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Casual Articles - How to Write Advertising Headlines
Free Business Grants Write it all down.Several free business grants are provided by the government for the business-minded person. If you think you have a profitable business or that your business needs additional funding for expansion then several free business grants are available to cater to your financial needs.One of these free business grants is the program of The Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This free business grants program by DHS seeks innovative ideas and inventions on security-related products. The award for those who will successfully hurdle the competition is $100,000 for six months to fund research that will prove the scientific, technical and commercial value of their concept. If DHS approves of their ideas, the companies can expect a two-year $750,000 free business grants to be spent on making functioning stereotype of the product.The DHS free business grants’ program is funded by the Small Business Innovation Research. To qualify for this free business grants, one must be a U.S.-based company with 500 or fewer employees. Proposals submitted for Okay, now the fun part. Write down who your ideal prospect actually is in 2-4 sentences. Be concise. Be specific. You'll be merging your product with this person. Picture them in your mind. Their sex. Their age. Their job. Their work environment. Their home life. The age of their children (if any). Your sales letter headline is going to be written to this one person. Let’s say you’re a software developer who has put together a complete home-business package that makes it easy to write medical reports for doctors. Since doctors frequently outsource this work it makes a great small business opportunity. You think your research has uncovered th Be Nice to Your Payroll Department The main purpose of a headline is very simple. You want to grab the attention of your ideal prospect so they’ll read the next sentence in your advertising copy.Ok, so next to the taxman, your company payroll department might well be the most criticised people on the planet. Of course, when your pay is accurate and on time then you love the payroll people with a passion but when things go wrong it is a completely different matter. Rightly or not the payroll professionals come in for an awful lot of abuse if your pay is not perfect.I have had experience of working in a payroll department, in fact, I WAS the payroll department so I am going to put forward a few ways that you can help your payroll department perform their job more efficiently and process all the money that you are due correctly. Yes, it is largely up to you I am afraid!Your payroll department is only able to work with the information that you give it so it is important that you provide them with everything they need. I don’t mean handing in your expense forms the day after they are due either. It is your responsibility to send your payroll department everything that you are claiming for in good time for them to process it.If Easy to do. Right? Well... not so fast. It’s possible. That’s the good news. But you have to do your homework first. There are books written on how to write a great headline. If I said you'll find everything you need to know in this article my nose would grow like Pinocchio’s. But I can help you get started in the right direction. A headline should have the full attention of your prospect in 5 seconds or less. If it doesn't the rest of your copy probably won’t get read. Many copywriters think the headline is the MOST important part of the copy because it’s read 5-8 times more than your body copy (on average). In short, your headline must get the job done. This is where the homework comes in. I’m assuming you’ve already done the homework for your product or service. You know it inside and out. You’ve listed all its many benefits in exhaustive detail. Great! Now you focus on researching your customer. Advertising legend Denny Hatch says it best, “To write a great ad you have to get inside your customer’s head.” You have to become familiar with your customer’s interests, desires, and problems. You have to know your customer's mindset. How do you do this? Research tactics might include any or all of the following... 1) Talk to people in your target audience. Talk to any friends who are similar to your ideal prospect. Call potential prospects on the phone. Simply tell them you’re doing market research and ask for their input and advice about your product. Make notes - - especially when you hear the same things mentioned over and over again by prospects. 2) Read what they read. Newspapers and magazines. Trade journals for the industry (etc). 3) Read other advertising literature directed at your prospect. Read any controls you can get your hands on for related product(s). This includes collecting competitors' marketing promotions, direct mail or other advertising. Study them. Pay careful attention to promotions that are mailed over and over again. Those are sure winners. They'll give you insight into the emotional appeals and messages that are currently working. 4) Read what your prospect has written or spoken. Read testimonials sent in by your prospects. (Maybe your sales letter headline could be geared towards the thing customers liked the best?) 5) Read any of your prospect’s complaint letters. What bugged them about the product? What didn’t they like about the company? Did they suggest how to make things better? 6) Research your prospect on the web. Take notes. Write it all down. Okay, now the fun part. Write down who your ideal prospect actually is in 2-4 sentences. Be concise. Be specific. You'll be merging your product with this person. Picture them in your mind. Their sex. Their age. Their job. Their work environment. Their home life. The age of their children (if any). Your sales letter headline is going to be written to this one person. Let’s say you’re a software developer who has put together a complete home-business package that makes it easy to write medical reports for doctors. Since doctors frequently outsource this work it makes a great small business opportunity. You think your research has uncovered th Employee Time Clocks - Enter The Modern World e is the MOST important part of the copy because it’s read 5-8 times more than your body copy (on average). In short, your headline must get the job done. This is where the homework comes in.For decades, businesses and factories monitored the working hours of their employees using time clocks. A particular favorite was the punch