I. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF AN ADVERT IS THE HEADLINE.

If you can think up a good headline which selects the right audience and offers them a benefit, you can almost certainly produce a good ad. Your copy can simply be a continuation of the idea you expressed in your headline.
On the other hand, if your ad has a poor headline, you almost certainly have a poor ad, because people will not read the copy.

You may say—How about the basic selling appeal? Isn't that important? The answer is, yes, it is important and the headline usually contains the basic selling appeal. For example, the headline "How I retired on a guaranteed income for life" contains the basic selling appeal of financial security after retirement.
You may say—How about the illustration used in an ad? Isn't that important? The answer is yes. However, the illustration is usually determined by the headline.

 For example, the retirement income ads used by the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company are illustrated with pictures of happily retired people.
Therefore, in writing an ad, you should give a great deal of
attention to headline writing. Write a lot of headlines and then put them aside for a while. Then go back and select the best headline.

2. YOU SHOULD PROMISE BENEFITS.
What is the most important element in a headline? It is usually the 'promise of benefits. You can use a direct promise or an implied promise. Here is a headline which contains a direct promise.
New shampoo leaves your hair smoother—easier to manage. Here is a headline which contains an implied promise:
Imagine me . . . holding an audience spellbound for 30 minutes
The reader figures that by reading the copy in this ad, he too may learn the secret of holding an audience spellbound.
Here are other examples of headlines that contain promises.
The secret of making people like you I lost my bulges and saved money too Who else wants a lighter cake—in half the mixing time?

3. CURIOSITY IS A POWERFUL TOOL.
One method for writing a successful headline is to include two elements as follows: (1) a promise of benefits, and (2) a curiosity-arousing element. Example:
How a "fool stunt" made me a star salesman
This headline arouses curiosity with the words "fool stunt." And it promises a benefit with the words "star salesman."
Here are other examples:
How a strange accident saved me from baldness



4. YOU MUST MAKE YOUR MEANING CLEAR.
Make your meaning clear if you want to make a sale. For example, notice the clearness of the following mail order headlines:
Reduce as you walk . . . wonder girdle takes 4 inches off
Stop cat and dog damage . . . $1.00
Free . . . Home and garden ideas you can use
These mail order ads have to produce sales at a profit or else the advertiser will go out of business.
For the sake of contrast, read the following unclear headlines from general ads whose sales results are not traceable.
Stays time in its flight
Space travel
Directing diversified interests
Moral: If you want a lesson in printed salesmanship, read some mail order ads. Read especially the mail order ads which you see repeated again and again. Those are the ads that are paying off in sales.

5. PEOPLE LIKE TO READ LISTS OF RULES.
People like to read numbered lists of rules and methods.
For example, here are some chapter headings from one of the best selling books of modern times, How to Win Friends and Influence People.
1. Six ways to make people like you
2. Twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking
3. Nine ways to change people without giving offense or
arousing resentment
4. Seven rules for making your home life happier

Another example comes from the best-selling book of all time, namely, that famous list of rules known as "The Ten Commandments."

6. HOW TO APPEAL TO BOTH MEN AND WOMEN.
Sometimes you can increase the readership of your ad if you can write a headline which arouses the interest of both men and women. For example, here is the title of a Reader's Digest article which does this:
Why husbands don't talk to their wives
Men will read this article to find out why other men keep silent in the presence of their wives. And women will read it to find out why their husbands aren't talking.
Here are three more headings which appeal to both men and women:
How to live with a woman
What's wrong with American men?
Advice to wives whose husbands don't save money

7. YOU CAN OVERCOME BAD NEWS WITH GOOD NEWS.
One aid to selling is to admit in the headline of your ad that the proposition you are selling is going to cost the reader something. You might object to this on the grounds that this is telling the bad news too soon and that the bad news or price tag should appear at the end of the ad. However, you can overcome this by putting good news into the headline as well as bad news. For example:
Is $40 a day worth 4¢ stamp?

This headline tells the reader that you are going to require him to use a 4¢ stamp to find out about your proposition. This is bad news. However, the good news ($40 a day) is such very
good news that the 4$ stamp seems small by comparison. Here are two other headlines that use this technique.
How $7 started me on the road to $12,000 a year
How I turned $1000 into a million in real estate—in my
spare time

8. THE MORE YOU TELL, THE MORE YOU SELL.
A lesson you can learn from mail order advertisers is the sales value of including in an ad a telegraphic presentation of many benefits. For example, here is copy from one of the mail order ads mentioned above:
Stop cat and dog damage . . . $1.00
Dog wicks are the perfect solution for repelling pets. One sniff and away they'll run. Hang this chemical wick on shrub or branch and rest easy for the whole season. Safe, harmless to animals. Use inside or out—protects lawns, garbage pails, flowers, furniture. Trains your pets and neighbors' dogs. Guaranteed to do the job or your money back. Pack of 20 for $1, postage paid.

9. SPECIFIC COPY IS MORE BELIEVABLE.
The headline, "How I Made $20 Last Week," is not as believable as "How I Saved $19.83 Last Week."
An example of specific copy is the famous Ivory Soap slogan "99 44/100 pure."
Here are some other examples of copy that is believable because it is specific:
Take any 3 of these Kitchen appliances—for only $8.95 (Values up to $15.45)
Pierced by 301 Nails . . . retains full air pressure (automobile tires)
161 new ways to a man's heart—in this fascinating book for cooks


10. SELECT YOUR AUDIENCE.
Here are the headlines of two ads that were tested against each other by means of a split-run copy test:
1. Car owners—save one gallon of gas in every ten
2. Save one gallon of gas in every ten
Each ad contained the same hidden offer in which people were invited to write for a sample of the product. Ad number one, beginning with the words "Car owners," pulled 27% more sample requests.
 

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