Writing Headlines

Howdy Friend and Neighbors,

Today’s news topic is about saving the whales—a.k.a. saving your bottom line!

Think back to a time when the last time an advertisement albeit print, TV, radio, or website actually contained elements of true persuasion.

Yea, I thought so. You had to struggle, didn’t you?

Sadly enough most business owners are leaving fungolas on the table. In some cases, they are leaving a truckload of doe-ray-me on the table.

I’ve ranted about this so many times, you’d think it’d be old school by now! But here we go again. I really want you get this—after all it’s your cash flow at stake.

So, off we go . . . Let’s get acquainted with . . .

Direct response 101. . . A.K.A.  . . Advertising that gets the job done!

We’ll start with the basics. What we’re really talking about here is writing ads that produce a desired response—that could be a sale, a visit to your office or store, a request for additional information, you name it! Action is requested (and desired) from the reader of your ad. But first you gotta . . .

Reach Out And Grab Someone!

You must have the reader’s undivided attention. These days, more than ever before, it takes a lot to gain people’s attention. All the daily distractions—meetings, family, grocery shopping, deadlines—enough already!

Think about all the distractions occurring in your life on a daily basis—heck, on an hourly basis! See what I mean?

Make a point to study your market. What pains, or problems do they want resolved? Your job is to propose a valuable solution to their problems.

I’ve hinted about gaining attention. This is step one in your advertising. Legendary John Caples knew the importance of writing great headlines. “If you can come up with a good headline, you are almost sure to have a god. But even the greatest writer can’t save an ad with a poor headline,” said Caples.

This may seem a little extreme but . . .

Every Thing You Communicate Should Have A Headline!

The headline in a letter is the opening paragraph. The headline in an ad is uh, well the headline! The headline in a radio spot is the opening statement. And so on! You gotta flag ‘em down.

If you can’t gain your prospects attention, then you’ve lost ‘em forever! They will not read (or listen) to the remainder of your pitch! It’s that simple!

Here’s a little trick you can use to write headlines that make money. Start by collecting proven profitable headlines. Once you have several dozen, write them out on  3x5 index cards. This will force a “neurological imprint” in your brain—you will be writing good headlines! Pretty cool, huh?

Where do you find these money-making headlines? The next time you’re at the grocery checkout, pick up a couple of the ladies’ magazines such as Cosmo or Woman’s Weekly. Notice the captivating headline right there on the cover. The publications spend millions of dollars on testing copy that makes folks buy.

Other good resources are the weekly tabloids like National Enquirer and Weekly World News. Again, millions of buckos are used to test the effectiveness of these headlines!

Here’s Your Home Work Assignment . . .

Just as soon as you get home, grab your index cards and start writing. Before long you have an excellent collection of proven, money-making headlines to use as an idea generator.

So, there ya have it! You’re off to writing killer ad copy that’ll suck money like vacuum cleaner.

Now, aren’t you glad you tuned in?

Tune in next issue and learn secret words and phrases that sell!

Stay Cool,

Emette

P.S. Don’t want to go through all of this pain—just to get ads that pay? Oh, I know what you can do—drop me an e-line at: eemassey@yahoo.com WOW how much more easy could it be?