3 ways to write headlines without the headache

I don’t think copywriters will ever tire of talking about the headline. That cheeky little crown on your sales letter is so important that it’s worth putting some effort into writing one that catches your audience’s attention and makes them want to read more.

But as important as it is, you don’t have to hire a professional copywriter, or pull your hair out to come up with one.

So today I’m giving you 3 important types of sales copy headlines and showing you how easy it is to come up with your own.

Let’s dive in…

Benefit driven headlines

The idea of a benefit driven headline is that you are letting your target market that now, they are able to do / have X, Y, Z because of your product.

Remember back when we were looking at why your customer would love your product? If you’re writing a benefit driven headline, you’ll want to pick something from that list.

Now, the benefit driven headline works really well if you:

1. Identify your target market
2. Identify their pain
3. Promise them a solution

For example:

• “How small business owners can find more time for their family with this simple technique”
• “Never worry about losing your dentures at dinner again”
• “Shy? Find your confidence to make money from speaking in 2 weeks”
• “How to get a professional website for freelancing for less than £200”

Question headlines

Question headlines work because they get your reader to subconsciously interact with your sales letter without realising it. Questions are very powerful engagers because our minds are geared up to resolve questions with an answer. If you’ve trained in sales, you’ll know how powerful questions can be to get your customer to talk to you.

A question in a headline is like your customer subconsciously “talking” with your sales letter.

But…

You can’t use any old question. You have to make sure it’s a question that your reader would care about.

So avoid:

1. A question that can be answered easily with a “no” response
2. A question that doesn’t make your target audience want to find out more

For example,

“Are your customers happy with your service”

This is not a powerful headline, most business owners will probably think “yep” and then move on.

But if you put:

“Would you like to know if your customer is secretly checking out your competition”

You’re now thinking, well yes I would. The word “secretly” is a powerful trigger, because we don’t like to feel like we’re missing out on something that is important to us.

Some more question examples include:

• “Who else wants the pleasure of chocolate without the pain of weight gain?”
• “What would you do if your home was flooded on Christmas day?”
• “Do you know the real reason most businesses fail after 2 years?”

Editorial headlines

Editorial headlines are like the ones you see on the front of magazines, they catch your eye because they appeal to your interest as the target market, but instead of sounding like an advertisement, they sound like something which is newsworthy and we’ve been trained to think that:

News = worth reading

The trick here, isn’t just to make it newsworthy, but to include an element of a benefit that your customers would enjoy or be interested in.

For example, I’ve grabbed the nearest magazine to me, (from my “work resources file 🙂 )which happens to be… The National Enquirer – a US based tabloid weekly.

Now, the target market for the National Enquirer is:

• Women
• Average age = 45
• Average household income: $49,000 (£30,000)
• Average spend on mail / phone / internet orders in 12 months = $409 (£258)

So, there’s a good chance that the people who buy the National Enquirer are looking for some easy escapism or drama to spice up their coffee break.

It’s no surprise that the headlines are:

• Jen wrecked Courtney’s Marriage – As cheating bombshell rocks hubby David
• TOO UGLY! Stunning reason Christina split from husband
• MAKE OR BREAK TIME Robert and Kristen LAST CHANCE
• GLEE SECRETS & SHOCKERS – HOOK UPS! FEUDS! TANTRUMS!

You might not think that those headlines are newsworthy, but with a readership of almost 10 million, the National Enquirer’s target market obviously thinks they are.   The headlines give you an idea what is going to be on the inside, whilst making you want to find out more.

Examples of editorial headlines for products and services include:

• “What most small business owners don’t know about tax deadlines”
• “Why dental hygienists are using this allergy drug to combat throat disease”
• “How local hairdressers are finding new customers through a new web service”

Hopefully this will help you get started with your sales copy. Let me know if you’d like any more info on writing headlines and if you think this would be useful to someone else, click that “retweet” button or email it to a friend!

Enjoy the weekend!