"How To Increase
Response Rates 1800% By Tomorrow Afternoon?"
By Terry Dean
This section you could call the make-it or break-it
section. Of all parts of your advertising, the Headline is absolutely
the most important piece to the puzzle.
If you don't write a good headline, you might as well get out
of advertising right now. The bad news is that You cannot make
money in business without good headlines. The good news is anyone
can write KILLER headines...Yes, I said anyone. That means YOU!
Some copywriters would like you to think that
you have to have some kind of special skill or creativity to writing
killer headlines. Guess what, there is not. You don't have to
have a special gene for creative headline writing.
What those same copywriters don't tell you is
that they wrote 10, 20, 50, 100, or more headlines for that specific
piece BEFORE they chose the KILLER headline. It isn't massive
creativity that creates winning headlines. It is the right knowledge
and hard work.
This section will give you the KNOWLEDGE you
need to write killer headlines, but the WORK is up to you. I have
NEVER heard of anyone coming up with the BEST headline on the
first try. It takes Brainstorming dozens of headline ideas until
you are coming up with the WINNER!
It is worth the work of writing KILLER headlines,
because One headline has been known to out produce another headline
by as much as 1800%. That is with no change in the body of the
letter at all! That means that a promotion which made $1,000 could
have made as much as $18,000 just by changing the headline! Suddenly,
a promotion which could have been unsuccessful NOW is a MEGA MONEY
Maker!
I don't think that I could emphasize the importance
of writing WINNING headlines enough. Without a headline, your
sales letter is doomed to failure even before it starts...If you
are not willing to put forth the effort of doing an effective
one, then you might as well quit your business now and go work
at McDonald's. You will never make more than minimum wage anyhow
without good headlines!
If I was going to give you a schedule for writing
your sales letter, it would look like this. Spend 10% of your
time doing research. Spend 40% of your time on the offer, benefits,
bullets, and order form. Spend 50% of your time on the headline.
That is how important the headline is to your success in marketing.
Over 5 times as many people will read your headline
as will read your sales letter. It has to catch the attention
of your targeted prospect and make them read the rest of the letter.
If your headline is weak, hardly anyone will ever even SEE your
sales letter, much less purchase from it.
If you are going to spend time and money on advertising,
you need to make sure that people are at least going to READ your
sales letter. The key to this is an effective headline. Without
it, you will not get 99% of the people who see your ad to even
read it.
Writing headlines is not a magical art for the
select few. It is a skill that you will learn as you practice
and do your work on each advertising piece you create. Here are
a few of the basic rules of writing KILLER headlines:
It has to absolutely stop your target prospect
in their tracks and force them to read the ad! It must answer
the question "What's In It for Me" by giving your #1
Benefit Right Up Front! It has to set the tone for the whole rest
of the ad and your offer!
It is the leader for your entire ad and it will
set the tone and direction for your ad. You could easily say that
it is 50% of your ad all by itself. Let's talk about each of those
aspects in detail:
#1 - It has to Grab Your Targeted Prospect's
Attention
Too many ads are written for any old reader.
By that, I mean that they aren't trying to focus on anyone specifically.
They are trying to sell anyone their product. When writing ads,
you have to TARGET your prospects.
You have to decide exactly who your #1 customer
will be. That is part of the reason for the Research that you
need to do first. You had to find out who and why people were
buying your product. Your sales letter needs to be written as
though it was for ONE specific person.
The best ads and sales letters are always the
ones which seem as though they were written JUST for you. When
you read them, you feel as though they wrote it knowing your every
thought and plan. It is your letter!
When a sales letter is written like that, it
will sell like wildfire when introduced to it's specific target
audience. For example, if you are selling a book about child care,
you may start a headline like this:
"Attention All Frustrated and Worn Out Parents..."
Or
"PARENTS..."
You could sell a weight loss product with a headline
that starts with:
"If You Want to Lose 30 pounds in 30 days..."
If you are selling computers, you might start
with:
"Are You Looking for a Computer At Half
the Cost?..."
With those kinds of examples, we call out the
audience right there and then. Those who are looking for computers
will continue to read on. Those who don't want a computer won't.
You have captured your target market's attention.
What I like to do is to put this type of message
on the top of the sales letter in smaller letters with the main
headline underneath of it. This has worked best for me in the
past. You will notice EVERY ONE of my sale letters is done in
this format.
This way I can grab my target market's attention
upfront and then blast them with the offer in larger letters.
I advise you to do the same in your advertising.
#2 - "What's In It For Me"
All of your advertising is based on those 5 little
words. The headline is no exception. Your prospect will ask this
question of your headline, your letter, your offer, and your order
form. You have to give it to them throughout the letter, especially
in the headline. If they don't receive it here, they will NEVER
read the rest of your letter.
When you made your list of benefits, which one
stands out to your prospects the most by your research? This should
become a part of your headline along with your USP (Unique Selling
Position) if possible. Using this type of headline is the beginning
of a KILLER ad copy. You want to overwhelm your prospects with
benefits. There is no better place to start than in the headlines.
#3 - It should set the tone of the ad
and the offer!
Your headline is a type of introduction of your
upcoming killer copy. It needs to both grab the attention of your
prospects and then get them ready to read the ad. You could say
that the headline is the "Ad for the Ad."
The headline's main purpose is to SELL the prospect
on the idea of reading the entire sales letter. Whenever you write
a headline, keep that in mind. People's time is precious and if
you want them to take time out of their day to read your sales
piece, then you better have something good to say in the very
beginning. Otherwise, you have lost them forever! |
