How do you make great headlines in marketing? In this useful guide, we improve your marketing skills by teaching you the fundamentals of writing great headlines, whether for advertising, SEO, public relations or email marketing.
Great headlines can take many marketers hours, or even days to create. Even with the introduction of Artificial Intelligence tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, creating powerful headlines that convert is a skill that can take years to master. Great headlines may also take many failures before a marketer truly understands the probability of a headline actually working.
Why Are Headlines Important?
Headlines are vital in any field of marketing. In fact, they act as influential gateways to your content by grabbing a reader’s attention. In any case, great headlines are important, whether it’s an SEO-optimised blog article, print or digital advertising or a press release. According to Copyblogger, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, while only 2 of 10 people will read the rest.
Great Headlines Should Telegraph What You Say
As a marketer, great headlines should give your readers an overall picture of the content they will read whilst arousing their curiosity. Additionally, it’s beneficial to have well-structured headlines that get straight into the specifics of the body content, as opposed to generalities.
Example Of A Specific VS Generalist Headline:
A specific headline:
‘Martyn Snibson Communications readership is 20% better than last month.’
A generalist headline:
‘Martyn Snibson Communications readership might have declined more than you suppose.’
Here’s another example:
A specific headline:
‘Martyn Snibson: “Dropping a brand’s facade with Lo-Fi content is the best way to foster a brand’s identity in 2024″‘.
A generalist headline:
‘Marketing blog writer shares thoughts on the rise of Lo-Fi content’.
Can Headlines Be Questions?
Yes, but it’s about how you phrase the question to resonate with an audience and capture their attention. For a smaller, more specific target audience, you can use question headlines to pinpoint this audience and challenge their existing wisdom on an area of interest. In a test mentioned by Holly J. Morris on NPR Training, two headlines were examined:
A: “Do you really need 10,000 steps per day?”
B: “10,000 steps a day? How many you really need to boost longevity.”
The study found headline B was more effective in challenging the audience’s existing wisdom and informing readers about the content. In contrast, headline A was too alienating to non-Fitbit-aware readers.
When using question headlines, it’s essential that they resonate with your intended audience whilst providing them with value.
Can Headlines With News Be Better Than Headlines Without?
In Ogilvy On Advertising (Available on Amazon), David Ogilvy, the “Father of Advertising”, found that headlines with news are recalled by 20% more people than advertisements without. This could be partly due to how emotional responses are naturally evoked when a person reads a headline, which drives engagement. Obilvy also recommends not burying news in the body content and including the brand name; otherwise, most won’t read your content.
When implementing news into your headlines, to maximise its impact on an audience, ensure it’s highly relevant and placed prominently.
Should Great Headlines Include Quotes?
Yes, including quotes in a headline can be another great way to enhance audience recall. What’s more, quotes can add credibility and authenticity to a headline as well as legitimise a speaker/author’s role in public discourse. However, many criticise how it is used, particularly when used out of context to the body text and not to the speaker’s original intention.
In an article by Contrastive Learning for the EACL 2023, this mistrust of information can be described as a violation of journalism ethics and misleading to the reading public’s opinion.
When done well and ethically, great headlines with quotes can benefit the visual appeal of a piece of content to a reader and be effective when fitting into the context of an article.
How Long Should A Headline Be?
It is recommended that headlines should be kept under 10 words; otherwise, readers won’t read your content. Although this may be true, David Obilivy suggests that it can depend on the industry and the context. He found this out when doing headlines in the retail space, stating that in the context of retail, “headlines over 10 words tend to sell more”. On the contrary, others believe that headline lengths should be more about scanability and using context words.
Context Words – Groups of words used in digital communications to achieve the desired effect of drawing a reader’s interest and attention. Sharethrough categories ‘context words’ into four categories incorporating insight, time, space, and motion words.
A Summary On Great Headlines
In conclusion, mastering the art of writing great headlines is a critical skill for any marketer. Creating effective headlines as a gateway to your content requires understanding your audience, industry, and the psychological triggers that drive engagement.
To craft headlines that truly resonate, it’s important to understand what makes a headline great. When trying to incorporate best practices, consider:
Ultimately, the goal is to create headlines that attract and convert. While AI tools like ChatGPT can assist in generating ideas, developing an understanding of what headlines work best requires practice and experience. Applying these principles and continually refining your approach can make you a better marketer and drive more successful campaign outcomes.
