Every Marketing Piece Must Have A Powerful Headline

Author: Allyson Huggett 

When you are writing your marketing pieces the primary goal of the piece is to grab your customer's attention. The best way to do that is with a powerful, eye-popping headline. But how do you know if your headline is one of those? There are four key objectives to a great headline:

1. to get attention
2. to select an audience
3. to deliver a message
4. to draw the reader into the body copy - or keep them listening to you.

If you fulfill these four things then you can expect some improvement in your results. Fulfilling theses four things (all of them) may seem complicated at first, but we have 5 rules that simplify the matter and can multiply your sales and profits:

1. Your headline should always stand out. Make it big and bold, generally at the top of your marketing piece.
2. Your headline must be clear and direct. Nothing complex and difficult to understand.
3. Your headline should be specific. People in general always respond better to specifics. For example, "Lose 20 Pounds in 4 Weeks!" is a better headline than "Lose Weight Fast!"
4. The headling must promise a reward or benefit for reading on. See the above example.  Who doesn't want to learn more about how to lose 20 pounds in 4 weeks?
5. Use powerful words in your headline. Studies have been done to determine which words in the English language are the most powerful words to use in headlines. The top 20 words are...

Now that you know the rules about headlines, we'll give you one more as a bonus rule:

Always test your headlines! For example, create a letter with two different headlines. Make certain that the only difference between the two letters is the headline.  Send them out to your target market and compare the results. The one that receives the best results is the one with the best headline.

The Tax Office, Inc. would be happy to assist you with your marketing program. Should you have any questions, please contact us.  Our specialists in our Client Accounting Services, Business Services, CFO Services, or Marketing Division would be happy to assist you.