Repetition has long been described as the mother of
knowledge.
It’s so crucially important. That’s why I keep
mentioning what the late, great and iconic
copywriter John Caples said -
“73% of all buying decisions are made at the point
of the headline.”
It’s an indispensable part of copywriting. That’s
why I treat the writing of the headline with the
utmost importance and respect. So much so I’ve
created 11 different headline types that I choose
from on a daily basis.
Clearly without a “killer” headline, regardless of
how strong your body copy may be, your offer has
absolutely no chance of becoming successful.
Here in The Success Margin I have given you training
on six of the headline types which I use. Mastering
these headlines is a major reason for the success of
my copy in all media.
Previously I discussed these six headline forms:
1. Problem/Solution
2. Reason Why
3. Visualize It
4. Stacked Benefits
5. Get Benefits/Regardless
6. Problem Solver…
Today I’ll review an extremely effective headline
type which I’ve not previously examined. As with
many powerful marketing principles, it’s actually
very simple. I call it:
Secrets of (Blank)
Here are some examples:
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Secrets of Living in Style
Without Any Money Worries!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Success Secret of the
Most Prolific Copywriter in America!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Secret to Getting All the Credit
You Ever Wanted – Even If You’ve Been Bankrupt!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Secrets of Not Only Surviving
But Thriving in Today’s Tough Economic Times!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Secrets of Becoming a Popular
And Sought After Public Speaker!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Secrets of Becoming
The Most Popular Date in Town
While Not Compromising Your Personal Values!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Secrets of Dating the
Most Desirable Women in the World!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
17 Conversation Secrets That Will Help Make a
Favorable Impression on Any Important Business
Contact!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Seven Headline Secrets That Will
Practically Compel Your Prospects to
Respond to Your Advertising!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The fill-in-the-blank formula of this amazing
powerful technique is simply this:
The secret of (The ultimate benefit your product
delivers to the buyer.)
I challenge you. Don’t waste another moment!
Create at least 3 headlines for your product or
service using “The Secrets Of” headline strategy.
Let me know what it feels like for you when you set
new sales records!
Your correspondent,
Ted Nicholas
—————
“This article appears courtesy of THE SUCCESS
MARGIN, the Internet’s most valuable success and
marketing e-zine. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.tednicholas.com/
Filed under copywriter, copywriting, John Caples, Marketing Principles, Success Secret, Ted Nicholas by on Mar 31st, 2010. Comment. 
I just carried out an interview with Drayton Bird (more on that soon) where I asked him his recommendations for books and authors to study.
One thing Drayton said is that you should not restrict your reading to only business books. You should also read for leisure. (I won’t go too much into this as it’s all on the interview.)
However, very soon afterwards I received an email from Ken McCarthy of the System Seminar.
In this email he said something which really resonated with me, and should with you, too, if you intend doing well in your business: Be all you can be. Read.
He points to a post on his blog entitled: Ten classic direct marketing books, where he lists his ten best books on the subject.
This was fantastic news to me as I’m always on the lookout for more material to sink my teeth into (if I was a vampire I’d be biting into books rather than necks).
Here’s his list:
1. My Life in Advertising – Claude Hopkins
2. Tested Advertising Methods – John Caples (Fourth edition or earlier)
3. How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling – Frank Bettger
4. Scientific Advertising – Claude Hopkins
5. How to Write a Good Advertisement – Victor Schwab
6. My First Sixty Years in Advertising – Maxwell Sackheim
7. Secrets of Successful Direct Mail – Richard Benson
8. Breakthrough Advertising – Eugene Schwartz
9. The Robert Collier Letter Book – Robert Collier
10. Common Sense Direct and Digital Marketing – Drayton Bird
That’s a good list. I already have seven of them.
However, I think he missed one: How to write sales letters that sell by Drayton Bird which, in my opinion, is even better than The Robert Collier Letter Book.
Going too far, did you say?
Woah, give me a break and check it out yourself before getting the whip out.
