MindValley Labs Internet Marketing Blog

Many people do their own writing, be it copywriters cranking subject lines and sub-headlines, or “normal Joes and Janes” riffing bullets and body copy.

Here are a 3 techniques that will instantly SPICE up your copy.

The Knew/New Method

I came across this in an article written by Sean D’Souza, the author of Psychotactics. “Knew” are existing benefits which people already know about, for example, how to save money, how to double sales, how to do proper marketing, how to write a headline… these are things that you already know. But, the problem with things you already know is that they are boring. Because it’s familiar, you have no curiosity to find out more.

But, when you add “new” to “knew”, you can create intensely powerful headlines because it adds something intriguing. “New” is something that is so totally unrelated to “knew” that it transforms the headline into something curious and intriguing. You always start with the “knew”.

Let me give you an example. e.g. ‘how to write compelling articles’. That is “knew”. You can add a twist by saying that it’s the George Bush method to writing compelling articles. Suddenly, there’s something disruptive because it’s so divergent, and there enters the “new”, which throws in the element of curiosity to the equation.

Simply put, take something familiar and add something strange. This is one of the most powerful headline formulas I know, and it can be used for bullet points as well. I use a lot of this. It transforms your copy in a new and compelling way.

Specific Target Approach

Again, this is from Sean D’Souza. You start out with the target, then you name the benefit you want to accomplish in the headline you are writing. Suppose you are coming up with a headline, lets say as an example, “How to Write Headlines”. If you use that as the headline of your article, it’s a very weak headline.

So, what do you do? One of the things you can do with this approach is inject benefit into the headline. For example, “How to Write Headlines That Draw Money”, where the benefit is “That Draw Money”.

The second thing you could do with this approach is by adding a numerical goal to it: “How a Headline Can Generate a 200% Boost in Profits”. The “200% increase” is the target. Basically, whichever specific target approach you use, the end result delivers what the bullet or headline wants to accomplish.

Remember, make it as specific as you can. Anything that is vague will lose your readers attention. Let me show you some other examples that is strengthened with a specific target. If your topic is on writing body copy, your headline could be “How to Write Body Copy to Attract Joint Venture Partners”. Then comes in the specificity. “3 Ways to Write Body Copy That Attracts Joint Venture Partners.” The headline is strengthened because it talks about something specific, and a targeted result it’s working towards.

National Enquirer Approach

This is one is extremely straightforward, because the name says it all. You go into the National Enquirer, or any tabloid for that matter, and swipe the headlines there. It’s very effective because it’s a very non-traditional way of doing it. It’s a breath of fresh air from the normal, standard Internet marketing-type headlines.

This approach captures people’s attention because it doesn’t follow normal headline formulas, it’s not like “Who Else wants To Earn Millions?”. Don’t get me wrong, although the conventional headline formula still works, it has its place. One of my recent headlines using the National Enquirer method pulled in a much higher conversion rate compared to what we previously had.

More headline madness is here.

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About the Author

Kenneth Yu is a tormented artist, but he was determined not to be a starving one. This is the primary reason why this D&AD award-winning advertising creative has plunged into the world of Internet entrepreneurship, and the rest -- as they say -- is history. Straddling both the creative and business realm, Kenneth combines bullet-fast ideation and his vast experience working with the big brands to alchemize marketing gold as the Head Copywriter and Marketing Strategist in MindValley. He shares more out-of-the-box marketing and copywriting tips (plus cool irreverent stuff) on his Twitter

Check out other posts by Kenneth

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