The headline is the “commercial” for whatever comes next — news story or advertisement. Executed properly, it grabs the target consumers and insists that they pay attention.
From today’s Oregonian comes my favorite headline of the month:
“Hammer-Wielding Monks Clash at Holy Site”
I’ve been working with a customer in the medical field for a while now. A few months ago we stumbled on an ad for a particular procedure that worked better than anything else. I can measure response by click-throughs from our web site to theirs. The client can measure response by phone traffic, appointments, and sales.
And by any measure, this ad pulled better than anything else we’ve ever run. So we’ve been running it steadily for the past three months.
Recently my client wondered aloud whether it might be time to change the ad. Web clicks, phone calls and sales are all as strong as they’ve ever been.
“Leave it alone,” I said. “Your customers will tell you when it’s time to change — when they stop calling.”
If it’s your ad, you’ll be listening closer than anyone in the general public — and you’ll get bored with it long before your customers will.
But a ringing cash register is never boring.
…by Michael Fortin.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard business owners tell me that “everyone” is a customer. And sometimes (mattresses, tires) it might even be pretty close to true. But the Les Schwabs and Fred Meyers of the world are exceedingly rare — for most of us, there’s more money in dominating one segment.
If you want your phone calls to sound like they’re coming from a real office, Thriving Office may be for you. According to Business Week, it’s a 37-minute CD that “aims to give home businesses instant credibility by masking background noises with those of a bustling office.
I have no idea how to link you to the original article, but I’ll mail you a copy on request.
Nearly thirty years after its original release, “All Kindsa Girls” by the Real Kids remains the greatest record ever recorded.