I reckon I must have talked about it half a million times so you must have gleaned that the most important part of any advertisement is the headline. At least as much time, if not more, as is spent on writing the rest of the copy should be devoted to getting that right.
You see, the headline is an advertisement for the rest of the advertisement. If that doesn’t attract the attention of the reader, listener or viewer then there is no way they are going to read, hear or watch the advertisement.
Of course when I talk about headline I mean whatever opening words or devices you use to attract the attention of whomever you are targeting.
In a recent newspaper advert for a school college these prize winning words appeared under a picture of some smiling children “It takes something special to look at a student to see who they can become and at St Fred’s we strive to achieve this in and outside the classroom every day” Mr Fred Burns, student 1986, teacher.
Download Winston’s fantastic “How to write a great advertisement” for just $40 here
I’ve often said the length of the headline should be just enough to attract attention so the long headline was not necessarily a negative.
But a headline has to attract attention, be compelling and excite people to want to read it.
And this one didn’t do that. I reckon it’s absolute garbage!
“Looking at a student to see who they can become…” you’ve gotta be joking! If that makes any sort of sense, what the heck does it mean?
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