April 2003

Headlines are critical

Art is about emotions. Marketing is an art. It's ALL about appealing to the emotions of your customers. And the first thing you have to do--especially if they don't yet know you--is get their attention with a headline. First tip on how to write an effective one:

#1 -- Find out what your customers care about. Make your headline speak to that. Don't talk about how great you or your company are. Believe it or not, unless you're talking about something that's of personal interest to them, they couldn't care less about what you say. Remember: your customers are being bombarded with literally thousands of marketing messages every single day--television, radio, direct mail, Internet, newspapers, etc.

If you can't identify a real need they have, you probably won't be selling them your idea.