David ogilvy wrote in Confessions of an Advertiser: "In most advertisements, the title is the most important element, which can determine whether the reader will see the advertisement. Generally speaking, four times more people read the headlines than the text. In other words, the value of your headline will account for 80% of the entire advertising budget. If your headline doesn't achieve the sales effect, then you can say that you have wasted 80% of the customer's advertising budget. "
For copywriting, it is very important to write a title that can catch the reader's attention. Otherwise, the manuscript we have worked so hard to write is likely to turn into air and be submerged in a sea of information.
The Complete Handbook of Copywriting: Copywriting Teach You to Write Sales Force Step by Step is the work of Robert W.Bly, a copywriter who enjoys the title of "Top Copywriting in America". This book has been selling well in the United States for more than 30 years and is a super practical copy secret for many senior advertisers. At the beginning of the book, a whole chapter is used to emphasize the important weight of titles in copywriting and how to write effective and attractive titles.
David ogilvy once said that if the existing advertisements were replaced with new titles, the sales would increase by 10 times. For us writers, we should master the writing skills of titles and use them to incite the attraction of our works!
John capps, a famous American advertising master, said: "The best headlines can take care of consumers' own interests or provide new information. "
Headlines that successfully attract attention never show off word games or puns, but actually provide readers with information about goods or articles, and simply explain what specific problems can be solved, what benefits can be brought to readers or what new information can be provided.
For example, the title of the article that won the Qingyun Project Award is "Boring Speech? Talking is boring? Seven principles teach you how to improve. Tell readers simply and directly that the article can provide information on how to improve their oral English.
1- straight title
This kind of title is characterized by pointing out the commodity propaganda at the beginning, without playing word games, metaphors or puns. Simple and clear, common in online and offline retailer advertisements. For example: all autumn clothes, over 200-50.
2- Prompt Title
This title does not directly sell, first arouses curiosity, and then answers doubts through words. For example, the title of a popular science publication "20 Sunscreen Clothing, Is it a lie or is it really useful?" .
3- New Knowledge Title
Tell the new information about goods in the title: the emergence of new goods, the improvement of existing goods, the new application of old goods, etc. For example, the second generation of pocket-sized new models came out (Chevrolet)
4- "How to" Title
By asking "how to do it" questions, such titles are equivalent to promising readers specific information, useful suggestions or solutions to problems. For example, how to write a title that successfully attracts attention?
Titles of five questions
This title attracts the reader's attention by asking questions that the reader has a buzz or wants to know the answer. It is worth mentioning that such a title must focus on the reader's own interests, what he wants to know and what he needs. For example, do you have the following decoration problems? ?
6- imperative title
This title directly tells the customer what to do, and the first word should be a clear verb, telling the reader to take immediate action. For example, please stop ineffective social interaction. ?
7- Goal-oriented headlines
This title conforms to a specific way of writing. The text lists the characteristics of goods and the reasons for doing something. , the title is refined by numbers combined with text. Usually, the formats are "Why …", "Six Ways …", "Seven Steps …" and "How to Teach You …" and so on. For example: 10 The reason why you must study. ?
8-? Witness title
This title is like a customer helping to sell a product. We should write it as if it were from the customer's dictation and quote the customer's own words as much as possible. This title is more common in selling middle-aged and elderly goods. For example, since I ate the lid in the lid, my waist and legs have stopped hurting. I went up to the fifth floor in one breath. Hey, it's a breeze. ?
There is no strict order in writing titles. Some copywriters will spend 90% of their time coming up with dozens of titles and then start writing the text; Some people will start writing the text first, and then extract the title from the text. Master Bly shared his habit of writing titles. ?
1-Determine the selling point of the product and create around the selling point.
Before writing, ask yourself three questions:
Who is my client?
What are the important features of this product?
Why do customers want to buy this product? What product features are the most important to customers?
After determining the selling point of the product through the above three questions, present the selling point in a clear, distinctive and interesting way. He will try to apply the eight basic types mentioned above, but he will not apply them for the sake of application. The key is to present the selling point of the product.
When you can't write a satisfactory title, 2- list method
When you really can't think of a satisfactory title, Master Bly will make a list, write down a series of words related to the product, and then arrange and combine these words to form several titles.
3- I really can't think of the topic. You can put it aside and write the text first.
We can collect old advertisements every day and build a library of title templates as a source of inspiration for creation. When you really encounter difficulties, review your notes on the topic, and you will have some ideas related to the topic and think about them later.
The completed title, through inspection, can help us further enhance the attractiveness of the title.
This book introduces a set of 4U formulas:
Urgency: Give the reader a reason to take immediate action, and add time elements to the headlines to create a sense of urgency.
Uniqueness: Describe something new, or present what the reader hears in a new way.
Ultra-specific: convey information accurately with the most specific words.
Useful practical benefits: attract readers' own interests and provide practical benefits.
Check whether the topic is attractive or not. Look at the score of 4 U. It takes at least 3 U's to get 3 or 4 points. After checking the score of 4 U in the title, redraw the title and try to improve it by one point in each of 2, 3 or 4 U.
In addition, you can examine your own title through the following questions and polish a super attractive title.
Do you promise to get some benefits or rewards after watching the advertisement?
Is it clear enough and direct? Do you get to the point quickly in a simple way?
Is it better to be more specific? —— lose weight in three weeks 19 kg vs lose weight quickly.
Did you use clear sales information? Is the expression dramatic enough and refreshing enough?
Is it reasonably related to the product?
Does it match the visual design well enough to form an overall sales concept?
Can it arouse curiosity and attract readers to continue reading the text?
Have you screened a specific audience?
Did you mention the brand name?
Did you mention advertisers?
Avoid using vague titles. Only by reading the content of the copy can we know what the topic is saying.
Avoid using irrelevant word games, puns, gimmicks or other copywriting techniques.
Avoid using negative expressions. Change "sodium-free" into "healthy salt"
I am ashamed to say that, as a writer, the attention paid to titles has always been very insufficient. The powerful function of headlines shoulders the mission of attracting attention, screening readers, transmitting complete information and guiding readers to read the text. I hope I can apply what I have learned and improve my writing.