Best Headline Ever?
My girlfriend and I were sitting around the emergency room yesterday (she sprained her ankle while getting out of bed. It wasn’t my fault, I swear) when I came up with the world’s greatest headline.
Ready to hear it?
OK:
“Baby Born Pregnant”
Now, unfortunately this headline isn’t for an ACTUAL event (I can only hope someday it will be) but it’s a great headline for a couple of reasons.
1. It’s got massive, built in CURIOSITY. When you see a headline like “Baby Born Pregnant” your mind immediately puts the breaks on whatever else you were thinking about, shouts WTF at the top of its little brain lungs and FORCES you to stop and find out more about what’s going on.
2. It’s got INCONGRUITY. It’s got that unexpected little TWIST that makes you pause for a moment and actually pay attention. It literally makes your brain HURT to think about it.
3. It creates an IMAGE in the mind of your prospects that they just can’t shut out.
4. And finally what makes this a great headline is that it sells the ARTICLE or the SALES LETTER it’s attached to and GETS YOU TO READ . . . it doesn’t try to make the whole sale all by itself.
This is actually a big point that newbie marketers miss all the time.
They try to SELL in their headline when that’s really not the job of your headline at all.
In fact, the ONLY job of your headline is to GRAB the attention of your target market and FORCE them to read the first line of your letter (or watch the first few minutes of your video.)
Your first line sells your second line, your second line sells your third and ALL the way down until it’s finally time to show your cards and reveal the AMAZING deal you’re offering if they can only get off their butts and act now.
When you think about it, realizing that headlines don’t “Sell” the product actually frees you up to have a lot more fun with you marketing.
So remember the lesson of “Baby Born Pregnant.”
Comments
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Jason Moffatt August 19th
Interesting. I saw you post those 3 words yesterday I think and I said to myself… “That’s an amazing headline”.
Nice one bro.
Larry Mannino August 19th
Actually,’ Best Headline Ever?’ is far superior for all of the reasons you attribute to the ‘Baby’ one, though it does target a smaller audience. Baby born pregnant might’ve worked before the advent of the New York Post and Weekly World News, but today’s audience is inevitably more calloused and skeptical – sorry Chris – get the point of the article but disagree with the h-line – Sugarman says the same thing and his argument is longer and more compelling on the reverse funnel direct response technique – always enjoy reading you though – best, Larry
Robert Landis August 19th
I call those headlines “thought arresting ideas.” They temporarily stop the chattering in our heads to try and figure out what is being said. In this case, the statement cannot be true so the desire is to move on to the rest of the story. The key is, you got my attention.
Good Job Chris…
Brantley Whitley August 19th
That headline got me for sure. J Mo tweeted it with the link to this article, I knew it was a headline but I couldn’t resist. Nice one. Been thinking a lot lately about improving my copywriting skills, you’ve given me some great info that will help me on my quest to improve.
Brandon August 19th
Midget Dunks a Doughnut.
Joe Hage August 20th
I’m struggling to understand what the second line / concept of the letter would be. You’d bait and switch us immediately, I think.
His Latest Words August 20th
Amazing headline, and an amazing article to go with it as well. Thanks Chris. You’re really good, will Clayton make you his associate already?
Tyler Oakley August 20th
Yes, I do love that headline. I love it very much.
Trevor Mauch August 22nd
Ha, love it my man!
You should sell that headline to the National Enquirer
Have a great weekend bro!
- T
Lee Little August 22nd
Let’s see your test results!
If a million untargeted readers see it but take no action, it isn’t a good headline.
If only a few thousand who want/need the product read and respond, you’ve got a winner.
RV September 5th
One caveat: there should be a basic intent to deliver on the promise you make in a headline, or else you’ll have people reaching for the “this is spam” button faster than you can say “bulk mailer.” If you already have a responsive list / audience,
Teaser headlines always get interest, but they should be tied to business objectives – long term, even! That’s when we get into the real-world semantics of conversions over a longer life cycle. One can only be drawn in so many times before one says, “Alright, the jig is up.”
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