That’s right! You can get more customers and spend LESS money. This is possible when you recognize the power of the headlines you use in your marketing and advertising. If this surprises you then it is a new concept for you, even though it’s based on proven and time-tested marketing strategies.
The headline is unquestionably the most important element in marketing. A headline can be the first sentence in any ad, sales letter or written piece you send out to prospects, customers, suppliers, or staff. It can also be the first words you or your sales staff speak when they address anyone in a sales presentation or a one-on-one telephone conversation.
The headline must be powerful enough to draw the attention of people bombarded with hoards of information at an ever-quickening pace. Used correctly, headlines reduce your cost of marketing and sales, they attract the attention of more prospects and they get clients to qualify, or even disqualify, themselves.
Headlines are essentially the “ad for the ad.” The purpose of the headline is to grab your prospect’s ATTENTION. If you do not capture someone’s attention in the first two or three seconds, you lose him or her as a reader and potential customer. It should inform the reader immediately and clearly of the essence of what you are going to say in the body copy.
The headline must contain an exciting or provocative claim about your product or service. This can be a BIG BENEFIT or BIG PROMISE. “Six Times Whiter Washes,” or, “How to Increase Your Standard of Living Without Changing Jobs,” are examples.
Business Results, a strategic marketing company, states that, “A one-half page, black and white advertisement with a well-written headline can produce 10 times more leads than a full-page, 4-colour ad with a poor headline.”
On average, the smaller black and white ad will cost about half to a third of the money of the 4-colour, full-page ad. Let’s say the full-page colour ad was $10,000 and pulled 20 responses while the half-page, black and white ad was $5,000 and pulled 200 responses. The cost of each lead for the colour ad is $500. The smaller black and white ad with the better headline has a $25 cost per lead. That’s a cost saving of 95%!
Direct your headlines only at the prospects that you want to call you. If it is too general but offers a great benefit, you may find yourself on the phone wasting time with people who don’t qualify and would never buy your product or service. To demonstrate, think of a software package for retail stores that costs $100,000 per site. You want to qualify prospects in your headline. You might write, “Revolutionary Software for Companies with Million Dollar Inventories.” Any store too small probably wouldn’t respond to this ad.
Frequently, businesses make a mistake seemingly based on the ego of the company. Businesses use their own name as the headline. They proudly state, “Williams Tires,” or “Johnson & Associates,” without stating their area of expertise which sets them apart from their competition. Williams Tires might focus on “The Largest Selection of Tires for Foreign Sports Cars.” Johnson & Associates might indicate they have, “Custom-built Vacation Homes by Local Architects.”
In almost all of the marketing audits conducted by Business Results, they find that the headlines, and much of the marketing, are focused on the characteristics or benefits of the company. How many times have you seen, “In business since…” and, “Leaders in our industry.” Business Results offers these guaranteed marketing audits at introductory prices to demonstrate their services while helping business owners assess their current efforts.
How can you determine the best headlines for your business? You can test variations of your headlines. You might try two separate ads with the same body copy but two different headlines in the same magazine over a two-month period. Which ever pulls more responses becomes your control headline. Now you can test newer headlines against the control. If you end up with a tie, use both headlines!
A change of headline can make a 20 times improvement in response by your customers or prospects. Every headline should appeal to the prospect’s or reader’s self-interest. It should promise a desirable, powerful and appealing benefit.
Remember, your client or customer is not buying a product or service. They are buying a result, a benefit, an advantage, protection or increased pleasure or whatever your company can offer or provide them. ALWAYS, ALWAYS focus your headlines on the benefit or specific result your prospect will be receiving. Ask yourself why you read this article.
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