I spent 27 days munching down cheeseburger after cheeseburger, skipping the fries of course, but still managed to dropped 70 pounds! After trying diet after diet, I finally found something that worked for me. No change in diet, with the exception of eating more cheeseburgers, and I'm now more fit than I have been in my entire life. I'm bounding with energy, have a spring in my step, and my abs are ALL visible…every single one of them. This diet rocks!
Whoa!
Now…one might find that subject line rather interesting, don't you think? And the above paragraph of copy that followed it even more so.
Is it believable? Real? Did it CAPTURE your attention?
The purpose here is to teach you several valuable lessons around the use of copywriting for your business, specifically in the use of HEADLINES to draw and capture attention. This is a follow up to a recent post I did on the subject of copywriting. If you didn't read it, you can grab it here:
Headlines can make or break the success of an ad campaign. A powerful headline can in fact be the ultimate determining factor that propels the success of your ad.
Whether you are writing a Facebook Pay-per-Click ad, a Google ad, a classified ad in newspaper, or writing a sales letter for a website or a squeeze page, it is the HEADLINE that matters MOST.
Let's rip this one apart.
First of all, it isn't true. I did it for one reason and one reason only, to SHOCK you and CAPTURE your attention. Of course, if this was a REAL ad designed to grab someone's attention to draw them in and tell a story on how I actually did that, it must be factual.
The Headline: How I Dropped 70 Pounds in 27 Days and Still Ate Cheeseburgers!
How I: Anytime you can begin a headline with a REAL story on how you did something amazing, people want to know HOW you did it. If it's coming from a real person who has had something truly amazing happen for them, people are almost always interested in finding out the specifics on how they did it.
So…think about that for a moment in the context of your business. If you are marketing an opportunity or a product and you've had a unique and powerful experience that others may be interested in having for themselves, and it is at the same time legitimate, USE IT.
Examples:
How I Sponsored 11 People in Less than 24 Hours
How I Earned Over $14,000 By Reading One Email
How I Built a Business of Over 17,000 Reps Working Only Five Hours a Week
Those types of subject lines if used in advertising and at the same time TRUTHFUL are likely to draw attention to your ad, especially if you're marketing to the a highly targeted market.
Going back to my headline…
Dropped 70 Pounds in 27 Days: The result, if this were true, is amazing. In this case, the result is so amazing that it nearly becomes unbelievable to the reader. However, IF it were true, and people were seeking results like that (and many are), it would be a powerful draw.
It is also SPECIFIC and MEASURABLE. There are no vague generalities in this subject line. It states a very specific and measurable result that was achieved in a very short period of time.
When writing your subject lines, keep in mind the importance of being specific. If you said, “How I Lost 10 Pounds in a Year By Starving Myself” the headline is still specific and measurable, just not very COMPELLING. Headlines that are specific, compelling and measurable, that fill a specific NEED or DESIRE can pull huge numbers for you. Again…keep in mind WHERE you are advertising and WHO your target market may be.
…and Still Ate Cheeseburgers: This part talks about the EASE or SIMPLICITY in accomplishing the task. People LOVE things that don't require monumental change on their part. If someone can do something dramatic and amazing without killing themselves to do it, they're naturally attracted to it.
Everyone wants something now, or close to now. Big results quick. That nabs the attention of our innate desire for instant gratification.
Again…this headline isn't true. So…you wouldn't want to LIE in your advertising. False claims, untruths and over-exaggerations simply create problems for you and ultimately, lessen the overall effectiveness of what you're looking to accomplish.
The idea in marketing is to ATTRACT people with something that is powerful and intriguing, DRAW them in, and provide a SOLUTION to whatever problem they may have.
If this headline were true, it would be incredibly powerful and likely attract a lot of readers. The question you have to ask yourself in the context of marketing your product or business, is:
How can I write something that is powerful, real, and provides a solution to what people want?
The Components:
If you don't have an amazing result or story that is at the same time HONEST, REAL and TRUTHFUL, then go create one.
There's nothing more powerful than hunkering down, getting serious about something and becoming laser focused on accomplishing that task. So, if there is no story today, if you get to work, you'll have the story.
Try this one on for size. Since the headline was about weight loss and you didn't yet have a weight loss story, but you were marketing some type of weight loss product or weight loss routine, the best thing you could do would be to BE the story. I can't tell you how many people I personally know who have hunkered down, lost tons of weight in a short period of time, and then USED their PERSONAL story to drive that business. Before I was here, and now look where I am. THAT can be HUGE in attracting people to you. And, you could very easily take the premise of this and use it any literally any context, whether it be about making money, dumping your job, sponsoring a bunch of people, winning a bonus trip, or anything else you can think of.
Lastly, and as a reminder, there's enough garbage and B.S. being thrown around out there that is simply NOT true and not even close to believable. So…be an upstanding marketer, and tell the truth. If you create the story or have someone else's story to work with, then you've got nothing to worry about. But…when someone flat out lies, it simply does no good for anyone.
Love to hear your comments below…
