What makes the difference between an uninspired headline and a great one? Emotional connection. If you can evoke emotion from a reader, that means you’ve captured their attention. If you’ve captured attention, you’re much more likely to get the type of reaction or response you’re going for. The thing is, lots of clients hesitate to use emotion in their marketing messages. Maybe they think it lacks polish, is too out there or too risky. There are lots of ways to say the same thing, but changing the words can make all the difference.
If your copy doesn’t evoke an emotion, it fails to really connect with the reader. So many ads and marketing messages miss the boat by simply stating the obvious. (“I’m blind.” versus “It’s a beautiful day and I can’t see it.” Or, “We sell Widgets.” versus “Our Widgets Will Make You Sing.”)
Sometimes a client will argue that we’re speaking to engineers or contractors or some other narrowly defined demographic where emotion doesn’t ‘apply.’ And I always say, engineers (or whomever) are people too. We all have hearts, we all feel things, and the best brand advertising and marketing makes you feel something because of great writing. No matter what you’re selling.
For pointers on formulating a great headline, check out the infographic below from Neil Patel of QuickSprout, a resourceful business and marketing blog. Headlines pull an audience in; they set the expectation for an article, a campaign, for the brand itself. Keep it powerful, keep it simple, and stay true to that brand name – the rest will follow.
Having trouble getting those creative juices flowing? We live for the creative, so drop us a line and let’s talk about you and your brand today.
