An open letter to those offering headline writing tips for the world

If you have ever written a blog post, article or other piece that even remotely offers advice on how to write headlines, this message is for you. And it’s quite a simple message: please stop.

The world needs a whole lot less of this and we would all appreciate it if you would cease and desist. Thank you.

Why should you stop? It’s a fair question. You see, even though all computers (tablets, smartphones, etc.) are equipped with a keyboard, this does not make everyone a writer.

Sure, everyone can write. But there should be limits on what the average person does write. And that limit, I argue, does not include headlines.

Emails? Sure. Texts? K.  Notes to your mother? You betcha.

Headlines? No.

A little about headlines

Did you know that most headlines in news media aren’t written by the author of the piece? It’s true. They are usually written by an editor or a headline-specific writer, someone who hones their craft writing headlines for a living.

Some of the greatest stories ever told started with a great headline. Here are some historical examples:

Titanic sinks four hours after hitting iceberg

Greatest crash in Wall Street’s history

Assassin kills Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson sworn in

Nixon resigns

War on America

These headlines make clear right away what the story is about. Yet they are still able to pull you in for the details. That’s what a headline should do…not trick you into clicking on some link-bait line designed to puff up a site’s unique visitors.

With a good headline, there are no tricks, no numbers to pull you in, because they simply aren’t needed.

Granted, we’re typically not talking about these kinds of world events in Content Marketing, but we should take inspiration from these great examples — that were very effective, by the way — and use the biggest best practice there is: have a writer write the headline (if not the whole piece).

Advertising is closer to what we do.

Ads are much more like what we do in Content Marketing and the good ones have compelling headlines, written by copywriters. Why? Because a headline is the front door of your message…and don’t you want just anyone answering your front door, do you?

Good advertising headlines are a great expression of the brand itself. Here are a few of my faves (and the brand they promote):

Calling it transportation is like calling sex reproduction. (Porsche)

Drinking champagne is a perfectly acceptable way to celebrate being elected president. Of France. (Jack Daniel’s)

When was the last time you met a stranger and knew he was a brother? (Harley Davidson)

If your Harvey Probber chair wobbles, straighten your floor. (Harvey Probber Furniture)

You know the story the brand is telling right away. And, more than likely, you know if you agree or not — as soon as you’ve read the headline. A great headline tells you where a brand stands and asks if you want to come on over and stand there, too.

If painting by numbers is bad, why are there ‘formulas’ for writing headlines?

Quite simply, there shouldn’t be. Don't get me wrong, painting by numbers is fun for fun's sake. But it's not for the professional world and it's definitely not how to promote a brand.

It seems to be understood that only designers should design, but everyone is a writer. Plumbers fix sinks. Doctors fix ailments. Attorneys fix whatever it is they fix. All of these professions have a respected seat at the table and an area of expertise.

Where is the seat for writers? Oh, we’re way down here at the end of the table.

Writing headlines.

Don't DIY your content

We all like to think of ourselves as do-it-yourselfers from time to time. We may try to fix a minor plumbing problem or do a little interior decorating around the house.

But when it comes to your brand — whether a personal or professional brand — please, I’m begging you, don’t DIY your content.

Clearly, everyone has their own unique skills and abilities. By the time we get out of school and get a real job, we all know what these things are within ourselves. 

We can list the two or three things we do really well (and, let's be honest, none of us do 18 things really well). Everything else is just dabbling. And dabbling is fine if you’re painting the inside of your garage.

But not your car.

Some things aren’t as visible; if we screw them up, few people will know. Creating content for your brand is highly visible and, if we screw that up, there’s hell to pay.

Everyday you can see people — well-intentioned, trying-to-be-helpful people — passing along tips and tricks designed to help you create your own content. One of my favorites goes something like this: '15 tips on how to write a headline.'

Eek.

I mean, tips and tricks are one thing, but writing headlines and graphic design are specific skills people either have or they don't. As an example, I couldn't design my way out of a paper sack. I just know this about myself. So I leave it to the people who can.

Can people create their own content today? Absolutely. I would argue that whether people should create their own content is another question entirely. And it's a question each of us has to answer for ourselves.

My take is this: If you consider creating content one of the top three things you do well, go for it! If people compliment your writing or ask your opinion about their own content, you're clearly doing things well.

But if you're not sure, keep this in mind: just like painting your car, unless you create content well, you should really consider talking to a pro.

Of course, you could use one of those really big, bristly brushes and paint the car yourself. I mean, how bad could it be, right?

