Image 7 Group

22 tips for headlines that earn their keep - Part 2

• Don't write your headline in capital letters. Setting your headline in sentence case or title case INSTEAD OF SETTING IT IN UPPERCASE LIKE THIS will increase your readership. Here's why: we learn to read in lowercase letters like this sentence. Yes, the headline will be set in larger typeface, but still set it in lowercase.
• Make your headline easy to understand. John Caples, an expert in headline writing and the father of direct response advertising, said, "People are thinking of other things when they see your ad." Don't make them think. Make them act.
• Make it believable. I'll read "How to reduce your vehicle fleet costs by 10 percent". I won't read "NEVER PAY FOR A FLEET VEHICLE AGAIN". One is believable. One isn't.
• Tailor it to your audience. You should use a different headline based on whether your target audience is a young mother or a sixty-year-old grandmother. If you need to, put a photo of a client or customer (or someone who fits the demographic) next to your monitor as you write. Ask yourself "What would this person think about this?".
• Tell a story. People like to read stories, and your headline will keep them reading into the body copy if the story is interesting. A headline that reads "I hand planted the native Desert Limes eight years ago - this is the first harvest" will encourage readers who are interested in native or indigenous foods to read on.
• Solve a problem. When your product or service solves your client's problem, address it directly in your headline. "Get twice the life from your tractor tyres for the same investment."
• Fulfil a dream. John Caples wrote this classic. "They laughed when I sat down at the piano". It sold courses on learning to play the piano through mail instruction. It worked.
• Offer excellent value. There are a few headlines that work just about every time. One of the common elements is that they often talk to the value proposition in your communication. One of our favourites - and it will work for your product or service by simply substituting the prices and the items - is "Would you buy a $1,500 computer on sale for $990?" It tells the original (or real) price or value, the selling price and makes you want to read more to find out why. This headline can be adapted to almost any business.
• Don't forget to use a headline. If you think that everyone uses a headline all the time, think again. Start looking at the newspaper, listening to radio and TV commercials, looking at brochures sent to you by suppliers ... and then revisit your own communications. Remember that your business name is not a headline. Headlines must have meaning and offer a reason to read on.
• Include 'You'. Personalise your headline for the reader. Concentrate your efforts to get "you" or "your" into your headline. With today's technology, it's even possible to have full colour brochures with the client's name or company printed into the headline. That becomes compelling reading to the only person that counts ... your target.
• Test it. Try different headlines for the same product or service. At Image 7 Group we've seen changes in headlines generate 12 times as much business. It's so important that David Ogilvy instructed his copywriters to spend 80 percent of their time on the headline.

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