 Search Engine Advertising Secrets: How to make headlines, Research Study Part 4Published Date: 2004-11-21 14:32:32 WorkOnInternet.com
Here are several more of the most successful headlines I've used over the past 24 years of helping companies improve their marketing leverage:
14. Almost Everyone Has a $10,000 Idea. Here's How to Make It Pay. 15. Heart Attacks Can Be Foreseen From Minutes to Months in Advance-And Prevented. 16. An Easy Way to Change Jobs 17. How to Increase Your Standard of Living Without Changing Jobs 18. Send Me to Any City In the United States. Take Away My Wallet. Give Me $100 for Living Expenses. And in 72 Hours I'll Buy an Excellent Piece of Real Estate Using None of My Own Money. (The latter headline made a great deal of money and created a media blitz for Robert Allen, a skilled marketer and author who made the term "No Money Down Real Estate" famous.) 19. Three Powerful Reasons Why Diamond Prices Are Soaring 20. To a $15,000 Man Who Would Like to Be Making $25,000 21. I'd Like to Give This to My Fellow Man ... While I Am Still Able to Help! Power Headlines Produce-Powerful Results You may find it incredible how the use of a headline can alter the results of the entire ad or letter. I have tracked and compared hundreds of headlines and been amazed at the vast improvement in results that one headline can produce over another headline. Let me illustrate this principle here with a few real-life examples: An insurance company tested these two headlines against each other: 22. What would Become of Your Wife If Something Happened to You? and Retirement Income Plan Believe it or not, the second ad pulled 500 percent more response than the first. It's a simple yet effective headline. A famous correspondence school tested these two headlines: 23. Announcing a New Course for Men Seeking Independence in the Next Three Years (An Up-to-the-Minute Course to Meet Today's Problems) The first headline (which started with that magic word "Announcing") trounced the second headline by about 370%. An insurance company compared these two headlines: 24. Auto Insurance at Lower Rates if You Are a Careful Driver How to Turn Your Careful Driving Into Money The first headline was 1,200% better in testing. I could go on ... and on! In all these cases, you would not have known that the vast difference in results would occur without testing first. The results are often quite surprising. Now, let me get back to providing you with more of my 37 Million-Dollar Headlines, and some explanation of what makes these headlines effective. Now we must pause and examine one of the techniques of writing a headline. It is called VERBALIZATION. And it is the art of increasing the impact of a headline by the way in which it is stated. In the previous sections, we have looked at what we want to say in a headline. And now we have to determine how to say it. The most obvious way, of course, is simply to state the claim in its barest form. "Lose Weight," or "Stop Corns," for example. And if you are the first in your field, there is no better way. But where you are competitive, or where the thought is too complicated to be stated simply and directly, then you must reinforce that claim by binding other images to it with the words in which you express it. This is verbalization. And it can accomplish several different purposes: A. It can strengthen the claim-by enlarging upon it, by measuring it, by making it more vivid. B. It can make the claim new and fresh again-by twisting it, changing it, presenting it from a different angle, turning it into a narration, challenging the reader with an example. C. It can help the claim pull the prospect into the body of the ad-by promising him information about it, by questioning him, by partially revealing information. All of these goals are accomplished by adding variations, enlargements or embellishments to the main headline claim of the ad. These additional images are bound into the main claim by the sentence structure of the headline. They alter the main claim, to make it more effective. There are, of course, an infinite number of these variations (every good copywriter invents a few himself. But there are general patterns that most copywriters follow. Here are some of these guideposts, for your own consideration: Measure the size of the claim 25. I am 61 Pounds Lighter by Using XYZ Product State the difference in the headline 26. The Difference in Premium Gasolines is Right In the Additives Stress the newness of the claim 27. Now! Chrome Plate Without Heat, Electricity, Machinery! State the claim as a question 28. Who Else Wants a Whiter Wash With No Hard Work? Turn the claim into a challenge for the reader 29. Which Twin Has the Toni? And Which Has the $15 Permanent? Challenge the prospect's present limiting beliefs 30. You Are Twice as Smart as You Think Address your prospect directly 31. To the Man Who Will Settle for Nothing Less Than the Presidency of His Firm Address the people who can't buy your product: 32. If You've Already Taken Your Vacation, Don't Read This. It'll Break Your Heart Accuse the claim of being too good 33. Is It Immoral to Make Money This Easily? Warn the reader about possible pitfalls if he doesn't use the product. 34. Don't invest one cent of your hard-earned money until you read this guide! State the claim as a case story quotation 35. Would You Believe It-I Have a Cold! Metaphorize the claim 36. Melts Away Ugly Fat! Measure the speed of the claim 37. In Two Seconds, Bayer Aspirin Begins Relieving Rain! Is It New And Improved? The Headline Should Tell! This tutorial is meant to remind you that in a great number of effective headlines you will find the word "new"-or a connotation of it, such as "new kind of," "new discovery," "new way to," etc. Americans are quite partial to the new or novel; they do not suffer from neophobia. To the average American, the mere factor of newness seems to be prima facie evidence of "betterness." Undeviating affection for the old and tried may be strong in other countries; in ours, the desire to try the new is stronger. The great achievements of our inventors and enterprising manufacturers have trained us to believe that if it's new it is likely to be better. However, the word "new" in a headline should be backed up by copy pointing out the merits of something really new and advantageous, not some transparently trivial difference. Testing Leads to Success Test! Test! Test! You can have far more sales, inquiries and store traffic for the same money just by cross testing alternative headlines, format and copy: * By testing different ways to say the same thing * By trying different copy * By testing the pull of one magazine against another * By testing one mailing list against another * By testing one radio time slot against another * By testing one offer against an other.. * One price against another * One guarantee against another * One sales pitch against another * One direct-mail package against another If you use a headline, or offer, or price, or guarantee, or medium, or mailing list or sales pitch without testing it against another version, you are denying yourself and your company the potential of increased sales and profits that cost no more than you are currently spending. Remember, ads or sales letters cost the same to produce, whether you get a 1% response or a 35% response. It's relatively easy to test and track ad results and to ruthlessly leverage every marketing dollar. Failure to test, retest and test again is tantamount to admitting that you aren't the business person you should be. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About the Author: Daniel Ray, Editor of http://www.marketingtops.com This article is copyright. |
