When I first became aware of the value of marketing, I studied everything John Caples had ever written. This was the man who wrote the famous headlines “They laughed when I sat down at the piano”, and “They grinned when the waiter spoke to me in French”. He’s known to the world as one of the best copywriters in history and even taught advertising at Columbia University.

So I went to work, learning everything I could from one of the world's best copywriters. I studied his copywriting and his book, Tested Advertising Methods. And I mean the rare early editions, before it was changed! I analyzed his copywriting, especially his headlines. 

It was a relatively simple and risk-free method of learning from the best.

It was also a low-cost method to get started because I was new to copywriting. Sure it cost me a ton of my time, but I have distilled it down for you right here and you’ll be writing killer headlines in no time at all!

What better way to ensure that I was on the right track than to structure my headlines in the same manner and format as a professional copywriter? It was simply the most logical choice. If you’ve gotten any of my courses, you’ll probably find a reference to “modeling” in them. By that I mean, finding someone who’s doing well the thing you want to do and modeling their behavior. 

If you want to be thin, do what thin people do. If you wan to be virtuous, do what a virtuous person is doing.

I took this to heart and copied, by hand, sales letter after sales letter not just from Caples but other greats like Robert Collier, Dan Kennedy and Garry Halbert. I know what I’m talking about here!

The only thing I knew was that, in principle, my goal as a copywriter was straightforward. I basically had just one goal: Get people's attention right away.

I imagined every headline as a ticking clock, and if I hadn't managed to catch their attention before the timer ran out, it was game over.

I put that pressure on myself because I recognized the importance of a good headline and that it was the only way I could write successful ad copy.

And it’s the same for you.

Back then I didn’t have any time or money to spare. (Heck, even now I don’t want to waste my time or money!) So, I took headlines very seriously. 

I began by evaluating and studying successful sales copy within the security and investigations industry. To tell the truth, there wasn’t much that was good and precious little that made one private investigator stand out from another! [See: Lesson 4 on  Unique Selling Proposition]

My Big Leap Forward

The trick was to analyze headlines in other industries, and I found ways to improve mine. I collected a list of powerful words, phrases, and triggers to help me come up with ideas when I was stuck. And for the first time ever, in this course, I’m sharing them.

Over my years as a licensed private investigator owning and running my own detective agency, I tried countless headlines and learned what worked and what didn't. Despite all of the time and work I put into my headlines, it always came down to just a few tried-and-true tactics! 

Learn to K.I.S.S.

K.I.S.S.?

We all know what this stands for: Keep it simple, stupid. (When teaching kids I change it to Keep it simple, Silly. Or Keep it super simple.)

I came to learn I was over-complicating my copy. I was trying to share far too much information to far too many individuals. Or worse, I was trying to be cute or clever. My message was frequently muddled, or simply confusing because it didn't follow a flow of logical reading.

Since I was paying fifty cents to get my message in front of a potential client I was “stuffing” my sales letter with everything I thought my reader might want. I was worried that if I offered process serving and they wanted surveillance or skip tracing they wouldn’t call me. Huge mistake!

When I started to strip down my copy so it was clear, targeted and direct, conversion rates went through the roof! Because the copy spoke directly to them, my readers felt a connection to it.

To put it another way, I quit playing word games with my audience.

"When I create an advertisement, I don't want you to tell me that it's 'creative.' I want you to find it so compelling that you buy the goods," copywriter David Ogilvy once said.

I say it a little differently. I say if it’s ugly but it works, it ain’t ugly. 

Or, and I love this: If it’s stupid but it works it ain’t stupid. 

Heck, I have some killer investigative sources, methods and techniques I feel the same way about!

It's your responsibility to come up with a headline that grabs people's attention right away and gets to the heart of the matter for your target audience.

With your headlines, you don't want to get too imaginative, inventive, or clever.

While you may write headlines that pique people's interest, you want your marketing message to be heard loud and clear.

This necessitates being very direct. Don’t leave them guessing about your message. 

Summary

Make your headline and marketing message as simple as possible.

Remove any unnecessary or perplexing words, and be direct.

For inspiration and to see this exercise in action, read newspaper, blog, and video headlines.

Also, when you limit yourself to a certain number of words, your headlines will have a lot more impact.