It’s your call.

What did you just say?

When creating content, we have an obligation to be clear and helpful

Using words to confuse people used to be the exclusive territory of lawyers and snake oil salesmen. Some of them still live there, of course, but others have joined them, sadly including us marketers.

Marketing is charged with doing many things: attracting people to a brand, helping sales close the deal and others. One of the most important things we do is making things easy to understand for the people we’re trying to attract. Using words and images to clarify and be helpful — you know, Content Marketing!

Content Marketing gives us a perfect opportunity.

In this new world where people decide what brands they will invite into their lives, we need to be useful, helpful and interesting. Unfortunately, many of us are still trying to do that with industry jargon and what I’ll call thick language.

When we do this, we outsmart ourselves.

I work in the insurance space and, as an industry, we’re big offenders. The language we use, especially in documents like policies and contracts, makes things so hard to understand that people often just give up.

For instance, many of us talk about things like ‘subrogation’ and ‘liability’ without explaining what these terms mean — heck, we’ve even done research that tells us people don’t fully understand more basic terms like ‘premium’ and ‘insured’.

And it’s not because people aren’t smart. It’s because they don’t have time to learn all of this stuff. People are busy and we, as marketers, have an opportunity to help.

How about an example?

Let’s take a look at how two insurance companies define the term ‘subrogation’:

One way:

In insurance, the substitution of one party (insurer) for another party (insured) to pursue any rights the insured may have against a third party liable for a loss paid by the insurer.

What?

Here’s a different way:

With subrogation, we can pay you for your claim faster because it allows us to give you your money now, rather than waiting to see if the person who caused the damage (like the person driving the car that hit yours) can or will pay for the damage they caused. If that person (or their insurance company, if they have one) does pay, that money will come to us since we’ve already paid you. We’re simply taking your place in the process because we know you just want to get back to living your life.

As you can see, it may take a few more words to help people understand a confusing term. But, in the long run, we believe people will appreciate the effort (and you). Also, keep in mind that you may get some pushback on longer copy internally, so be ready to remind your boss or business partner that people do still read long-form content — especially if it helps them.

And it's not just insurance. What are the terms in your industry that people may not completely understand? Ask them! And, when you do find those confusing words or phrases, take a minute in your copy to help them understand.

Okay, enough preaching from me. I’m going to get back to finding ways to help people understand the words we use and what they mean. But, please, consider doing this in your own content, as well.

Your audience will thank you with their loyalty.

One hundred things I learned at Content Marketing World 2014

Because I want to share what I learned with those who couldn’t attend, and because the going theory is that all headlines should include a number, here are the 100 things I learned in Cleveland this year:

1.     Joe Pulizzi continues to attract the best and brightest to the North Coast.

2.     Even though Joe’s name doesn’t contain a single letter T, it’s still pronounced Pu-LITT-zee. Go figure.

3.     The Orange-clad CMI crew does a great job. Every year.

4.     Every speaker is writing or has just written a book.

5.     One sponsor took to giving away money (in the form of $2 bills) this year. Subtle.

6.     If you wanted to get into Robert Rose’s session on Tuesday, you needed to show up about 30 minutes earlier than I did. Bummer.

7.     Kristina Halvorson speaks the truth.

8.     The ‘brown bus’ is actually white (it’s the brown route, which they could have mentioned).

9.     By the time midday arrives, it turns out people will walk right in front of you for a sandwich and some pretzels in a colorful box. Hmmm.

10. Apparently, some folks were using one badge (it was two sided) to sneak two people into the event. Really?

11. That’s only ten things? Crap, I’d better pick this up.

12. Drew Davis didn’t disappoint as the keynote this year. Inspiring as usual.

13. Attendance at the show was more than 2,600 and has quadrupled in just four years.

14. That’s 400% growth for you ROI people.

15. The WiFi was mostly good. Charging stations were nice, too.

16. More orange, of course. Orange cupcakes, orange Jell-O, orange Rice Krispies Treats. You get the idea.

17. Ann Handley suggested having a writing plan that’s like a GPS. Smart.

18. She also has a new book.

19. If you write, you should probably get it.

20. And, as she contends, we all do, so…

21. Kirk Cheyfitz from Story Worldwide correctly noted that we can gather a bigger audience on Facebook than with the Super Bowl today. As he says, “Digital is everything.”

22. Can I say Super Bowl?

23. Those SEO guys are smart.

24. There are people actually called the linkerati.

25. If you get a bunch of publishers together for a chat about Native Advertising they will be disappointingly nice to each other.

