Copywriting
workshop: Headlines:
the toughest task of all; How good
is your headline? Try this five-point test; Copy: why
you should ignore most copywriting advice; Case
studies: The Grocer; the athletics market
Dear
Colleague,
Pay
attention to your prospects and you’ll soon be out of business.
Although
we are told that listening is a vital part of our work, in fact we must ignore
much of what the people in our market tell us. For
example, we often hear people say, ’I don’t read direct mail. I just throw it
away.’
We also
hear, ’I just delete those junk emails. I never read them.’
But we
don’t really believe them, do we? If we did, why would we bother sending
promotions out? We know many people will respond if the message is right.
The fact
is, it’s not listening that’s important, but understanding. In the final
analysis it’s the copywriter’s job to create a headline, a ‘call to attention’,
to empathise with people so they hear what you have to say.
In this
issue of Subscriptions Strategy we publish a workshop feature on how to create
great headlines. Our method applies to both consumer and business publications. With a
little practice you’ll find this most important but difficult of creative tasks
begins to get much easier.
How to
get your message read
The
biggest problem facing direct marketers today is how to get your message read.
It’s becoming more and more difficult.
It’s not
just a direct marketing problem. The same applies to ‘awareness’ advertising in
the press and on TV. People turn over newspaper and magazine pages and switch
channels without looking at the adverts.
And get
those magazine cover lines wrong and newsstand sales plummet. Cosmopolitan, for
example, doesn’t allow the editor to write them. It’s the publisher’s job and
she spends 25 per cent of her time working on the next issue’s cover.
Email
promotions are double trouble. Open rates can be as high as 50 per cent, but
many are lower than 5 per cent. The words you put in your email’s subject line
can make that kind of difference. Then you have to create a good headline for
your message or you won’t see any return.
David
Ogilvy, founder of the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency, regarded the
headline as the single most important element of any ad:
"On average,
five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy… It follows
that, unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 per cent of
your money."
That was
written some years ago and, as with many direct marketing basics, still applies
today.
Send me
your headlines! I acknowledge all emails.
Peter
Hobday
Editor
Members-only section Subscriptions Strategy issue 63 >>>