Everyone knows that the key to copywriting is the headline. It’s the aroma that tempts readers to take a bite of your prose. With their attention at stake, it pays to spend the time and effort to sculpt the perfect headline. However, there are times when the headline simply refuses to be right. If that’s happened to you before, then you’re not alone. Just like writer’s block, headline block can be an equally frustrating impasse. Thankfully, Steve Harrison has some interesting tricks to help us navigate around the jam with his book How to Write Better Copy: Concise Introductions to the Topics that Matter. Join Wordsmith as we examine the key ingredients for savoury headlines!
Eye on the ball
What’s the most important element of a headline? Being catchy? Being quirky and collecting clicks? While both are valid, they are not the only reasons. Headlines, despite being hooks, need to give “vital cues” about the content – hence Harrison recommends “keeping the proposition pinned above your desk”. In other words, what’s the point of your article and why do your readers need to read about it?
“Even the best writers come up with headlines that look good, but miss the mark,” he explains. “Keep checking that your headlines are communicating, dramatising or demonstrating that thought.” It’s easy to lose track of an article’s purpose whilst pursuing reader engagement and it’s a bad habit that even news sources fall prey to occasionally. “Inevitably, if the criterion for including the story on the website is determined by the number of clicks, then we’re going down a very dangerous path,” says Peter Preston (former editor of the Guardian). This also means that stories warranting good storytelling and journalism will often be shoved aside in favour of “trivial” and “instant gratification”.
Plastering the point of an article above your workstation is primitive, but it’s an effective way to remind yourself what you are writing for. Harrison provides an example of how Metro, a free daily newspaper in the UK for commuters, lost track during their “The Voice” campaign – which featured headlines spanning the entire front and back pages of the newspaper. The headline starts with:
“This METRO has no photos of your friend’s beach holiday. Nor does it have alerts, notifications, or filtered photographs of your cousin Gary’s brunch. It does, however, have shedloads news, sport, showbiz, music, film and comedy. The sort of stuff you can actually like and share in the real world.”
Although long headlines are rare, they can also be a sight to behold given their capacity for detail and persuasion. This first headline is great because it makes fun of people’s attachment to social media (especially on commutes where everyone has their phone out) and how often people share frivolous things. Although commutes would be the perfect time to catch up on the news, the next section of the headline takes two steps back:
“Whatever you do right now, do NOT look up. That enthusiastic foodie chap from work is over there. If he clocks you it’ll be spiraliser this and juicer that, all the way to your desk. Behind this METRO is definitely the safest place to be right now. No doubt about it.”
“It’s a funny line, and it’s based on a problem we might have when travelling to work… but it isn’t the problem that the Metro solves,” explains Harrison. “And therefore it isn’t the reason why you would want to pick up the Metro in the morning. It’s easy for me to be picky. And I know how difficult it is to deliver numerous executions in a big campaign, but when you’re faced with that kind of brief, try to stay focused on your proposition, no matter how tempting it is to explore other avenues.”
Letting the thoughts stew
Some people are quick thinkers and seemingly always have the perfect quip or headline ready. For the folks who need a moment to think, Harrison recommends letting the subconscious do the hard work – which involves putting ideas on the backburner whilst doing something else.
Here’s a handy checklist:
1. Have a clear understanding of the brief to prevent idea deviation
2. Write down a list of headlines – there’ll be many, but Harrison considers this to be an important step in weeding out the clichés and old ideas
3. Circle the ones that you think are okay in terms of direction
4. Work on something else while having a notepad handy
5. Once a good idea pops up, write it down
“This game of patience was introduced by American adman James Web Young in his book A Technique for Generating Ideas back in 1940,” describes Harrison. Psychology professor Arne Dietrich, in his paper “The Cognitive Neuroscience of Creativity”, traced this phenomenon to the prefrontal cortex. “In the early stages, the prefrontal cortex focuses your attention while you’re mulling over the details of the brief. At the same time, it relates those details to the stuff that’s already in your head and acts as a ‘search engine that pulls task relevant information from long-term storage’.”
Once you put an idea aside, the basal ganglia – a group of structures connected to the cerebrum and thalamus – gets to work on bolstering it from the subconscious. “The basal ganglia hang out in the brain’s Deep Web,” Harrison writes. “Free from the constraints of consciousness, they play with the information, put together much looser combinations and produce fresher ideas. As Dietrich says, ‘because there is no apparent effort or intention associate with these intuitive insights, they are often described as mysterious’.” Perhaps it’s why renowned surrealism artist Salvador Dali often took power naps while holding a key above a plate – while he rests, his basal ganglia conjures up strange and novel images. Upon falling asleep, his hand relaxes and the key hits the plate to act as an alarm clock. The moment he snaps awake, he can recreate the thoughts immediately while they are still lucid.
The Buzzfeed approach
One of the most straightforward and fool proof ways to write a headline is to start off with “How to…” followed by the benefit of the article. How to write better headlines. How to make an authentic quesadilla … and so forth, but what if you wanted something more creative?
As much as we make fun of Buzzfeed for having junk content, they have mastered the art of clickbait titles – and unironically, Harrison argues that there are takeaways to learn. Listicles are a prime example of headlines that work. “Have a look now at ‘29 things you need to know about blah blah’ and ‘18 nasty things celebrities are saying about whatshisname’,” Harrison recounts. Odd numbers seem to work best according to Buzzfeed’s horde of analytical staff.
Taking the listicle approach, we can give the “how to” style of headlines a significant boost in persuasion. From “How to write better headlines” to “7 ways to write headlines that’d make ad man David Ogilvy proud” or “How to make authentic quesadillas” to “5 tricks to make your quesadillas as authentic as abuela’s”.
Aside from listicles, Harrison also points out that Buzzfeed is notorious for quizzes and questions. One of their more infamous articles, a simple question with a poll asking what colour the pictured dress is, received over 3 million votes since the article was posted in 2015. “See if you can do something similar. It might not be a quiz, just asking a question can be effective,” he explains. Reusing our examples above: “Is your headline game struggling? Here are 7 ways to improve!” or “Do your quesadillas always turn out like a wet mop? Not anymore with these 5 abuela-approved tricks!”. Much better, right?
More little tricks
Aside from remembering the purpose of the article, Harrison also suggests focusing on the problem whilst thinking up headlines. “ ‘Bad back?’ is probably one of the most effective headlines ever written,” he comments. “One in three of us will, at some time, answer ‘yes’. Which means this headline has spoken directly to tens of millions of us over the years.” From your brief, keep in mind the problem that you expect your audience to have and why they need to read your content to fix their problem. Feel free to integrate some of the Buzzfeed tricks too! For example:
Are you concerned that your headlines aren’t up to par?
Craving restaurant quality quesadillas at a fraction of the cost? Here are 5 ways to step up your tortilla game!
If all things fail, try the journalism approach and feature a quotation in the headline. Testimonials make for great content, but did you know you could use them as headlines as well? It gives a sense of authenticity and truth to your work… but do be careful who you quote. “Often, you see existing customers being quoted in this way, but just reproducing some positive feedback from ‘Mr Smith of Brighton” isn’t convincing unless you provide more information about him.” The last thing you want to do is stuff your headline with extra fluff just to describe who you are quoting – unless you have a very good reason not to, quote only industry leaders or someone who most people would be familiar with.
Writing headlines is tough, and when your readers and colleagues expect you to bring out your A-game every time, the pressure is immense. Thankfully, these simple techniques don’t require an inspirational trip to the Himalayas to work. However, if sensitive timing is a concern, your friendly neighbourhood copywriters are always eager to step in and offer a hand!