26. Put a creative guy in there like Doug Kessler and he’ll tell you what he thinks.

27. “Publishers aren’t nearly concerned enough about this (native advertising). The line is blurring and it’s blurring intentionally,” Says Doug.

28. And this: On native advertising: "If the content is good and people love it, tell them what it is."

29. Right on, Doug.

30. Jason Miller may be the only person that talks (and thinks) as fast as Drew Davis. We should have a contest.

31. The ‘big rock’ concept Jason Miller talks about worked for him at Marketo. It’s clearly working at LinkedIn. It may not be as much about rock (and more about Jason).

32. He also talks about using content like Thanksgiving turkey. Also works.

33. Turns out, Mark Schaeffer knows a thing or two about Twitter.

34. He also knows about tools like Twellow that can show you what people are searching for on all the major search engines. Simultaneously. That means at the same time!

35. I think he also speaks Latin or something.

36. “Even great lead nurturing can’t fix crappy marketing,” according to Matthew Sweezey. He’s right, of course.

37. Turns out those little donuts are great right from the food truck.

38. And they’ll keep giving them to you as long as you have tickets.

39. You can have nothing but donuts for dinner.

40. Okay, sorry, back to work.

41. Twitter also has yellow pages, where businesses can search for customers by geography, category…it’s like the opposite of real yellow pages.

42. NewsCred says they made $5 million in the first 8 months of the year just from Content Marketing.

43. Also said that LinkedIn converts at a 40% rate for them. (forty percent!)

44. Sure, this is number 44, but did you see that last stat…4-0 percent.

45. That cute Friskies video was shown in more than one session. It has more than 16 million shares. It’s one cat talking to another cat. About cat food.

46. Beech-Nut remade their product after listening to their customers (moms), who said they don’t trust what’s in baby food.

47. Today’s ingredients in Beech-Nut carrot baby food: Carrots.

48. Not even water or anything. Just carrots.

49. Apparently, Content Marketing can help companies know what products to offer or how they need to change them. Writing that idea down.

50. “With Content Marketing, people don’t feel like they are in a sales process, but they are. They are being educated along the way,” said Brian Clark.

51. He also made about 80 references to CopyBlogger, but it’s awesome, so we’ll allow it.

52. Kristina Halvorson challenged us to be “More than marketers shouting at customers.”

53. Amen to that.

54. She also noticed that, while this Coke Journey website thing is awesome and all, if we wanted to find out how to apply for a job at Coke, it’s almost impossible to do.

55. Same for Ameriprise Financial. The University of Notre Dame. United.

56. Oh, airlines. Don’t get Scott Stratten started on Delta.

57. Or is it Detla?

58. Either way, he’s funny. And right.

59. Oh, and there was this from the Unmarketer: “Don’t’ try to be first, be right first.”

60. I wanted to support my fellow #CMWorld tweeter Erica Heald and attend her talk about curation, but I couldn’t get in.

61. Sold out. Awesome.

62. The BuzzFeed guy: “We are a platform-agnostic platform."

63. Huh?

64. When a big unexplained noise happened backstage during the panel discussion he was moderating, Mitch Joel didn’t skip a beat: "It's just my mom cleaning up."

65. Some phone company also had a big announcement during the show.

66. I must have missed it.

67. Think they’re into watches now.

68. Cathy McPhillips was nice enough to organize a meet-up for those of us who join the #CMWorld chat each week. The chat is Tuesdays at Noon ET.

69. The meet-up was at 7:15.

70. In the morning :)

71. Scott (the Content Wrangler) Abel rocked a lunch & learn about Content Engineering.

72. People stopped eating, it was that good.

73. Twitter advanced search can show you the conversations that are happening right now.

74. Mark Schaeffer called Twitter a “real-time global brainstorming session.”

75. Also called it the “Movie trailer to your movie.”

76. And “The most powerful networking tool ever created.”

77. So, he likes Twitter.

78. Proof: “Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a retweet now and then.”

79. Okaay.

80. Email tip: if you use shorter emails, limit the use of links. Spam filters will measure the proportion of links to copy and, as emails get shorter, you’ll have to use fewer links.

81. And, as Matthew Sweezey said, “No one clicks on the link in your email sig anyway.” Good point.

82. Shafqat Islam from NewsCred reminded us: “Behind every tweet, every share, every purchase is a person.”

83. Jason Miller appreciates his B2B brothers and sisters…

84. “B2B marketers like to have fun, they’ve just been locked up for a while.”

