Want an easy win without doing anything extra?
This is your trick. This is your shortcut to getting 10, 20, 100 times more videos views, and it’s simple. All you have to do change the headline.
If you’re using YouTube, the headline is the title. On email, it’s the subject line. On a blog post, the title is the headline, and it’s one of the first things people see when viewing your content.
I have changed the headline on my YouTube videos and seen significant increases in views. In fact, I once increased video views by 700 times, and you can do the same.
My mentor and great marketing legend Jay Abraham has helped Tony Robbins and Daymond John make a name for themselves through easy marketing and business hacks, and it’s helped us, too. Jay provides all sorts of educational content.
One sales letter he offers is called “37 Million-Dollar Headlines,” and he gives great examples on how to write better, more attention-getting headlines. Jay gave me permission to post a short excerpt from this document, and I wanted to share it with you.
If you understand the rules of a great headline, you’ll see massive results immediately …
The headline is unquestionably the most important element in most advertising.
Likewise — it is also the most singularly important element of any selling message “live or recorded, in person or by phone, audio or video” your company ever uses.
It is the opening sentence or paragraph you use in any sales letter or written communication you ever send out to customers, prospects, suppliers, or staff. It’s the first words you or your sales people (including in-store clerks, order department or telephone marketers) utter, when they engage anyone in a sales presentation or one-on-one discussion.
Likewise, the “headline,” or its “equivalent,” is the first phrase you begin your conversation with when a customer or prospect comes in or calls in. It is also the first paragraph you state when recording a commercial or when meeting people at your trade show booth display.
The purpose of a headline is to grab your prospect’s ATTENTION. When I say your prospect, I mean that your headline should zero in on precisely whom you want to reach — your target market. For example, if you want to reach homeowners, put the word “homeowners” in the headline.
The headline should serve as an ad for your ad. It should tell the reader immediately and clearly the essence of what you’re trying to say in the body copy. The headline should give the reader a Big Benefit or Big Promise. So, create a headline that tells the right people precisely the benefit you’re offering them.
When you write or decide upon your headline — or its opening equivalent — you have spent at least 80 cents out of your dollar. Stated differently, 80 percent of your outcome — four-fifths of your result…all but 20 percent of the success of your selling effort is effected positively or negatively by how and what you communicate in the beginning. A change of headline can make a 20 times improvement in response or acceptance by your customer or prospect of your proposition. Every headline or opening statement should appeal to the prospect’s or reader’s or listener’s self-interest. It should promise him or her a desirable, powerful and appealing benefit.
To learn more about Jay and his take on writing great headlines, go here.
