Headlines are one of the constants in marketing. No matter what you’re selling, no matter what kind of idea you’re trying to get across, you need some form of headline.

I generally tend to think of headlines, subject lines, titles, episode names, and simple text ads as essentially being the same thing. A means of calling attention to your offering while getting across or hinting at its essence in the most efficient way possible.

We use headlines (or some form of headline) on homepages, landing pages, newspapers, brochures, articles, podcasts, posts, labels, and anything else where we know we won’t physically be around to explain ourselves to interested parties.

For the most part, my experience lies in writing headlines for webpages (landing or home), titles for social media posts and subject lines for emails, so that is what I’ll primarily talk about here.

Important copy with 1 important job

I’ve heard the argument that you should always write your headline first, when creating a new page or article. That it will so completely set the tone for the content that follows that it simply must be defined in advance. I’ve also, however, heard the argument that you should write your headline last. That you won’t know the proper essence of the offer until you’ve laid it all out.

There’s obviously no one “right” answer but no matter which way you slice it, your headline is the most important piece of copy on the page.

And what’s more, it has one very important job to do. I know I got this from Joanna Wiebe, and I think she got it from Eugene Schwartz, but anyway, the most important job of a headline is this: to stop your reader in their tracks and compel them to read the subhead below it.

Then the job of the subhead is to draw the reader into reading the first line of body text, and the job of the first line of body text is to draw the reader into reading the next, and so on.

Point being, if they don’t stop and read the headline, you’re sunk.

But wait, there’s more…

Context of view matters

The headline also has to align with your ideal readers’ current state of awareness – whether by challenging or agreeing with a belief – and resonate with them on some level. This could mean their awareness of the market, of the problem you’re offering to solve, or of your offering itself. (And, yes, the concept of different stages of buyer awareness deserves a whole other discussion to itself.)

A headline that will be seen among other headlines needs to stand out, more than anything else, whereas the headline on a landing page that can only be accessed through a dedicated link – be it in an ad or email, or on another page – needs, above all, to match the promise laid out in that ad or email, or on that other page. This latter case describes the idea of “message matching”, a concept I first came into contact with thanks to Oli Gardner of Unbounce.

For example, if your ad promises a new, better way to clean your car, then the headline on the page it leads to must, in an instant, confirm that the reader is in the right place to learn of or purchase this new, better way.

How I write headlines

I’ve heard of numerical approaches to headline writing – like not moving forward with any variant until you’ve written at least 25 – and I like what they force you to do. Obviously, the exact number is irrelevant, but the gist is that you aren’t likely to write your best headline right out of the gate.

It takes time and repetition to hone in on the exact sentiment and tone that will best speak to and activate your intended audience. (And the best way to nail this down is by talking to, surveying and researching your ideal customers, gathering a robust set of Voice of Customer data upon which you can draw.)

The way I go about it is to give myself a chunk of time – say 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the project – and spend it all just writing headlines. Having consumed a fair amount of VoC data and decided on a general hierarchy of pain points and benefits, nothing is off the table. The intent is to let my imagination flow freely, making new connections along the way. As ideas pop up, little themed groups tend to develop, and when I look back, there’s usually a winner among a group.

I then take all the group winners, that is, the best, catchiest, most succinct, usually shortest version of each general idea and put them onto a separate page to be considered.

When I have it down to the last 3-5, I include them all on the page I’m actually writing as options at the top (in full headline-sized font) and leave them there until after I’ve written the rest of the page.

What usually happens is that one or two of them become excellent subheads for somewhere further down the page, and one or two emerge as the obvious best choices for the top spot.

If the project is one that has sufficient traffic for testing, then I submit them both as my top suggested A/B variants, with an explanation as to the logic behind each and any little tweaks to the page that will be necessary when using one or the other.

There are nuances that make subject lines and post or video titles different – things like the default preview setting for most inboxes, or the thumbnail/image used in conjunction – but my approach, from a creation standpoint, stays very much the same.

What makes a successful headline

The important thing to consider, and the only true measure of success, is whether or not your ideal reader, viewer or buyer will be stopped short by your headline, subject line or title and compelled to find out more by either reading on, opening the email or clicking through to the post.

One last thought from me on the topic: your headline doesn’t have to appeal to every person out there, but it does have to appeal to the right person, so your best starting point is making sure you are crystal clear on who that person is.

Got thoughts on these thoughts? Let’s connect! Send me a message here.