3 Secrets to the Perfect Headline That Will Have Your Prospects Hungry for More
The key to attracting a potential customer’s attention in any form of marketing is your headline. Your headline is the first thing that a prospect sees in your marketing campaign, and it will either make or break the effectiveness the rest of your ad copy. Here are three key steps that your headline must accomplish if it is to draw the reader further into your offering:
1.) Get Your Prospects Attention.
Your first job as a marketer is to grab your prospects attention and get them to focus on your message. The two factors that influence whether a headline will have the attention grabbing effects that you desire is the content and design of your headline. The content is the actual words used in your headline, and the design is how it is visually presented. The text you use in your line should cut right to the heart of how your product or service can benefit the reader. This should be a benefit specifically targeted to your desired audience. Get into the mind of your prospect. Whatever it is that they need or want the most should be addressed in your headline if you want the reader’s attention. Visually, the design of your headline should cause it to leap off the page to the viewer. Find a way to make your headline stand out amongst other ads that it shares space with, by using a different typeface, color or other attention grabbing visual design elements.
2.) Identify Your Target Audience
You should know whom your specific target audience is that you are trying to reach through your marketing, and target your headline to get their specific attention.
Wording your headline to appeal to your target audience heightens their interest and draws them into your ad copy like a magnet. This technique of narrowing your message to appeal to a target audience is known as flagging. In a sense, you are holding up flag that says to your target audience, “This message is for you!” This alerts the prospect to give your ad priority attention because you are specifically addressing them. A message that specifically addressees your target audience speaks to them on a more personal level and your ad copy has a higher perceived value because of this.
3.) Make A Clear, Benefit-Filled Statement
When your targeted visitor reads your headline the one thing that they need to see to continue onward is benefits. Your headline needs to clearly address how your product or service can benefit your reader. A benefit is different from a feature. A feature describes the contents and characteristics of a product or service. A benefit clearly answers the question in the back of every prospects head: “What’s in it for me?” A benefit is the solution or result a customer can get from using your product or service. A benefit should satiate a hunger or relieve a pain, and is the number one reason why a prospect will continue to read your marketing piece. Your headline should inspire the reader with hope that the advertised benefit can be theirs. This hope of a realized dream, or the cessation of a pain compels the find out more about your solution. Clearly state the benefit of your product or service in your headline and your potential customer will be receptive to hearing more about what you have to offer.
In summary, a powerful headline that covers the above three points will serve you well by setting up the rest of your ad copy and marketing message for success. A headline sets the marketing “dinner table” and inspires your guests to gather around it, ready to partake of the rest of the message about your product and service.
Darby Miller is the owner of http://www.Home-Based-Dad.com/1-Step-System-Blog.html, a
blog about the Ultimate Marketer’s Toolbox, an all-in-one multimedia marketing
resource created by the 1 Step System. Darby writes about the Ultimate
Marketer’s Toolbox at the 1 Step System
Blog
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Hit Them With Benefits
More about advertising from BIG Mike McDaniel
It makes no difference what media you use to
advertise, the rules are the same. Benefits,
benefits, benefits.
Advertise benefits and your advertising will be a
success. Take a poll, they don’t care about car
dealers, banks or tire stores. All they care about
is “What’s in it for me?”.
The fact that your dealership has been number one
in the mid-region for 3 straight years is not
advertising - it is bragging!
Explain what you have done for others. Tell what
you can do for them. Remember the rule - it is
always about them - not about you! Look at the
advertising around you. Egads! Most of it is
about the advertiser. Especially that 20 foot
mug shot of the car dealer on the billboard.
Think benefits and you have a leg up on
advertising that works, rather than advertising
that gets the neighbors to say “Hey, I saw you on
the billboard”, or “..saw your picture in the
paper again.” Trust me, strangers won’t mention
your picture. And that giant billboard pic won’t
bring a sole through the door or get them to buy
your product.
The reason you see so much bad advertising is that
“ego” sells and the newspapers and billboard
people know it. You even hear people who can’t
read stumbling through their own radio
commercials. Three friends mention it and they
think the advertising was a success and sign up
for more.
You don’t need a picture of your building, you
need a description of what is inside and what it
can do for me. Don’t tell me you have the largest
selection, or latest styles and colors. Tell me if
you don’t have it in stock you can get it
overnight. Don’t tell me you have 20 years’
experience. Tell me you’ll show up on time, smell
good and fix my toilet, or I don’t pay.
For more about advertising, get my article
“What The Newspaper Ad Person Won’t Tell You”
Send blank email to my article-robot.
Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com
Let the other guys flush their ad money with giant
pictures of the staff, or TV commercials with the
grand kids shouting a slogan. You concentrate on
WIIFM, What’s In It For Me, and your advertising
will work harder for you.
©2005 BIG Mike McDaniel All Rights Reserved
Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com
BIG Mike is a Professional Speaker and Small
Business Consultant with over 30 years experience,
http://BIGIdeasGroup.com
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