Sponsored Content WEBINAR: ELECTION 2008: E-mail Tips from a Political Insider   WEBINAR: Becoming the Illusionist: The Magic of Using "Brand" to Drive Response without Results Disappearing in the Process   WEBINAR: Score and Win Through Cooperation   TOOLS OF THE TRADE: Holiday's are prime-time for email marketing - maximize your ROI by getting to the inbox   ON DEMAND WEBINAR--MASTER CLASS: High Performance Online and Off-line Strategies for Large Scale Customer Acquisition   FREE WHITE PAPER - Direct Mail and the Internet Find any supplier you need - agencies, CRM, fulfillment, lists, e-commerce, paper, printers, telemarketing, and more. Featured Categories Lists and Data Telemarketing Database Marketing E-commerce Web Marketing Agency & Creative Services Print, Production & Paper Lists and Data Processing :: view all categories Get free access to more than 50,000 list data cards - one of the most comprehensive databases in the industry. >> Search Now DIRECT Buzz Blog Webinars Buyer's Guide Calculators JobZone ListFinder Promo Calendar Research Store E-Newsletters Print Magazine This Month in Direct Magazine Deal With It Direct had a full house for this year's list roundtable. Considering all the additional responsibilities on brokers' plates, that's impressive... See Full July Issue

Advertising books often will suggest the top 10 or so rules for writing award-winning headlines. (We found four such lists on the Web in less than half an hour.) If only it were that simple.

Newsroom copy desks craft headlines that summarize the essence of the story that follows. They will select key words — usually short ones — that lure readers into wanting more information. Just as newspaper headlines vary, depending on the elements of the article, advertising headlines also will differ for several reasons.

There's no clear-cut, simple solution for crafting the most appropriate attention-grabbers. And every rule can be broken for the right reason. Here's some you should follow most of the time.

• Use the active voice

  The active voice is stronger and more direct. Compare “The Size You Need Is Stocked by Our Store” with “Your Size Is Here.” Notice also that fewer words are needed for the active voice. That means the type size can increase — and you can add white space to give viewers' eyes a refreshing pause.

• Name the benefit

  Try to sell the product's advantages to the consumer. How will this item or service make his or her life better? You can't assume readers will wait around for the body copy to find out what it can do for them.

• Keep it positive

  Phrasing things in the positive is better than using negative words. Veteran newspaper editors used to admonish rookie reporters to write that the defendant was found innocent, even though the official jury verdict was “not guilty.” The reason? To protect the paper from a libel suit if the word “not” was dropped from the story through a composing or editing error.

  Also, negative headlines can leave a negative impression in customers' minds. If the giant print in the ad says “Buddy's Glue Will Not Leave an Ugly Mess,” some readers will only recall the words “Buddy's Glue” and “Ugly Mess.” Undoubtedly, that's the opposite combination you were hoping for when crafting that head. Remember Richard Nixon's infamous line, “I am not a crook?” Most Americans probably recall only one key word: crook.

• Make your words count

  Short headlines aren't always better than longer heads, except on billboards. You need to placate harried readers, so don't bog them down with excessive wording in your grabber titles. If you can say it in fewer words, that's fine. Never waste words in a headline. Use what you need and not one extra word.

  But use as many words as you must to drive your message home. David Ogilvy disputed the mantra that no one reads long headlines. He always maintained that if readers were engaged — meaning they were interested because the writer had done a good job — they would accept longer headlines. One of his many classic headlines used 18 words: “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”

• Work with the visual

  Look at many ads and you'll see the obvious. The headline and the visual form a team. One often leads into the other, forming a punch line that completes the message. And it's not always the photo that finishes off the interest-getting point. It can be the head following the visual. As the old saying goes, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

  The photo should not merely illustrate the head. It might show the product in use, but in an unusual, humorous or otherwise distinctive application.

• Avoid most punctuation marks

  A period isn't needed at the end of every headline. Most heads are far from being full sentences, so they don't need that treatment. Additionally, the period, besides taking up room, signifies the end. You want readers to continue with the headline through to the ad's other elements — visuals, subheads and copy.

  What marks should be used? Certainly a question mark is needed if a question is being asked. Never use an exclamation point (or, perish the thought, multiple ones). Its overuse merely enhances the image that you're shoveling puffery at the audience.

• Take chances

  Some may caution you against humor, puns or other abnormalities of good copywriting. Puns, often called the lowest form of humor, are criticized for having no selling power. But if done well, puns can serve a purpose. People like to be entertained. But the admonition to shun puns came about because so many of them are bad.

Humor, of course, needs to be non-sexist and non-racist. And remember, the purpose is to sell something, not merely entertain for entertainment's sake. The biggest problem with using humor is that the laughs often overwhelm the ad's subject. People will remember the gag or one-liner but won't be able to tell you what the product — much less the brand — was.

---

RANDALL HINES (Hines@susqu.edu) is a professor in the communications department at Susquehanna University.

ROBERT LAUTERBORN (lauter@unc.edu) is a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This article is excerpted from their book “Print Matters: How to Write Great Advertising,” published by Racom Communications (www.racombooks.com).