Generate more leads and sales with masterful headlines

I have a confession to make.

I hate spending money.

Yeah, nothing stresses me out more than spending a sizable chunk of my hard-earned money on something I don’t need.

Because products are usually a waste of both my time and money.

Exceptions?

Sure. I enjoy spending money on books and audio programs on writing, marketing, science, and anything else that interests me. However, most of them are books, because some of those audio programs command a high price.

The higher the price, the higher the stress levels.

This is exactly how I feel when I see nanotech companies throwing away marketing dollars writing terrible headlines.

those terrible headlines come with a high price. Lower open rates, lower click-through rates, fewer leads…and ultimately, fewer sales.

The most important part of your copy

I mean think about it.

Think back to the last email or magazine you opened. Or the last white paper you downloaded.

What made you open it and read it?

The headline, right?

I’m not exaggerating when I say a great headline is requirement number one for a solid marketing piece. It is THE most important part of your copy.

Why?

Because, as the late John Caples said so eloquently:

“If an ad’s headline is poor, the best copywriters in the world can’t write copy that sells the product. Because if the headline is poor, the copy won’t be read.”

And if the copy isn’t read, then it’s not generating leads or making sales.

It’s that easy.

But… most tech firms screw it up by trying to get too creative with their headlines or by not learning what works and what doesn’t.

However you look at it, learning how to create magnetic headlines that get your marketing opened and read is one of the most important skills you can develop.

Now, there are two types of headlines used in B2B and high-tech marketing.

The first is the teaser headline.

A teaser headline does what it says on the tin and tries to pique the reader’s curiosity by ‘trickling’ them into opening the email or downloading the white paper. The headline usually has nothing to do with what’s in the rest of the copy.

What’s the deal with a teaser headline?

Just this: a teaser headline is essentially a gamble.

You are betting that the reader will open the rest of your article because the headline is so intriguing and creative.

If you read the issue ‘Las Vegas, Marketing and a Lesson Learned’ a couple of weeks ago, you know you don’t want to spend your precious marketing money on a gamble.

Trust me. You can waste a lot of time trying to get creative and intriguing with a teaser headline in the hope that this will make your copy stand out.

But, as David Ogilvy once said:

if it doesn’t sell, it’s not creative

‘Nuff said.

So what kind of headline should you write?

That brings us to the second type: the benefit holder.

This headline implies that the reader will gain some kind of benefit when they read the rest of the copy.

This could be to save time, improve productivity, save money, get things done faster, comply with regulations more easily, improve sales, gain an edge over the competition, etc.

Putting benefits in your copy is copywriting 101, so you might be tempted to overlook it.

Don’t make this mistake.

Benefit holders work. Period.

The reason they work so well is because they follow a tried and tested formula.

So do yourself a favor and stick to writing benefit headlines. A proven formula will always work better than misdirected creativity.

warm looks,

colm