As a busy B2B copywriter who works five days a week on Core Message Platforms, I get a lot of questions about marketing from clients and colleagues. By far, the number one question I get is this: “What’s the quickest thing I can do to improve my existing marketing materials.” 
My answer is always the same:
“The most valuable real estate in marketing is your headlines. So the quickest and the most important thing you can do to improve your marketing materials is improve your headlines.”
I then remind them that you have two primary goals you want to achieve with your headlines.
- Engage the attention of your prospects immediately
- Compel them to dive into your body copy for more information
It really is that simple.
At this point, my colleagues usually thank me and get to the task of trying to improve their headlines. However, this often leads to a second phone call from them within a week or two.
The question they have for me on this second call usually goes something like this:
“Ok, Casey. I’ve spent a ton of time trying to come up with headlines that are witty, zippy and catchy, but nothing I come up with seems to work. Got any tips?”
This is when I remind them that there are many headline types from which to choose. However, zippy, catchy or clever isn’t always the best choice when something direct and straightforward is all you need.
To ease their minds and save their time, I then tell them about three simple headline types that:
- Don’t take more than a few minutes to create
- Imply a promise or a benefit that arouses curiosity
- Motivate prospects to check out the body copy below the headline
Next, I give them some examples of the following three headlines types. And today, I want to share them with you.
“How to” headlines
How to Generate Twice as Many Sales Leads Next Month
How to Leverage Today’s Top 5 Online Wealth-building Strategies
“3 Secrets” headlines
3 Secrets to Generating More Website Traffic through YouTube
5 Secrets that Only the Top 1 % of B2B Sales Pros Know
“Big Reveal” headlines
New Case Study Reveals Dark Secrets about the FDA Approval System
Our Special Report Reveals the 5 Hottest B2B E-mail Marketing Trends
Once again, the beauty of these three basic headline types is that they imply a benefit or an important revelation will be detailed in the body copy. Plus, they don’t take long to write!
Remember, there are many headline types, and I’ll teach you about several of them in future posts. However, the big takeaway today is that you don’t have to be clever and zippy to write great headlines.
In fact, if your ultra-simple headline gets the attention of your audience and motivates them to read your body copy…guess what, you’ve written a great headline!
Please leave a comment! If you got a knowledge boost from this post I encourage you to share it with your crowd!
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