How do you write catchy headlines for your marketing content?

Two great tools you can use for this are customer archetypes and personas. This will help you understand your customer both from a detailed perspective and a physiological one. Knowing how your customer thinks is critical to creating a successful campaign.

Knowing your audience is the first step in every communication, even internal emails! Get data or conduct interviews to uncover the true pain and desired outcomes. Only when you get into your audience's head will you be able to craft content and headlines that resonate.

Create a sense of urgency: Incorporate elements of urgency or scarcity to motivate action. Use phrases like "limited time offer," "act now," or "don't miss out" to encourage immediate engagement. Ask a question: Pose a thought-provoking question in your headline to spark curiosity and encourage readers to learn more. Make sure the question is relevant to your audience and prompts them to consider the value of your content. Use numbers and statistics: Numbers and statistics can add credibility and specificity to your headlines. Incorporate data-driven insights or listicles to make your content more appealing and informative.

?? Go beyond traditional research. Join forums, social media groups, or even online courses where your audience might spend their time. ?? Look at businesses not directly competing with you but serving your audience in different ways. ?? Understanding how these companies address the same audience's needs can offer fresh perspectives on engaging with your potential customers.

Identify a widespread problem or challenge your audience faces and present your content as the solution. For example, "Struggling with Low Engagement? Boost Your Clicks with These Foolproof Tactics!"

The key to great headlines is clarity. A lot of businesses get to cute with their headlines and that ends up confusing people.

Headlines or subject lines are the single most important part of your content. Why? Because we all have so many things coming at us, it has to be intriguing or enticing to get us to pay attention. Testing is key because what you think may resonate, actually doesn't. Be kind to yourself. It's a journey to test and get it right. Those who want perfection out of the gate may be too rigid for this profession.

Leverage headline formulas proven to perform well in search results, such as "How-to" guides, listicles, and question-based headlines. For example, "How to Master LinkedIn Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners" targets users seeking practical advice on linkedin marketing strategies.

I take a page out of John Lennon’s process. But since I ain’t no plagiarizer, I change it up a bit. First, I grab some pasta. The flatter and wider the better. Wide egg noodles are the best, but you’d probably manage with linguine. I then write a bunch of single words on each piece of pasta and boil em up. When they’re al dente, I drain the pot and launch the whole lot of pasta skywards — attempting to stick as much pasta to the ceiling as possible. Then, as the pasta slowly falls off the ceiling piece by piece, I attempt to jot down the word on each piece. I still haven’t figured out how to keep the ink on the pasta during the boiling process. So I usually just end up making some stuff up and there’s your headline

Clarity and storytelling are most important when writing great copy. Here are some excellent ways to do this. - Use problems to hook attention - Write with empathy and authority to gain trust - Use clear steps to ensure doing business with you is easy - Use direct calls to action - Highlight success and failures

Tell a story to hook people in or use interesting statistics. Please avoid jargon and define your acronyms even if you think your audience should know it. Good writing uses clear and simple language. Another pet peeve is the unnecessary lengthy words like "utilize" when you can just say "use." Those few extra characters take longer to process. Say it simply!

Use power words and sensory language to make your headlines more impactful. Words like "discover," "unleash," "transform," or "unlock" can add a sense of dynamism and excitement to your headlines.

To be Honest, I use chatgpt. It makes things way easier, when we give context, and the better prompts to Chatgpt. When you know what you want i makes it easy

All content has some call to action (CTA). Depending on the stage content strategy, such as awareness vs. conversion, your CTA will change. It is worth testing the CTA language as well. For example, we used more personalized language in our CTAs like "Get Your Free Guide" and received more clicks.

I usually sit down for an hour or so and just brain-dump 50 headlines... A swipe file definitely comes in handy for inspiration too!

We use this workflow for CTAs: 1. Find the common 5 CTAs used by industry competitors 2. Add 1 split test for each CTA this gives you 10 CTAs to work with 3. For the next 10 days, run the first split test (usual traffic volume on our client websites allows us to get enough data in 10 days) 4. You'll find the new top 5 within 2 months 5. Now, you can run intermittent tests and compare with the average of your top 5 to find newer winners and also keep testing the 5 against each other.

Clearly articulate the value proposition, and demonstrate why people should choose your product/service. Remember to include a measurable call to action.

Conduct keyword research to identify relevant terms and phrases that your audience is searching for. Aim for a balance between creativity and SEO optimization to attract both human readers and search engine algorithms.

Showcase the practical outcomes or success stories from your content to build credibility and attract readers. Use lines like "See How 50 Companies Turned Their Fortunes Around with Our Guide!"