Anyway, that is quite a comprehensive list and one you’d do well to take note of.
Filed under Advertising Methods, business, Claude Hopkins, copywriting, direct marketing, Frank Bettger, John Caples, Ken McCarthy, marketing, Marketing Books, Richard Benson, Robert Collier Letter Book, Sales Letters, Scientific Advertising, Secrets Of Successful Direct Mail, system seminar, Victor Schwab by on Mar 30th, 2010. Comment.
How good is your judgment?
Below are two ads, both over 100 years old.
Can you guess which did better?
You’ll find the answer near the end of this piece.
How did you do?
Now let me tell you about them.
I originally saw these ads during my first job as a creative director, some 40 years ago. Our biggest client sold washing machines direct – and I must have done a pretty good job as our chief competitor went broke.
I would like to say this was entirely because of my uncanny talent, but it was largely because we had a better product.
Anyhow, I had read something by David Ogilvy saying that before he wrote for any new client he studied all the advertising in the relevant category over the previous 20 years. I went back even further.
I found a book called My First 50 Years in Advertising, by Max Sackheim – which is excellent, by the way.
Max eventually co-founded one of the first specialist direct marketing agencies – Sackheim and Sherman, and he told the story of the winning ad, one of the first he ever wrote, in the late 1890s.
Anyhow, this leads to my next hint, taken from the great John Caples, who was once asked by the Wall Street Journal if the principles he laid down in the ’30′s and ’40′s still applied.
“Times change. People don’t” he responded.
So, study what has worked in the past – even the distant past.
Which ad worked better? “Let this machine do your washing free” (with a happier face and much longer copy) trounced the negative approach and set Max Sackheim’s career going.
I read his story and then wrote an ad headed, “Try this washing machine free in your home for 7 days”. I even used the same typeface, which at that time was out of fashion.
I decided on this approach partly because I had found that once people had the washing machine in their homes hardly any complained, whereas only 20% of normal enquirers converted to sales.
The ad worked like a charm, and saved a ton of money in salesman’s commission
***
Here’s a sad postscript.
After I quit the agency to go into the mail order business, they forgot the principles I had listed for them, started getting “creative”, and the client went broke.
The poor fellow who owned the company committed suicide. So good marketing can be a matter of life and death. And fancy ideas can kill.
***
(Max Sackheim and his partner devised the concept of the modern book club, and I shall write to you about him again, as he wrote one of the most successful advertisements ever, which ran for 40 years).
Best,
Drayton
P.S. This is number 24 of Drayton Bird’s 101 free helpful marketing ideas. You can sign up on the link below for the rest.
—————————————–
Website: www.draytonbird.com / www.eadim.com
Click here to get 101 free helpful marketing ideas. Marketers from all over the world think they’re a pot of gold.
Filed under copywriting, David Ogilvy, direct marketing, Drayton Bird, John Caples, Marketing Agencies, Wall Street Journal by on Mar 22nd, 2010. Comment.
We’re buried in e-mails! All due to an
unprecedented number of Success Margin
subscribers from around the world overwhelmingly
wanting more Headline Shortcuts!
Apparently my dear subscribers recognize the
enormous and irreplaceable importance of the
headline.
I’m very pleased! I love it when my readers “get it”!
Please understand this key point. Without a great
headline your promotion is doomed.
“75% of the buying decisions are made at the
headline alone.” Who said so? The late, great, John
Caples, author of the wonderful book, Testing
Advertising Methods.
Today we’ll cover the amazing sales power of what
I call the “Visualize It” headline technique.
Here are some headline examples which illustrate
this powerful technique:
*******
Imagine…You a Millionaire Publisher!
*******
Imagine…You on Top of the Best-Seller List!
*******
Imagine… You a Millionaire Real Estate
Developer!
*******
Picture This… You Open Your Mail Box and Find
it Stuffed with Hundreds of Orders! Welcome to the
World of Mail Order Marketing!
