Book: Ogilvy on Advertising (Amazon Affiliate Link)
Author: David Ogilvy (Bio)
Copyright: 1985
Chapter 7: Wanted: a renaissance in print advertising
“On average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. If follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money.” -- David Ogilvy
If you were to read only one chapter in this book, this is the one. Ogilvy offers rich, practical tips and insight on how to create print ads from concept to copy to completion. Since 90 percent of readers won’t read your ad, article or even tweet, if you don’t nail the headline, we’ll focus our analysis on Ogilvy’s ideas for writing headlines that draw people in.
How to write headlines that work
Here are Ogilvy’s main points on headline writing:
- “The headlines that work best are those that which promise the reader a benefit -- like a whiter wash, more miles per gallon, freedom from pimples, fewer cavities.”
- “Headlines which contain news are sure-fire. The news can be the announcement of a new product, an improvement of a new product, or a new way to use an old product ....On the average, ads with news are recalled by 22 percent more people than ads without news.”
- “Headlines that offer the reader helpful information, like HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE, attract above average readership.”
- “...include the brand name in the headline. If you don’t 80 percent of readers (who don’t read your body copy) will never know what product you are advertising.”
- “If you are advertising a kind of product which is only bought by a small group of people, put a word in your headline which will flag them down, like asthma, bedwetters, women over thirty-five.”
- “On the average, long headlines sell more merchandise than short ones.”
- “Specifics are more credible and more memorable than generalities.”
- “When you advertise in local newspapers, you get better results if you include the name of each city in your headline. People are most interested in what is happening where they live.”
- “Some copywriters write tricky headlines -- double meanings, puns and other obscurities. This is counter-productive.”
Ah, a great refresher of timeless principles that still work decades later. Yet, the number of available marketing platforms has exploded since the mid 1980’s. In addition to traditional media, we have websites, blogs, banner ads, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, mobile phones, that we use to gather an audience, grab attention and sell products. Are there different principles that apply, for example, to writing headlines for print ads versus Twitter updates? What about for writing headlines for hardcopy magazines versus the digital version of the same content?
What are your thoughts? How would you contrast writing headlines for print versus online? Are there fundamental differences to how you should approach the two formats? Or should the same headline work equally well in both instances?
I'm curious. What are your observations?
Previous Posts in this Book Study
Chapter 1: Overture- ‘Let us march against Philip.’
Chapter 2: How to produce advertising that sells
Chapter 3: Jobs in advertising -- and how to get them
Chapter 4: How to run an advertising agency
Chapter 5: How to get clients
Chapter 6: Open letter to a client in search of an agency
About the Author: Sean M. Lyden is a nationally recognized feature writer and columnist on sales, marketing, automotive and technology topics. As a ghostwriter and copywriter, Sean has served clients such as General Motors, SunTrust Service Corporation, Morgan Stanley, Embedded Linux Consortium and Shaw Industries. He’s also co-author of the book How to Succeed and Make Money on Your First Rental House (Wiley, 2003). Follow Sean on Twitter.
© Sean M. Lyden, 2010, All Rights Reserved
Hi Sean:
Here's one difference I notice between print and online headlines. Print heads are supported by graphics, with customers mentally integrating head and photo. So the head can be clever, ironic or monosyllabic--and still do its job of drawing the reader into the body copy.
Successful online heads are text-focused, to please search spiders.
While all headline best practices should work equally well online and off, SEO complicates online head construction.
In online heads, for example, I notice SEO copywriting can often subtly--or not so subtly--shift emphasis away from customer benefits to the product, product features--or the company itself.
Example:
#1 (Print head for all-weather tires): "Now you can protect your family--under the worst road conditions!"
#2 (Online head for all-weather tires: "Our all-weather tires protect your family--under the worst road conditions!"
It's not impossible to embed key words and stress benefits, in online heads, but it takes special skill--and a lot more time.
Posted by: twitter.com/WritersKitchen | 10/19/2010 at 03:06 PM
Excellent points, Lorraine. And well said. I like your contrast of print v online head with the "all-weather tires" example....I started looking at how publications like the Wall Street Journal and NY Times adjust their headers from print to digital. Will take some time to gather enough data to make any useful conclusions. However, here are some examples from today's WSJ. Changes seem subtle, using fewer adjectives for online headers.
Print: High Battery Cost Curbs Electric Cars
Online: Battery Costs Curb Electric Cars
Print: Building a Giant Lab to Test Disasters
Online: Building a Lab to Test Disasters
Print: Reuters Columnist Resigns Amid Stock-Trade Controversy
Online: Columnist Resigns Over Trading
Posted by: Sean M. Lyden | 10/19/2010 at 07:03 PM