Headlines

Headlines communicate the reason why the prospect should care about your message and gives them a reason to engage with that message NOW.

The two most powerful headline elements are BENEFIT and CURIOSITY.

The Headline should be able to stand on it’s own and be understandable without the prospect needing to read or watch anything else.  IT should be able to pass the classified ad test.  That is if it appeared in a classified ad with just the headline and a phone number would it generate a response?

Basic Headline Styles

• How to (Benefit)
• How to (Benefit) without (Negative)
• x ways to (Benefit)
• Get rid of (Negative)
• Who else wants to (Benefit)
• Thousands Now (Benefit)
• Have, Get, Own a (Benefit) you can be proud of
• Give me x minutes and I’ll show you how to (Benefit)
• The lazy (prospect) way to (Benefit)
• Do you make these x mistakes?
• Do you recognize the x early warning signs of (Negative)
• See how easily you can (benefit)
• You don’t need (skill) to (benefit)

John Caple’s Headline Starters

Begin you headlines with any of the following and address a specific person or group the the prospect identifies with

• How To
• Why
• Which
• Who Else
• Wanted
• This
• Because
• If
• Advice
• Introducing
• Announcing
• New
• Now
• At Last

It is best to write a bunch of headlines without editing

Then come back and edit them and choose one to start scoring according to the 4 U’s.  Score them all and further refine to get to a 3 or 4 and then choose which to start with.

4 U’s Test

1. Useful
2. Unique
3. Ultra-Specifc
4. Urgent