*******
Imagine… Sipping Pina Coladas on the Sun
Drenched Beaches of Beautiful St. Barts Where
There’s Always a Gentle Breeze and the Most
Difficult Decision You Face All Day is Which 5-
Star Restaurant You’ll Choose for Dinner!
*******
Picture Yourself in a Committed, Loving
Relationship with the Partner of your Dreams!
*******
Picture Yourself at the End of Your Speech
Experiencing the Entire Audience Spontaneously
Giving you a Standing Ovation!
*******
The key to a successful “Visualize It” headline is
this. Your particular niche audience must closely
identify with and relate to what you present.
Here is the question I strive to answer before I start
writing a word. What’s the biggest dream (or one of
the biggest dreams) the majority share within my
niche audience?
Every person, of course, has dreams. Whether they
are entrepreneurs, doctors, professionals, artists,
speakers, writers, or technical people, such as
computer technicians.
Your job is to discover what your audience
dreams about in the vivid fantasy life we all have.
Once you have struck the right emotional chord
with your audience that resonates, you are 90% of
the way to a huge multi-million dollar success. The
other 10% is to prepare body copy that amplifies the
promise within the headline.
Are you getting this headline stuff? Is it clear to
you?
Please let me know how you are getting on with this
topic. Trust me. Every minute you spend
developing your headline skills will pay off for you
big time!
Watch for the next issue of The Success Margin. I’ll
cover another powerful Headline Shortcuts (Part
III). This has made many of my clients very wealthy
indeed. And if you apply it, it will do the same for you.
I call it Ways To/Reasons Why…
Your correspondent,
Ted Nicholas
—————
“This article appears courtesy of THE SUCCESS
MARGIN, the Internet’s most valuable success and
marketing e-zine. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.tednicholas.com/
Filed under Advertising Methods, copywriting, John Caples, Mail Order Marketing, Niche Audience, Ted Nicholas by on Mar 15th, 2010. Comment.
I’m sitting here tired and falling asleep. Too tired to write but, here goes nothing…
When you write a headline, make sure it’s alive.
Give the reader a reason to feel restless… stir his emotions… pique his interest till he can’t bear it, and he just has to read on to see what’s coming next.
A headline, of course, is… AN AD FOR YOUR AD! Gary Halbert
Your headline should demand to be read. It should stop your reader in his tracks and create an irresistible desire to read further and find out more.
On the average, 5 times as many people read the headlines as the body copy. It follows that unless your headline sells, you’ve wasted 90% of your money. David Ogilvy
The right headline can mean the difference between doubling your readership, and more. According to John Caples, one headline increased sales by 19 times against another.
When one advert brings in twice as many responses as another, despite the only difference being the headline, it stands to reason one headline is alive and the other is dead. And, when something is alive it can go to work and get results. If it’s dead, it can’t do anything.
…Your headline is the most important part of your website Michel Fortin
This is a fact regardless of where your advertising is – whether it’s online, in a magazine or a newspaper, or anywhere else. The principles of advertising are the same everywhere. There may be minor changes required from one medium to another, as in print or on television, but the principles will remain the same.
What your headline must do is to grab your prospect by the eyeballs and keep them glued to your advert. And, by the law of averages, if more people read your ad, then more will respond.
When writing your headline you always need to keep in mind that everyone is busy. Especially with the internet, no one really wants to read any more as they used to.
So you will have to ensure your headline is like the proverbial arrow that hits your reader right between the eyes. It’s got to be so interesting to your reader he can’t tear his eyes away. When you can manage that, you know you’ve hit the bullseye.
And you don’t get a second chance to hit that bullseye. Once your prospect loses interest and leaves – that’s it, end of story.
So here’s what you need to do – according to John Caples there are three types of headlines you should be looking to write if you want it to be successful:
- Self-interest – This type of headline is the best as it involves something that appeals to his interest, his desires. Remember that all he cares about is what he gets out of it.
