Advertising Advice
|
Advertising Advice | |
|
|
| • Site Map • Site Home Related Sites >Traffic-Reach - Unlimited Quality Traffic - On Demand • SmartAuctioning.com • Forward Productions SitesMap • Join Our Links Directory! | |||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Advertising Headlines and How to Write Them1. Attract prospects with your headlineUse your headline as a flag to attract readers who are interested in your product. If you are selling a solution to premature hair loss, put PREMATURE HAIR LOSS in your headline. Your headline will catch the eye of everyone who suffers from this predicament. If you want teenagers to read your ad, put TEENAGERS in your ad. Be careful that you do not put anything in your ad that excludes prospects. For example, if you are selling a cellular phone that can be used by men and women alike, do not slant your headline toward men alone. That will only cause women to think that your ad does not apply to them. 2. Appeal to your reader's self-interest with your headlineMake every headline you write appeal to the interests of your prospect and not those of the company that is selling the product. Instead of saying SPIRITOL WILL CURE YOUR HEADACHE, say GOT A HEADACHE? CURE IT WITH SPIRITOL. Begin your headlines with YOU rather than WE. 3. Sell your product in your headlineDavid Ogilvy, an advertising pioneer of the 1960s and 1970s says that, on average, five times as many people read your headline as read your copy. So it follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90% of your money. So your headline should do some selling whenever possible. 4. Include your selling promise in your headlineThe best headlines promise readers a benefit, such as fewer cavities, cheaper gas, whiter clothes. Your selling promise is simply the greatest benefit that you are advertising about your product, so include it in your headline. This often makes for headlines of at least 12 words. People read long headlines as long as they (1) promise a benefit, (2) complement an intriguing visual, and (3) are part of an attractive ad design. Don't shy away from long headlines. A headline is too long only when it uses one word more than is needed to sell its message. 5. Name what you are advertising in your headlineIf the headline is all that your prospects read, then at least tell them the name of what you are selling. If the name sticks, your ad will have at least made your readers familiar with your product. And that is a vital role in advertising - keeping your product's name at the top of the consumer's mind. 6. Avoid award-winning cleverness in your headlinesPuns and literary allusions may be clever (to you) but they don't necessarily sell your product. In the average newspaper, your headline competes with 350 others for your reader's attention. Readers skim fast through these headlines. And readers do not stop long to decipher obscure headlines. Clever headlines, while they may win awards at advertising galas, often serve to draw attention to themselves and away from the product. Don't write clever headlines just for the sake of it. 7. Say things in the positive in headlinesAvoid negatives in your headlines for two reasons. First of all, negative statements leave a negative impression, while positive statements leave a positive impression. SPRINTAB CURES YOUR HEADACHE is a positive way of saying SPRINTAB WILL NOT LET YOUR HEADACHE STAY FOR LONG. Stick with the positive. Secondly, statements phrased in a negative way often mislead readers. They think your negative way of phrasing a positive thing says the opposite of what it actually says. Thus, some readers will see the headline OUR BEEF CONTAINS NO ADDITIVES, but will mistake it to have said OUR BEEF CONTAINS ADDITIVES. This headline is better re-written as OUR BEEF IS 100% PURE. 8. Avoid "IF" headlinesBe declarative in your headlines. Avoid conditional phrases, such as IF YOU BUY THIS LAMP, YOU'LL SAVE MONEY ON YOUR ELECTRIC BILL, and IF YOU NEED A PLUMBER, CALL JOE'S PLUMBING. Conditional phrases drain the power from your headlines. You are better off: (1) putting the prospect right into your headlines, (2) assuming that your prospect has the need that you are addressing and (3) speaking as though the prospect is already satisfied with your product. For example: WATCH YOUR ELECTRIC BILL SHRINK WITH THIS ELECTRIC LAMP, or "JOE'S PLUMBING SAVED MY HOUSE FROM FLOODING." 9. Say things in the present tense in your headlinesPut vigour and drama into your headlines by saying things in the present tense instead of in the past or future tense. The present tense is stronger and more immediate than the past tense: "I SAVED $1,000 WITH MY MIDLAND BANK MORTGAGE" is weaker than "I AM SAVING $1,000 WITH MY MIDLAND BANK MORTGAGE." The present tense is stronger than the future tense: T.E.S. T. COMPUTERS WILL MAKE YOU MORE PRODUCTIVE is weaker than T.E.S. T. COMPUTERS MAKE YOU MORE PRODUCTIVE. 10. Make headlines work with the visual, not the body copyMake your headline tell one part of the story and have your visual tell the other part. Don't use a headline to repeat what the visual is saying. And don't simply illustrate the headline. Let the headline and the visual work together. Avoid blind headlines that make no sense unless the reader reads the body copy underneath them. The majority of readers only read headlines, so you must write headlines that are complete in themselves. Alan is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter and lead generation consultant. As President of Sharpe Copy Inc. (http://www.sharpecopy.com), Alan specializes in helping businesses generate leads, close sales and retain customers, using cost-effective, compelling direct mail and email marketing. Alan also uses his direct mail advertising services to help charities raise funds and raise awareness of their causes, using fundraising letters.
