I know you are probably tired of hearing this. I know you can pick up almost any e-book, marketing, or business publication and somewhere therein will be words about this subject. It is redundantly expounded upon in countless articles that myself and many others have penned.

Just the other day while I was on my way to an appointment, in the lush quietness of my mobile office, (aka my car) I slipped in an audio cassette and there it was again...The presenter spent not a second less than 17 minutes of a 42 minute presentation on Direct Response Marketing, preaching fervently why anyone interested in successfully marketing their product or service could not afford to make an error nor consider anything less than sheer perfection in their selection of this ingredient of the marketing mix.

This aspect of your attempt to sell your product or service, without face to face contact, carries a lot of weight. It's importance, has been estimated as high as 90% in determining whether you will or will not get your prospect to act favorably.

You are all familiar with the cliche "you never get a second chance to make a good first impression," aren't you? Well as far as this subject is concerned, "no truer words were ever spoken."

So what is it that I am talking about here? What could be so necessary that it is given such importance to have millions and millions of words penned about it? What one element in the marketing of your product or service has such a major affect on your prospects conversion to a customer?

I know you are thinking, the marketing of my products or service involves a combination of components that work collectively together. Which ingredient of the mix is the glue that holds everything together? What is it?

It is the HEADLINE!

Albert Lasker, an early advertising pioneer said, "the headline in the end, today as 25 years ago is 90 percent of all there is to an ad. Why do I say 90%? Because if you don stop them with the headline, they won't read the rest."

And Tom (Big Al) Schreiter reminds us "the headline is not only the first line of your marketing flyer or letter. It is also the first thing you say when asked about your product or service and the opening line in any speech you give about your product or service, also the title of your book." It determines whether the hearer will continue listening or the reader will venture further.

Does your headline grab the readers attention? Is your headline interesting?

You do not know with accuracy what is on your prospects mind. You do not know what will appeal to them. You feel your headline, the body content of your message and the P.S. describes the benefits of your specially designed dohickey, or expounds on the necessity of your service with great splendor. Who could possibly refuse? How could anyone not want what you are offering?...Am I right?

Well the truth is, you are bias.

Why?

Could it be that your offer, your headline, and your P.S. broadcast your wants, not your prospects? Is it possible that you and your prospect have opposing views?

You don't know for sure and your prospect will not know unless they read your message. Your message is one of the other components of the marketing mix to get the prospect to make a favorable response.

Only by attracting the attention of your prospect "first" with your headline, which in turn pulls them into the body copy of your message, can this like mind transformation (or as Mr. Spock would cause, a Vulcan Mind Melt) occur.

This will only happen when, if, and after your headline has gripped your reader's attention.

Does your product or service lend itself in such a way which would allow you to make benefit claims in your headline? How about asking a potent leading question? Can you state a fact about a pain which your product or service fixes?

A universal principle of human nature is that your prospect will always do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure.

How about a contest or sweepstake lead in? Can you make a Free Gift Offer?

Another approach could be a headline like this "If you answer these questions correctly, we will send you...." To find out what the questions are they must read further. You could include the questions on your order form or in the opening of your message. The answer to the questions should be contained within the body copy of your message. This forces the prospect to read further.

Remember, your goal is to get the prospect into the body of your message. There you will sell them into taking the next step which is to buy your product or service, or go to your web site, or to call your special 800 number, or to request more information, or to.....

To design an effective headline, you must select your words, (generally verbs, action words) with great care.

Write, rewrite and rewrite again and again and again. I have rewritten a headline as many as fifty times before I hit upon what I felt to be the right combination of words for a headline. I have read of others whom have rewritten their headlines up to a hundred times.

It's that important! Do not take this lightly. You can only earn serious money with your product or service after you have attracted your prospects attention and get them to read your message.

Your prospect is selfish. They all have their personal radios tuned to WII-FM (What's In It For Me). That is why to capture their attention you must announce what hurt you can repair, what benefit (not what your product or service features) they will receive, what truths can you prove or dis-prove, what's in it for them.

Again, your headline can be compared to the lead story headline in the daily newspaper. It must pull the prospect in to the body.

Your headline is the title of your book, or your opening statement of your speech, or the first words you use to describe your product or service to another individual, or the first line of your article or marketing message. It's what is said first and it carries the weight of the rest of your presentation.

So you have written what you feel to be a killer headline. How do you determine if your headline will work?

You Test It!

Your prospect is motivated by wants not needs. Does your headline broadcast that your product or service satisfy's your prospect wants?

Earlier in this article it was suggested that you write down your headline. Then you rewrite it and rewrite it again and again until you come up with the best possible headline. Select the best of the best and test these headlines to determine which works best.

Testing allows you to lower your cost and often pays off in big dividends. How does it lower your cost? By testing different headlines to see which pulls the greatest response you avoid the mistake of selecting what you feel is the best headline. You know which headlines works best because you have actual numbers. Therefore, you can roll out the winning headline with confidence that you will receive a return.

Later on you will test the other different parts of your mailing package. The body copy, the use of coupons, order fulfillment methods, paper color, envelope size, colored ink, etc. Testing gives you a measurable means to determine how well your message gets across to the prospect.

Mail separate offers each with different headlines to a sample portion of your list. See which headline pulls the best. The headline which pulls best is the one you should use to roll out to the remainder of the list.

But don't stop there. Test, Test and Test again. Always be testing.

The true indicator of the success of your headline and offer is the response. Even when you have a known winner, rewrite, revamp, improve and test it more to see if you can improve its response.

Be aware that the market is constantly changing.

Your headline, your body copy, your marketing package and your product or service fulfillment methods must adapt to this changing market in order to stay relevant.

Your headline is one of the most important parts of your marketing message. You must put in the efforts to make your headline an attention grabber. This is accomplished by answering the prospects number one question with your headline.

What is that question.....?

What's In It For Me?

  ~ THE AUTHOR ~     GHarold is the publisher of "The Gerald Herald" - a weekly ezine,providing proven and tested e-marketing and successful life tactics, practices, and expertise. It's free ... sign-up today by visiting: http://www.10001press.com/TGHsignup.htm

Thank you for your visit. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

G. Harold McLeod
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