- News – This can be something that is new, or a new angle on something old. Combine this one with something which is of interest to your reader and you could have a home run.
- Curiosity – As the name suggest, this is the type of headline which piques the interest of your reader. This type of headline, while it can work, is more of a gamble. If the reader is curious he may or may not bother to read it as it does not appeal to his selfish wants.
Remember that the headline needs to make a big promise. You can’t afford to mess around here by trying to be funny — or clever — or arrogant – and you certainly should not make any assumptions of your reader. He doesn’t have to read your copy at all. So you need to give him a bloody good reason to take time out of his busy day to read your ad.
Take a look at these headlines (taken from John Caples’ Tested Advertising Methods)
- “NO… NO… DON’T CALL ON ME!”
- THE ODDS ARE 9 TO 1 AGAINST YOU
- “I’LL NEVER GIVE ANOTHER PARTY,” SHE SOBBED
- A TEST OF HOW “WELL READ” YOU ARE
- IS WORRYING ROBBING YOU OF THE GOOD THINGS OF LIFE?
And how about Yahoo!’s latest offering:
This time it’s personal. It’s y!ou
Now, I don’t know about you, but the only thing to go through my mind when I saw that was, “What!?“
When you think that this excuse for an ad is actually competing with successful one’s it makes you wonder how long this company will stay in business with advertising like that.
I’ll bet the advertising agency has made enough to survive for some time, though.
What it boils down to is this, if these adverts fail to capture the attention of the intended audience, then the ad has failed. That’s all there is to it.
Not one of these headlines makes any big promises. None contains anything that promises any benefit to the reader, nor do they offer any news.
So keep that in mind – if you want your headline to succeed, make sure it promises something to the reader. Make sure it works on his emotions – his wants and his desires.
Oh, one last thing, unlike with my blog, when I write a sales letter I take a heck of a lot longer to come up with a healined. Not a few minutes, or even a few hours. It can take days… and involve a LOT of writing.
Best,
Rezbi
Filed under Advert, advertising, copywriting, David Ogilvy, Emotions, Gary Halbert, Headlines, Irresistible Desire, John Caples, Michel Fortin, Money by on Nov 14th, 2009. 4 Comments.
No one reads your advert just for the sake of reading it. If you want your reader to continue to read your advertising, give him a reason to do so. Otherwise he will take one look and switch off. You’d be surprised by the numbers of ads which actually do just that.
When you write a sales letter, don’t make it so blatantly obvious you’re selling something. And certainly do NOT make it dull.
You cannot bore people into buying your product. You can only interest them in buying it. David Ogilvy
What you want to ensure is to write your advert in such a way as to ensure your reader’s attention is grabbed… and kept. This is what increases the value of your advert: The fact that people actually remain interested in it from the headline to the subhead; from the subhead to the first paragraph; from the first paragraph to the next. And so on.
As you can see from the paragraph, the sales message begins with the headline. If your headline can grab your reader’s attention by the eyeballs, and keep hold of it, 80 to 90 percent of the job of the ad is accomplished.
… the headline is 50 to 75 percent of the advert. John Caples
David Ogilvy went even further. He said:
On the 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 percent of your money.
When you take into account the fact your headline is competing with other headlines, especially if your advert is in a print magazine or newspaper, you can see why it’s even more important to get it right.
One way to ensure you have a successful headline is to ensure it contains some news element. You could announce a new product; a new way of doing something which already exists or a new way of making use of it; a new way of saving money. Or basically anything with news which pulls at the heartstrings of your reader: An emotional desire.
Whatever it is you say you need to make a big promise. As far as your reader is concerned it has to be worth his while taking the time to stop everything else and reading your message.
Leave your comments and let me know what you think.
Best,
Rezbi
Filed under Advert, advertising, copywriting, David Ogilvy, Desire, Headlines, Heartstrings, John Caples, Reason, Sales Message by on Nov 1st, 2009. Comment.
