“A great title is a work of genius,” said E. Haldeman-Julius in the 1920s.
Haldeman-Julius sold 200 million (really) of his “Little Blue
Books.” His headlines were his product, because he sold his books
by the title. About halfway through his brilliant marketing career he
wrote a book called “The First Hundred Million,” in which
he shared some of his secrets…
EHJ had a system. If a title didn't sell over 10,000 copies
in a year, it was sent to a place in his office called "The Hospital"
to be given a new title. And if the new title bombed, then it went into
"The Morgue." As an example, "Art of Controversy" didn't meet his
10,000 copy quota. The title was changed to: "How to Argue Logically"
and sales soared to 30,000 copies. He changed nothing about the
book—just the title.
Haldeman-Julius discovered that certain words could increase the
sales of almost any book. In 1925 "Patent Medicine" sold a measly 3,000
copies. Haldeman-Julius changed the title to: "The Truth About
Patent Medicine" and sales rose to a respectable 10,000 copies.
EHJ found that the words "The Truth About" had some sort of magic. But
far and away the best was “How To.” “How to
Psycho-analyze Yourself” out-sold "Psycho-analysis Explained" and
"How I Psycho-analyzed Myself" almost four times over. He found that
the words: Life; Love; Sexy; Romance; Self-improvement; and
Entertainment also worked well in titles. Small changes in his titles
resulted in massive differences in sales.
Has the crafting of learning-laden and benefit-promising headlines
gone out of style? Gary Halbert was a copywriting legend of recent
times in the way that EHJ was in the ‘20s. Here’s what he
said: “Go read a copy of ‘The First Hundred Million.’
It is where I learned my magic words… the ones that make copy
SIZZLE and my headlines impossible to ignore.”
In the “Information Age,” facts drive the internet.
Think that’s new? Good old EHJ found that “The Facts You
Should Know About…” was a massive hit again and again. The
more things change, the more they stay the same. Yet so many
advertisers run any headline at all, or no headline at all, because
their creators think it's trendy or clever. Seldom will such an ad
succeed.
Arguably, the most famous headline of all time was written by John
Caples: "They Laughed When I Sat Down at The Piano—but When
I Started to Play...." This ad was written for the U.S.
School of Music and people are still copying it today. Caples was a
past master of the headline that promised both learning and
benefit—and of copy (and products) that delivered them.
Maxwell Sackheim was a great ad writer from E. Haldeman-Julius’s
era. His most famous headline was “Do You Make These Mistakes in
English?” You may well have seen that classic headline before,
but you almost surely don’t know that the first draft was
“Are You Afraid of Making Mistakes in English?” See how one
word changed the product from boring to
exciting—“these.” That one demonstrative pronoun
promised specific information and real benefits.
Pardon a somewhat personal question: What Mistakes Do You Make in English With Your Headlines?
About The Author
coach who helps business owners and independent professionals who are
frustrated that they're working too many hours for too little reward.
Sign up for his free tips on earning more and working less at http://www.MindPowerMarketing.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Distributed by Hasan Shrek, independence blogger. Also run
online business ,matrix,internet marketing solution ,online store script .
Beside he is writing some others blogs for notebook computer ,computer training ,computer software andpersonal computer,Cyber Forest,internet weapon,talk about business ,business is my blood ,hasan's blog ,cyber business
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technorati Tags: internet, web, internet marketing, internet business, business online, affiliate, affiliate program, affiliate marketing, article, free article, marketing article, make money, make money online, work at home
No comments:
Post a Comment