Making Headlines

Here is a quote from Your Attention Please* by Paul Brown and Alison Davis:

"On Average. five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. It follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90% of your money"

This is something to keep in mind when creating ads for your customers. Your customer may want to see their name at the top of the ad. Unless their name contains a key selling point (ie. Cheap Carpets) this is not a good idea. The name will only help them attract customers who already know them. If they want to attract new customers, a headline that features a value statement is the way to go. Their regular customer's will see their name in the body copy.

Use the quote above and tell the customer "research indicates..." Remind them that you are the advertising professional. This is worth fighting for because strong headlines have a significant impact on how effectively the ad will draw customers. Customers who buy effective ads are the customers who remain customers.

*This is a great book for those of us who earn our paychecks selling and writing ads

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling

Thanks Jim Busch