…Insiders Reveal “Trouble Was Brewing For Years!”

Did that headline get your attention?  Even if it is a little, shall we say, “sensational”?  A little “National Enquirer” perhaps?  But if you’ve read this far I’m pretty sure you’re wondering what this is all about.

And there’s a lesson in that of course.  I’ll reveal what this story is all about in a moment. But first let’s look at the question of headlines again.

One of the biggest problems any marketer or copywriter has is getting the attention of their prospect.  Let’s face it, we’re all busy and we’re bombarded by thousands of advertising messages every single day.

So you need to get people’s attention.  And one of the most powerful devices to get attention is curiosity.  One thing though.  When using curiosity make sure you tie it in with something that’s relevant to your audience.  With headlines, for example, curiosity on it’s own is usually not enough.  It needs to be combined with a potential benefit to the reader.

For example “The Remarkable New Breakthrough From Japan That Guarantees A Flawless Complexion”.  If you’re interested in having a flawless complexion, you’ll probably be very curious to know about this breakthrough.

So, use curiosity when you can.  It’s powerful.

Back to the story.  The Copywriting Genius mentioned is none other than Australia’s Pete Godfrey.  When it comes to explaining and putting into practice “Emotional Ad Writing”, Pete is really in a class of his own.  The headline is actually taken from the January 2008 issue of Pete’s “Emotional Ad Writing And Marketing Letter”.  He used it to firstly grab readers’ attention for some announcments and secondly to make the point I talked about in this post.

Part of the news was that Pete has finally got his act together and started up his own blog.  There’s a link in the “Blogroll” on the right of the page and here’s the direct link http://www.petegodfrey.com.

Pete’s a master marketer and well worth listening to.  He’s really in the centre of the action in Direct Response Marketing in Australia so what he shares with you is based on real campaigns and what’s working right now.

Back to the story.  The “Crazed Guru” is a good mate of Pete’s who has been nagging Pete to get a blog going for some time now.  See how the headline makes that simple story so much more compelling?

I mentioned the “National Enquirer” earlier.  They really are the masters at coming up with those kind of compelling headlines.  My mentors such as Pete and David Garfinkel often advise studying such magazines as a great source of headlines.  Advice worth noting.

Did you spot the other copywriting lesson in this post?  All will be revealed in the next post…