* Fly free
* 10 years off your face – and all it takes is water!
* Who’s looking at your online bank account right now?
Right. Now that I have your attention, let me tell you how to write a compelling headline. One that grabs your readers’ attention and catapults them into your body copy, where you lie in wait to win them over to your marketing proposition.
You only have a few seconds to achieve your aim. That’s because you’ve caught your readers while they’re rushing to make a meeting, a deadline, a train or a curtain. And they don’t have much time to weigh up whether to read your promotional message. Or not.
“On average, five times as many people read headlines as read promotional body copy”, stated David Ogilvy. To which he added, “It follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90% of your money.”
Naturally, you want to avoid that possibility. But does that mean your headlines must convey a complete, stand-alone selling message to be effective?
Copywriters have been slugging this one out ever since the invention of the IBM Golf Ball. Me, I like a bit of creative elbow room. So in my book (not yet written, but I’ll keep you posted), a headline can be anything you want it to be, as long as it sets up a relevant, persuasive case and inspires the reader to dig into the text.
So for the moment, I invite you to throw out the rule book and take a lesson from life. Next time you spot a headline that grabs you, ask yourself why it has captured your attention. You may find that it employs one of the following approaches:
1. An appealing comparison.
If you can’t think of a compelling claim for your magazine, why not use your headline to compare your title to something else your prospects relate to in a positive way? This can serve to ‘ground’ your product in your reader’s experience while potentially borrowing prestige. (An example for the Spectator: Champagne for the Brain. For De Beers diamonds: Remember when you got that variable speed hammer drill? It’ll make her feel kind of like that.)
2. Numbers.
Numbers work in headlines. I suspect it’s because they catch the eye, standing apart as they do from the words that surround them. Plus, it’s almost impossible to write a headline with a number in it that makes a wishy-washy claim. (Which do you prefer: ‘Magazine X can help you live longer’ or ‘The 20 most important steps you can take to live longer.’)
If your magazine has a wide readership, you might feature your circulation figure in your headline. If you can pinpoint your prospect in the same breath, so much the better. (There must be a reason over 6,000 Goths read our magazine. But we’re too frightened to ask.)
3. A simple command.
Maybe you’ll never beat Nike’s Just Do It campaign. But it’s worth a try. Commands in headlines work because they can convey confidence in a product, while instantly focusing the reader’s mind on the desired action. (For Prevention: Subscribe to a health magazine. Even if it isn’t ours. For the Economist: If you’ve got a point, sharpen it.)
4. An appeal to individuality.
A lot of people may read your magazine. But it’s the one reading your headline that matters to me right now. And that person sees himself or herself as an individual. Someone who isn’t swayed by the crowd or willing to cravenly take their cue from convention. Someone, in short, who might drive a Volkswagen van. Simply because, It’s unusual to drive the vehicle you were conceived in.
5. Free advice or recommendations.
While the battle rages about ‘free content’, why not rise above the fray and give with one hand while taking away with the other? Your magazine is probably packed with useful advice. So why not zero in on one recent tip-packed article and use that as the jumping off point for your promotion? Remember not to be stingy with your information. Once you’ve demonstrated how genuinely useful your magazine is, your prospects will be whipping out their credit cards faster than you can say “direct debit guarantee”. (Here's one I ran up just now: How to turn one little black dress into 12 brilliant outfits.)
6. A pertinent or intriguing question.
Posing a question can grab your readers’ attention quickly, as long as it’s one they want answered. Just make sure that the answer can’t be given as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ – a sure-fire way to lose your readers before your body copy has even drawn breath. These work: How many of these medical myths do you still subscribe to? (Prevention). Is wit dead? (Vanity Fair). This one doesn’t: Anyone for a film star figure?
7. A selling proposition.
You can’t go home from the office tonight until you’ve completed the following:
“Buy my magazine and you will get______________ .”
This is your selling proposition. It should convey a single benefit. And it should be unique to your publication – a promise that your competitors cannot fulfil. Once you’ve buttoned down this proposition, you’re on your way to writing an exceptionally powerful headline. Examples? Discover the best way to get the week’s news in just one hour. (The Week). The best of all possible words. (London Review of Books).
8. The prospect as star.
Who is your magazine aimed at? Don’t be shy. Tap them on the shoulder and say, “Hey, I’m talking to you. Listen in.” If you want to flatter them and define what you’re selling at the same time, great. As per this Economist headline: For top laps.
9. A challenge.
This is a testosterone-fuelled command. A directive with hair on its chest and a dagger between its teeth. And don’t tell me you’re not keen to try it for a headline. Who, you? Always the first one in your crowd to accept a dare and double the stakes? If you were in the airline or aerospace business, you’d probably like the sound of this: Aerospace News. You can wing it. Or you can read it.
10. Ways to use your product.
I know. You’re selling a magazine, not a dandruff shampoo. And yes, that fact can make your headline-writing task a little harder. But stop and consider what your magazine actually offers your reader. How many rewarding options does it give them? I recall one concept for Bon Appétit magazine headlined, 19 ways to use Bon Appétit. It had my mouth watering when I contemplated that a single magazine could be used “for planning parties”... “for unusual ways with usual foods”... “for learning basics”... “for discovering great wines” and so on and so on. Lots of goodies to digest, garnished with a free copy!
11. A ‘must have’ offer.
You’ve heard about offers time and again. But it doesn’t seem to be sinking in. Your offer MAY NOT be the most compelling thing you can say about your magazine. Thus it MAY NOT be your selling proposition. But if you’re convinced that it is, then phrase it in a way that makes it even more enticing. I am reminded of a former US ad for Esquire that offered a 50% subscription reduction. The copywriter could have settled for ‘Save 50%’ or ‘Save £20’. But instead he wrote: It’s like getting 6 months of Esquire for free.
12. A compelling statement.
Some of the headlines that have stuck in your mind over the years have earned that privileged position because they were bold and uncompromising. They made a single, clear, uncompromising statement. They may also have relied on a contradiction to make you think. Here’s one of my favourites, for the Cancer Patients Aid Association: CANCER CURES SMOKING.
I hope I’ve cured your tendency to fret about how long your copywriters take to come up with concepts. As this headline for the Economist says:
To err is human.
To er,um, ah
is unacceptable.
The Secret of Magic Words
Ever hear of a book entitled Naked Came the Stranger? Apparently the publishers came up with the title by asking a market research panel to select words that had impact for them. While this is NOT the way you should go about writing a headline, it is nonetheless true that certain words appear to catch the eye. I leave you to experiment, always bearing in mind that the parade moves on.
Secret, Now, Announcing, Why, How/how to, Hidden, Alert, Warning, Proven, New, Hurry, Free, First, Why, Startling
