| The
easiest way to write a bad headline
By
Matt Weston of Business Bricks
The
last few weeks, I've been fielding a whole
lot of questions on writing headlines.
The
questions started when I launched our reader
classifieds and they reached crescendo when
I announced the gratis
Google AdWords Vouchers
Mostly
my replies can be surmised in just two
lines:
 Curiosity
killed the cat.
It also killed a lot of ads.
The
majority of advertisers have a tendency to
write headlines that rely on curiosity, and
curiosity alone.
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Invariably
at this point I turn to John
Caples. Way back, JC wrote the
encyclopaedic "Tested
Advertising Methods".
And he dedicated four of the book's eighteen chapters to writing headlines
that sell.
Try
this for size:
"Suppose
you are looking through a newspaper. You see a headline
that arouses your curiosity. You will read the body
copy if you have time. But suppose you see a headline
that offers you something you want. You will make time
to read the copy . . ."
" .
. . As every advertising-pro knows, there are scores
of people who read only headlines for every person
who reads both headlines and body copy. " |
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Headlines
that rely purely on curiosity - like "Put
Up, Or Shut Up", "Moments
Don't Wait" or "Our
Morning Shift" attract only
curious rubberneckers.
Much
better are headlines that use benefits and advantages
to appeal to the reader's self-interest. Self-interest
headlines - like
"
Corn Gone In
5 Days Or Money-Back",
" Get
The Router That Pays For Itself" or
"At
60 miles an hour the loudest noise in
this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock"
- attract
self-interested people who are much more likely to buy.
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More
from Caples:
"Perhaps
the writers of [badly headlined] ads would say, "But
you should read the entire ad. Then you would see how
beautifully the headline ties up with the copy."
"This
is laughable. What reader cares how well the headline
ties up with the copy? Do people read advertisements
backwards? No. They read the headline first. Only then,
if they are interested, do they read the copy." |
Again, he hits the nail square on the head.
Scores
of people read only headlines. If you fail to convey self-interest
in your headline - a tangible benefit - then your ideal customer
won't even get to the body copy, let alone be convinced to
buy.
By
Matt Weston of Business Bricks
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