The Secret Weapon to Capture Your Reader's Attention
by George McKenzie
Did the headline capture your attention? Do you want to
find out what the secret weapon is? Will you keep reading?
Whether you want to sell a product to a web surfer through a
classified ad or sell a story idea to a reporter through a
news release, you have to capture their attention first.
Web surfers are notorious for ... well ... surfing. If you
don't grab their interest right away, they're gone.
The same is true with journalists. They usually decide in
five seconds if a press release goes in the trash or not.
"How can anyone make a judgment on a story’s newsworthiness
in five seconds?" you’re asking.
Answer: the headline.
Truth is, the headline is often the only thing on a release
that gets read. If it’s not attention grabbing, the release
generally takes a dive into the circular file.
Readers and surfers react just as quickly. You have only a
few seconds and the few words of a headline to hook them and
reel them in.
So, the secret weapon to capture your reader’s attention is a
great headline.
And if you want to learn from the masters of headline writing,
just turn on any of the network newscasts.
Think about it. Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather
are selling to you all time, and they're doing it through
headlines.
Only the headlines are called "teases."
In the language of the newsroom, teases are those quick and
often intriguing snippets of information they feed you just
before they go to a break. The idea is to make you say to
yourself, "Hey, I don't wanna miss that."
And because you don't want to miss that, you'll keep your
fingers off the remote through two minutes of commercial
babble about antacids, anti-depressants and laxatives.
Teases are aptly named. They're designed to show you a
little, but not too much. There's always a question, stated
or not, that's left unanswered. Their appeal is in their
mystery.
Here are some recent examples I've heard...
"It's a musical instrument that can kill you..."
"It's in your home...your blinds, your dishes...and it's
poisoning your kids..."
"Who would pay two million dollars for a piano?"
"Will kids getting high keep a drug from going to people who
really need it?"
"It's an environmental hazard that threatens every drop of
your drinking water..."
I’m sure you get the point. Your news release or ad headline
should accomplish the same thing as those teases: make the
reader want to keep going to unravel the mystery.
And that's a big step in getting them to buy your pitch.
Whether your pitch is an ad for a product directed to
consumers or an idea for news coverage directed to someone
in the media.
Hey, it works for Tom, Peter and Dan--it will work for you
too.
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
More Newsletter Marketing Articles
More By Developer Shed
 developerWorks - FREE Tools!
|
This demonstration gives you an overview of IBM® Rational® Build Forge Express Edition, a global offering that provides a framework to automate and execute software processes. Rational Build Forge provides a software assembly line that can support all of your tools, technologies, and platforms so you can achieve a repeatable, reliable, and traceable build and release process.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference, featuring Paul Boustany and Mark Krasovich, to speak to the experts about becoming a Rational ClearCase power user. Get a chance to ask your questions and learn tips and tricks for using Rational ClearCase in Agile development
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
David Barnes, Lead Evangelist for IBM Emerging Internet Technologies will discuss aspects of Web 2.0 that bring value to corporations, academia, and government. He'll also discuss IBM's vision around Web 2.0, including the importance of remixability and consumability. The discussion will culminate with examples of various IBM Software Group solutions you can use to get ahead of the Web 2.0 adoption curve.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Build secure Web services with transport-level security using IBM Rational Application Developer V7 and IBM WebSphere Application Server V6.1. Follow this three-part series for step-by-step instructions about how to develop Web services and clients, configure HTTP basic authentication, and configure HTTP over SSL (HTTPS). This first part of the series walks you through building a Web service for a simple calculator application. You generate and test two different types of Web services clients: a Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) client and a stand-alone Java client. You also handle user-defined exceptions in Web services.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
This webcast outlines the best practices that must be instituted to gain the maximum benefit from SOA while maintaining high quality of service. Whether you are deploying new applications or managing and monitoring your existing infrastructure, learn how you can ensure high quality of services with SOA based solutions from IBM. All registrants who attend this live Web Seminar will receive complimentary access to a white paper titled “Maintaining QoS in an SOA Environment”.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
This Fall, IBM Rational talks to you directly through a special teleconference series giving you access to the best minds in IBM Rational - product experts and market thought leaders who will answer your questions during these pre-scheduled telephone conference calls. Register today!
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference on December 11 at 1:00 pm ET to get tips on building your own plugins with Rational Method Composer. Get your questions answered!
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Visit IBM developerWorks to try the IBM SOA Sandbox for connectivity. The SOA Sandbox for connectivity provides a trial environment with the tooling and components to help you explore how to effectively connect your infrastructure and integrate all of the people, processes and information in your company. Use the hosted sandbox to explore SOA techniques that streamline connecting existing IT assets together, as well as learn how to connect them to new business logic.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
The Eclipse community is constantly working to extend Eclipse's functionality. In this webcast, learn about some of the most important and feature-rich projects under development. From multi-language support to plug-in development, tune in to see what Eclipse is capable of now.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
User communities play an important role in communication and collaboration around products, solutions and other areas of special interest to members. Successful communities are able to provide the right mix of content and services to deliver a value proposition that resonates with each audience. Join Tom Inman, VP of Marketing for Information and Platform Solutions as he introduces the new LeverageINFORMATION community. During this webcast, learn about the value provided by the community and how customers and partners derive value from the community in addressing their own technical and business challenges.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!
|
