Thinking Like A Tabloid Writer

If you want your phone to ring and your tills to ding, your

advertising must get peoples attention!

Every single day people are inundated with advertising from
thousands of places. If you want yours to get noticed - it
had better be different.

Here is s simple five-step formula for every piece of
advertising you:

1. Get their attention in a very bold way.

2. Arouse their emotions and their interest.

3. Tell them an interested story in a believable way.

4. Offer them an incentive to take action - right NOW.

5. Ask them to take action immediately and make it easy to
do so without too many choices.

Most people are unaware that the success of your
advertising is completely dependent on one single component
- your headline.

A strong, benefit packed headline holds 80 - 90% of the
success of your advertising. If you do not get their
attention with a headline they will not read anything
else.

Look at the National Enquirer, People, The Star etc. those
magazines sell so well because of the headlines on the
cover (and they do - more than the top 5 business
newspapers combined!)

The people who write those headlines make upwards of one
million dollars per year to write the most exciting,
appealing, emotion stirring headlines possible. And their
best headlines, sell millions of copies of those newspapers
every single week.

Think like a tabloid writer - is there anything you can
say about your business or products that would make people
stop in a grocery lineup to read your advertising?

If so, use it!

People do not buy on logic, they buy based on emotions.

You must ask them to take action with every piece of
marketing material - offer them an incentive to phone you
today, or get a free report from your web site, or fax in
a coupon for a special incentive.

The key is to make it worth their while and to ask
them to do it right now.

Also, do not ask them to do 3 different things at once -
us mere humans are not that complex and can only handle
one thing at a time!

Comments

[Bruce Carlson]

Hi Troy,

I love those tabloid headlines. I've heard that the National Enquirer's writers are some of the highest-paid writers in the world. And simply because of their ability to write incredible, irresistible headlines. Even if some of them are downright silly.

Like these two classic Enquirer headlines which you may have heard about:

Preacher Explodes In Pulpit

Boy Eats Own Head

Wow! Lethal stuff.

Hope you're doing well.

Cheers,
Bruce

[Troy]

Hi Bruce, Great point. The headline writers DO make 7 figures a year for their headlines (I know someone who used to write for them and they confirmed this).

They make this for good reason.

One good cover story (headline) will sell more copies than the top 3 to 5 business rags - COMBINED. That is some serious moola.

And it is really, no different in your own business. One GOOD headline, targetted at the RIGHT market, and promoted using the proper MEDIA and you will have a winner.

There is no better feeling than matching media to market to message... the sales will be brisk and it is a rush to watch them come in.

Keep working on those tabloid style headlines!

I did a project a couple years ago for a company who specialized in search engine traffic and lead generation. They had 400,000 names in their database.

I was hired to test various types of emails to the list to see what made the most money.

First, I tested the same style of headlines and emails they were used to using. This was my "control" or the results to beat.

Then, I tested taboid style headlines.

WOW!

5 to 10 TIMES more sales was very common.

Some of my best ones...

"Cat attacks man, woman and child" - to sell electronic mice for their cat

"Robotic Birds Take Over Continental US" - to sell little chirping birds (we sold hundreds of these silly little things using that headline!)

The power of being "trashy" and fitting the tabloid style of marketing is something you MUST test.

What if it is the one thing that makes you an extra $50,000 or $100,000 this year? How hokey is it then?

Troy