Remember the young kid on the corner with the paper?
‘Extra, extra – read all about it!’ He knew the importance of a headline. That simple catch cry immediately piqued the interest of the consumer.
In nearly all cases, the headline is the single most important element of a print ad.
It’s your first impression on a potential ideal customer, so strive to be clear and concise.
Some rules of thumb are:
1) Keep it short and sweet
The average product needs no more than seven words. If your tongue gets tangled when you say it out loud, cut it down.
2) Know your Audience
Target your headline to the audience you want to reach. Dirty humour won’t work well in a snobby house and garden magazine! Just like hardcore sales BUY NOW headlines will turn people off in a lifestyle publication. Probably not a good idea to spruik pretty pink sprinkled cupcakes when advertising in a building trade annual.
3) Make it Smart or Funny
Or anything that grabs the consumer’s attention in a positive way, consider:
Rhyme | Humour | A metaphor | A personal pledge | Dry understatements |Use of creative imagery
There’s definitely an art to writing great headlines for print advertising. Sometimes we will spend hours coming up with ideas.
We suggest writing around 25 different headlines for the same thing – until you find the right one.
Did you know that eight of ten people will read a headline while only 20% will go on to read the rest of your copy?
Are you spending 80% of your energy and resources on creating a great ad headline?
Here is a rather famous quote from the Godfather of Advertising himself, David Ogilvy
On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.
Such powerful truth. So now it’s your turn.
We’ve provided you with a great link to provide some headline inspiration – here.