card system, where the employee had to insert their card into the time clock, so their hours could be stamped on the card. The payroll officer would then collect these cards each week and pay the employees accordingly.It's a simple system, but unfortunately it's also very easy to cheat. Joe Bloggs is a bit late today? That's okay, John Doe can pop his card in the time clock and nobody will know the difference. Most companies have severe penalties in place for employees found faking time clock information, particularly clocking on or off for other employees, but the chances of detecting it have always been small.Not only is the system open to cheating, it's also very time consuming for the payroll officer. With the level of technology and computerization available today, there's no need to manually collate and enter data, with all the possibility of error that entails. Automation can make the w I’m assuming you’ve already done the homework for your product or service. You know it inside and out. You’ve listed all its many benefits in exhaustive detail. Great! Now you focus on researching your customer. Advertising legend Denny Hatch says it best, “To write a great ad you have to get inside your customer’s head.” You have to become familiar with your customer’s interests, desires, and problems. You have to know your customer's mindset. How do you do this? Research tactics might include any or all of the following... 1) Talk to people in your target audience. Talk to any friends who are similar to your ideal prospect. Call potential prospects on the phone. Simply tell them you’re doing market research and ask for their input and advice about your product. Make notes - - especially when you hear the same things mentioned over and over again by prospects. 2) Read what they read. Newspapers and magazines. Trade journals for the industry (etc). 3) Read other advertising literature directed at your prospect. Read any controls you can get your hands on for related product(s). This includes collecting competitors' marketing promotions, direct mail or other advertising. Study them. Pay careful attention to promotions that are mailed over and over again. Those are sure winners. They'll give you insight into the emotional appeals and messages that are currently working. 4) Read what your prospect has written or spoken. Read testimonials sent in by your prospects. (Maybe your sales letter headline could be geared towards the thing customers liked the best?) 5) Read any of your prospect’s complaint letters. What bugged them about the product? What didn’t they like about the company? Did they suggest how to make things better? 6) Research your prospect on the web. Take notes. Write it all down. Okay, now the fun part. Write down who your ideal prospect actually is in 2-4 sentences. Be concise. Be specific. You'll be merging your product with this person. Picture them in your mind. Their sex. Their age. Their job. Their work environment. Their home life. The age of their children (if any). Your sales letter headline is going to be written to this one person. Let’s say you’re a software developer who has put together a complete home-business package that makes it easy to write medical reports for doctors. Since doctors frequently outsource this work it makes a great small business opportunity. You think your research has uncovered th Be Rebellious ics might include any or all of the following...In order to get consumers (whether they are retail or service customers or business- to-business audiences) to notice an advertising message, many companies resort to loudness and one-upmanship. Neither of these tactics works in the long run.If your competition is talking loudly and you decide to yell louder, what do you think they will do? Yep. They’ll start to scream. Nobody wins a shouting match when it comes to advertising. And usually you’ll find you even lose a few customers in the process because they can’t stand the noise.It’s the same with one-upmanship. If you have to compete on more and better coupons or more and better discounts, giveaways or incentives unrelated to your core product, your revenue per sale decreases as well as your number of sales.Customers see these types of games as gimmicky, fake and disingenuous; and they leave. The ones who do stay now view you and your competitors as commodities with no difference except your price. That is a dangerous place for a company to find itself. 1) Talk to people in your target audience. Talk to any friends who are similar to your ideal prospect. Call potential prospects on the phone. Simply tell them you’re doing market research and ask for their input and advice about your product. Make notes - - especially when you hear the same things mentioned over and over again by prospects. 2) Read what they read. Newspapers and magazines. Trade journals for the industry (etc). 3) Read other advertising literature directed at your prospect. Read any controls you can get your hands on for related product(s). This includes collecting competitors' marketing promotions, direct mail or other advertising. Study them. Pay careful attention to promotions that are mailed over and over again. Those are sure winners. They'll give you insight into the emotional appeals and messages that are currently working. 4) Read what your prospect has written or spoken. Read testimonials sent in by your prospects. (Maybe your sales letter headline could be geared towards the thing customers liked the best?) 5) Read any of your prospect’s complaint letters. What bugged them about the product? What didn’t they like about the company? Did they suggest how to make things better? 