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So, where did we leave off after answering Steve’s Question on Tuesday… Ah yes, HEADLINES! The most read part of any ad, thus the most important.
Your headline needs to answer:
- Who care?
- So what?
- What’s in it for me (WIIFM)?
- Why are you bothering me?
No small task by any means. Keeping those four bullets in mind, how long should your headline be? I’ve heard many answers, and some even put a number on it, like no more than 12 words.
Here’s my answer. If you can answer all four of those questions above in 12 words or less,then do it! If you can’t, and it needs to be longer, then do that, too ! So my headlines are as long as they need to be to get the job done. I’ve written headlines as short as 5 words, for example:
FREE Lunch on December 29th
And I’ve written headlines as long as 48 words when using our x-ray letter to sell computer systems to retailers:
“Why The Heck Is Travis Lee Sending You An X-Ray To Tell You How Happy Alice Balbi, the Manager of Mementos Gift Shop at the Clark Fork Hospital in Plains, MT is After Her Team Started Using The SmartRegister Point-of-Sale Computer System from American Retail Supply?
So where do you get these good headlines, as my mentor and friend Bill Glazer says, you ethically S & D (swipe and deploy) them of course! And one of the best ways to S & D headlines is to use proven fill-in-the-blank style headlines.
Here are a few:
How Often do You Hear Yourself saying: _________________________________
If you___________, then you’ll love our _______________________.
Who Else Wants _________________________ (I’ve probably seen this one S & D’ed more than any other)
______________ That other Retailers Don’t Want You to Know.
We could spend months on headlines alone and still not even scratch the surface, but I think you’re getting the idea. Next week we’ll hit on guarantees. Have a great week!
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