Help keep Advertising Advice available by donating any amount.
MORE RESOURCES:
Advertising - Google News | | | | RELATED ARTICLES Why Hire an Advertising/Marketing Consultant? As a business owner, you have the option of taking several different approaches to handling your Marketing and Advertising. You may choose to handle the responsibility yourself, with the idea that no one understands your business quite the way you do. How to Breathe New Life into Your Advertising Campaign If you haven't made many sales or perhaps none at all, don't be discouraged. Use this 10-point checklist to breathe new life into your advertising campaigns and improve your response rate. 15 Tips for Better Yellow Page Ads Yellow Pages advertising is one of the most popular forms of advertising in the country today. Almost every home in America (96. Cinema Advertising is Big Business, So Mergers are a Natural Cinema advertising has always been an effective marketing tool for some advertisers, while for others they have yet to see the benefit of this unique form of media. When an advertiser hears the term "Cinema Advertising" automatically they think the slide that is shown on the big screen with the soothing music played in the background. Advertising Headlines and How to Write Them 1. Attract prospects with your headline - Use your headline as a flag to attract readers who are interested in your product. Organizing Business Cards for Effective Contact Management Now that you've had colorful new business cards printed, and have been distributing them diligently, what do you do with the cards you collect from other people? If you're like most people, you have a stack of rubber-banded cards floating around you desk. Or you have been using them as bookmarks, toothpicks, and used gum wrappers and they are all over your office, car, wallet and purse? Without a good filing system, the information on those cards is useless. What Does Your Business Card Say? Business cards are the most underutilized and misunderstood marketing tool in business. Many people spend the bucks for cards and don't make an effort to get them into the hands of those who can hire them or buy from them. Customer-Involving Signage and Selling Here are some easy ways to create signage that will attract, not annoy customers (and local government agencies that regulate signage):1. Since movement always attracts attention, any banner, sign set of a pole that might move with the wind or electrically-turned sign will stand out from the static messages around it. Outdoor Sign Many business organizations that needs to disseminate late-breaking information to a large number of people. Out door sign boards are the perfect solution for them that command the attention of all who pass underneath. Online Classifieds Choosing a Classified Website and creating your advertisements. The internet has opened a vast number of doors for people to market their products and services. Prove It! - Give Your Marketing and Advertising More Credibility Your marketing and advertising won't be effective if your potential customers don't believe the claims you make. So how can you prove your that you can do what you say you can? Tone it down. Why Not Use the Humble Fax in Your Advertising Strategy? When my daughter complained recently about the prohibitive cost of news media advertising, we had a discussion about the ways in which she could sell her range of body products (hand creams, lip balms etc). I explained to her that huge firms like K Mart wouldn't spend millions of dollars annually for advertising if it wasn't necessary. Advertising - Does it Matter? When advertising, you need to sell your opportunity, your products and yourself. What sets you apart from everyone else? Maybe you produce a newsletter with a specific content where there is a demand from a particular group of people, or you promote your own special product that no one have not yet seen. Fax Broadcast Services Get Your Message to Millions If your company is one of those innovative businesses that has taken advantage of new fax broadcasting technologies to get your message out, you've probably come to realize that the fax broadcasting services industry is ever-changing and new developments are coming out all the time.It's pretty much a full-time job just to manage a fax broadcast database of any size, not to mention keeping the related fax broadcasting software updated and operational. How To Use Pictures To Immediately Start Increasing The Response Rates Of Your Marketing There should only be one, over-riding reason why you're doing anything in your marketing. Know what that reason is? Of course! To increase the response rates of your sales promotions! Because that leads to... Making Yourself A Nice Little Boat-Load Of Cash! Advertising - Should You Be Advertising Your Services? You offer a reliable, quality service. You know that if more people knew what you can do, you'd increase sales. Electronic Score Boards Wide range of electronic Key venues around the globe has turned to Electronic score boards that not only look breathtaking from every angle and distance, but provide consistently reliable performance year in and year out. Different type of sports including athletics, track cycling, running events, street cycling and mountain bike, swimming, synchronized swimming, diving as well as inline skating, water polo, ball spots, motor sports, alpine skiing, cross country and biathlon are some of the areas where Electronic score boards perfect fits solutions for. Cable TV Advertising; Mobile Detailing Customers If you own a mobile detailing business or mobile car wash company you should have the local cable company as one of your clients. You may even find your self with some free publicity. Power Headlines for Promotion Success Do you send email to your Online audience to let them know about an upcoming teleclass, your service or your book? Do you have a seminar "flyer" on your web site? The biggest mistake professionals and entrepreneurs make is to announce, rather than promote themselves.Each piece you send or put on your web site should begin with the #1 copywriting winner--the headline. Advertising Basics for Beginners So many of us who have decided to do business online have no background in marketing or advertising. It can be so frustrating without any kind of guide. | ||||||||||||||||
| Site Map • Site Home Related Sites >Traffic-Reach - Unlimited Quality Traffic - On Demand • SmartAuctioning.com • Forward Productions SitesMap • Join Our Links Directory! |
|
|
| © 2006 Forward Productions |
Comment by Gary Chaison