1. Three-Step Approach to Creativity
1.1. 1. Capture the prospect’s attention
1.1.1. Nothing happens unless something in your ad, your mailing, or your commercial makes the prospect stop long enough to pay attention to what you say next.
1.2. 2. Maintain the prospect’s interest.
1.2.1. Keep the ad, mailing, or commercial focused on the prospect, on what he or she will get out of using your product or service.
1.3. 3. Move the prospect to favorable action.
1.3.1. Unless enough “prospects” are transformed into “customers”, your ad has failed, no matter how creative. That’s why you don’t stop with A/I/A (Attention, Interest/Action), but continue right on with testing.
2. Five Rules for Writing Great Headlines:
2.1. 1. First and foremost, try to get self-interest into every headline you write. Make your headline suggest to the readers that here is something they want. This rule is so fundamental that it would seem obvious. Yet the rule is violated every day by scores of writers.
2.2. 2. If you have news, such as a new product, or a new use for an old product, be sure to get that news into your headline in a big way.
2.3. 3. Avoid headlines that merely provoke curiosity. Curiosity combined with news or self-interest is an excellent aid to the pulling power of your headline, but curiosity by itself is seldom enough. “This fundamental rule is violated more often than any other. Every issue of every magazine and newspaper contains advertising headlines that attempt to sell the reader through curiosity alone.
2.4. 4. Avoid, when possible, headlines that paint the gloomy or negative side of the picture. Take the cheerful, positive angle.
2.5. 5. Try to suggest in your headline that here is a quick and easy way for the readers to get something they want.
3. 9 Ways to Increase the Selling Power of Your Copy
3.1. 1. Use Present Tense, Second Person
3.2. 2. Use Subheads
3.3. 3. Give Free Information
3.4. 4. Arouse Curiosity
3.5. 5. Make Your Copy Specific
3.6. 6. Use Long Copy
3.7. 7. Write More Copy Than Is Necessary To Fill The Space
3.8. 8. Get Help From Others
3.9. 9. Make Every Advertisement a Complete Sales Talk
4. 35 Ways to Write a Headline
4.1. 01-05
4.1.1. 1. Begin your headline with the word “Introducing.”
4.1.2. 2. Begin your headline with the word “Announcing.”
4.1.3. 3. Use words that have an announcement quality.
4.1.4. 4. Begin your headline with the word “New.”
4.1.5. 5. Begin your headline with the word “Now.”
4.2. 06-10
4.2.1. 6. Begin your headline with the words “At last.”
4.2.2. 7. Put a date into your headline.
4.2.3. 8. Write your headline in news style.
4.2.4. 9. Feature the price in your headline.
4.2.5. 10. Feature reduced price.
4.3. 11-15
4.3.1. 11. Feature a special merchandising offer.
4.3.2. 12. Feature an easy-payment plan.
4.3.3. 13. Feature a free offer.
4.3.4. 14. Offer information of value.
4.3.5. 15. Tell a story.
4.4. 16-20
4.4.1. 16. Begin your headline with the words “How To.”
4.4.2. 17. Begin your headline with the word “How.”
4.4.3. 18. Begin your headline with the word “Why.”
4.4.4. 19. Begin your headline with the word “Which?”
4.4.5. 20. Begin your headline with the words “Who else.”
4.5. 21-25
4.5.1. 21. Begin your headline with the word “Wanted.”
4.5.2. 22. Begin your headline with the word “This.”
4.5.3. 23. Begin your headline with the word “Because.”
4.5.4. 24. Begin your headline with the word “If.”
4.5.5. 25. Begin your headline with the word “Advice.”
4.6. 26-30
4.6.1. 26. Use a testimonial-style headline.
4.6.2. 27. Offer the reader a test.
4.6.3. 28. Use a one-word headline.
4.6.4. 29. Use a two-word headline.
4.6.5. 30. Use a three-word headline.
4.7. 31-35
4.7.1. 31. Warn the reader to delay buying.
4.7.2. 32. Let the manufacturer speak directly to the reader.
4.7.3. 33. Address your headline to a specific person or group.
4.7.4. 34. Have your headline ask a question.
4.7.5. 35. Offer benefits through facts and figures.