6) Research your prospect on the web. Take notes. Write it all down. Okay, now the fun part. Write down who your ideal prospect actually is in 2-4 sentences. Be concise. Be specific. You'll be merging your product with this person. Picture them in your mind. Their sex. Their age. Their job. Their work environment. Their home life. The age of their children (if any). Your sales letter headline is going to be written to this one person. Let’s say you’re a software developer who has put together a complete home-business package that makes it easy to write medical reports for doctors. Since doctors frequently outsource this work it makes a great small business opportunity. You think your research has uncovered th Secret Steps To Earning Money Online marketing promotions, direct mail or other advertising. Study them. Pay careful attention to promotions that are mailed over and over again. Those are sure winners. They'll give you insight into the emotional appeals and messages that are currently working.Consider your self VERY lucky today if you are ready this. Why? Because I am about to tell you some of the top secrets to online success that some of these rich online gurus dont want you to know about. If you are anything like me you probably bought pointless ebook after ebook trying to learn how to profit online.Well today is your lucky day. So what is it that all these big time affiliate marketers, and online gurus do to earn their money? Its all about setting up a business, and setting up a system. You cannot just have one person working one business. You can but if you want to make the six figure income you hear everyone talk about you need more then one person on your team.Thats is what all of the top online gurus do. They build a team of say four people who all chip in and create a ligament online business. Now this process doesn't happen over night, and can take some time to get going if you never started a business before. However once you do get it off the ground it will be well worth your time and effort.So here 4) Read what your prospect has written or spoken. Read testimonials sent in by your prospects. (Maybe your sales letter headline could be geared towards the thing customers liked the best?) 5) Read any of your prospect’s complaint letters. What bugged them about the product? What didn’t they like about the company? Did they suggest how to make things better? 6) Research your prospect on the web. Take notes. Write it all down. Okay, now the fun part. Write down who your ideal prospect actually is in 2-4 sentences. Be concise. Be specific. You'll be merging your product with this person. Picture them in your mind. Their sex. Their age. Their job. Their work environment. Their home life. The age of their children (if any). Your sales letter headline is going to be written to this one person. Let’s say you’re a software developer who has put together a complete home-business package that makes it easy to write medical reports for doctors. Since doctors frequently outsource this work it makes a great small business opportunity. You think your research has uncovered th Facts about Vending Machine Business Write it all down.We have already known that vending machine business is the one of the most profitable home based businesses. If you decide to start one, you should have a complete picture of vending business. Basically, vending machine business is just like any other business that need your good attitude and management in order to bring you profit. You may also have to go beyond any obstacles. Don't expect it to be a piece of cake.Although start-up cost is low, you should have to calculate the total cost to start your vending business: buying vending machines, stock of products to vend, paying space to place your machine, hire a vending operator, etc. Determine how much you are willing to invest so that you can make a decision whether you choose to purchase, lease or hire vending machines.In order to choose the best location to place your vending machines, you have to do some research whether the location is well populated, defining the competition, whether there have been similar vending machines ending the same products, what are your competitive adva Okay, now the fun part. Write down who your ideal prospect actually is in 2-4 sentences. Be concise. Be specific. You'll be merging your product with this person. Picture them in your mind. Their sex. Their age. Their job. Their work environment. Their home life. The age of their children (if any). Your sales letter headline is going to be written to this one person. Let’s say you’re a software developer who has put together a complete home-business package that makes it easy to write medical reports for doctors. Since doctors frequently outsource this work it makes a great small business opportunity. You think your research has uncovered the ideal prospect. Now you write down exactly who this person is... “My prospect is a busy stay-at-home mom taking care of small children. She’s left her full-time job to take care of her family while the children are small. She has lots of business and computer skills gained from her previous work experience.” Next... Write down in 2-4 sentences what your prospect really WANTS. “She wants to make a steady $200-$300 a week to increase the family’s income. She wants to work from home, but only 10-20 hours a week. She doesn’t want her children’s needs to suffer while she works at home.” Now, put this information to work for you. Use your headline to speak to the most important burning desire within your prospect as it relates to your product or service. Try to match what she most desires with what you have to offer her. There are different tactics for achieving this (we’ll look at a few in a moment). But, as a general practice, your headline should convey your strongest benefit. Now, what's the best way to do this? Copywriters have strong opinions over the best way to achieve this. But there does seem to be a little consensus on certain things about headlines. A headline might do any of the following: a) Convey the most important benefit to your ideal prospect. Use clear, simple, and direct language. Don’t be cute. Be specific. Avoid generalities. Don't say, "This marketing system will help you increase your profits..." Instead say, "This Marketing System is Guaranteed to Increase your Profits by at least 43% over the next 6 months..." Here’s an example of a sales letter headline targeting the stay-at-home mom... “Here's a Quick Way for a Stay-At-Home Mother to Earn $312 Dollars a Week Part-Time at Home Without Sacrificing Family-Time” Here’s another benefit-oriented headline... “Eliminate Pain after Your Surgery using an All-Natural Remedy Just Discovered by Princeton Medical Researchers” Select your target customer by speaking directly to the one your offer is meant for... “A Proven Way for Miami Beach Realtors to Increase Sales by as much as 28% the First Month” b) Use the headline to arouse curiosity. “The One Type of Stock You Absolutely Do Not Want to Own over the Next 18 months” c) Deliver a promise in your headline. “Lose 12 pounds Over the next 2 Weeks Simply by Changing the Way you Cook your Food” d) State the prospect’s problem in direct language and suggest you’ve got the solution. “Warning: Cancer Patients Should Avoid the Most Common Sweetener at All Costs...A Leading Oncologist Suggests this Substitute Could Save Your Life” e) Start Your ad by telling an out-of-the-ordinary story. “Learn How this Golfer with Constant
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