “financial meltdown.” Then it tells prospects that by taking just one simple step, they can protect, and even make, more money.
These headlines are direct and attention-catching…telling prospects what they need to know and why they should keep reading.
Leave “clever” to the image guy…because you actually want to sell something!
After all, your marketing materials aren’t aimed at everybody who sees them – but specifically to your prospects – the ones who want your product.
Use your headline to grab your prospects’ attention immediately, so they will quickly understand that the message is meant for them.
Insurance direct marketers have successfully followed this advice for decades with headlines like: Big Insurance Savings for Nonsmokers and The First Hospital Income Plan Specifically Designed for Mature Adults.
Your headline must contain a benefit and be simple, clear and direct.
Readers travel fast through the jungle of competitive messages. They don’t stop to decipher the meanings of obscure headlines.
You have to grab your prospects’ attention quickly, because if you don’t, they have thousands of other pages to click to. And they will.
Just remember, if your headline promises your reader something that interests him, he’ll read your marketing message… every time.
If you’d like to discuss how to create a powerful, benefit-oriented headline, give us a
Call at 615-814-6633 or email Craig at [email protected]