85. According to David Kirk, Google searches for Content Marketing were up 181% this past week.

86. Kevin Spacey also bent the ‘If a tree falls’ metaphor toward his audience: "Does it matter what's behind a link if no one clicks on it?"

87. No. It does not.

88. At one point, I was concerned for the Content Marketing space-time continuum when I saw Ann Handley and Kristina Halverson chatting between sessions.

89. Thankfully, security was called and they were moved to separate locations.

90. Can’t risk it.

91. Turns out that Kevin Spacey is familiar with the F-bomb

92. Very familiar.

93. He demonstrated his knowledge of Content Marketing terms throughout his talk.

94. When the audience seemed surprised/impressed, he quipped: “Yeah that’s right, I know your f---ing terms!”

95. Halverson on the infamous Oreo tweet:

96. Just 0.008% of active tweeters engaged with Oreo.

97. She did the math.

98. “That was advertising, not engagement.”

99. Content Marketing World is back in Cleveland September 8-11, 2015.

100. Registration opens December 1^st

See you all there?

Content Marketing: Can we just agree to agree?

The practice of Content Marketing could go away if we can’t agree on what it is

The term Content Marketing is absolutely everywhere today in the marketing world. Despite that, it continues to amaze me how many different meanings truly exist out there. When people say ‘Content Marketing,’ what do they really mean?

Some mean the groundbreaking work done by Chipotle, which is certainly sponsored by the brand, but definitely isn’t advertising. Others may be referring to so-called native advertising, where a publisher and brand work together to create a sponsored message (that looks more like an editorial one).

Others still may believe that it’s just hype or that Content Marketing is literally anything a brand creates and distributes digitally, regardless of the message itself.

I would argue that the Chipotle example above is Content Marketing and the other two are not, but you may disagree with me. That’s not the problem.

The problem is, until the majority of us marketing folks agree what Content Marketing is — and it seems we’re nowhere close to that yet — marketers will struggle to have confidence in this thing that seems to keep changing on them.

This is where you’ll think I’ve gone completely crazy

What could this lack of agreement mean? I believe if we don’t become more consistent around a specific meaning for Content Marketing, it may not last.

What? How is that possible?

Of course brands will continue to create more and more content, but that doesn’t mean they will continue to employ the practice of Content Marketing. And that could be bad for everyone.

I know, I know…lots of research has been done where brands say they will be increasing spending on Content Marketing. But here’s the thing: if they don’t understand what Content Marketing is, are they really spending money on it?

I believe those of us in the Content Marketing space have a responsibility to be more consistent with each other in order to help build that confidence in something we all know can work…and work well.

But, until we’re all talking about Content Marketing in the same way, it’s just another confusing term marketing executives can’t quite figure out.

And they won’t continue to invest in something they don’t understand.

Everyone can write, but not everyone is a writer

I take issue with the notion that everyone in this world is a writer. Sure, everyone can write; and technology today is an enabler of that for sure. But I would like to draw a distinction between someone who is able to write (e.g. has a keyboard) and someone who should be called a writer.

Full disclosure: I think of myself as a writer.

 

While many people can express themselves in writing, errors that may seem somewhat trivial (for example, incorrect grammar or misspellings) can cast a negative light on the author and his or her company/employer/brand. And please keep in mind that spell check isn't called grammar check for a reason.

Don’t worry, this isn’t going to get nasty or overly rant-ish. My goal here is simply to convince you that:

1. People who write well are more valued than those who don’t
2. People who don’t write well (but who try over and over again anyway) can harm their own reputation and that of the brand they represent
3. People in #2 can still write, they should simply look for help

Everyone does write, right?

In our 24/7/365 world, everyone will be asked to write. I get that. But that doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. As alluded to in #3 above, if you’re asked to write and know you’re not a writer, just be honest with yourself and seek the advice and counsel of someone who is.

One of the best parts of working with writer-types is they tend to be very helpful people. If you were to ask, it’s completely likely they will want to help you and not want anything in return. Not payment, not credit. Writers are just like that.

Two different types of writing

Everyone blogs or sends emails. I get that, too. But it’s a very different thing to write as part of your daily job. For simplicity, let's assume most writing will either be personal or professional.

Personal writing

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, email or a blog, most of us are writing in our personal lives. I am not suggesting that you hire a professional writer to do this for you. (<--- Please re-read that last part again for emphasis, if you would). What I am suggesting is that it may be worth it to your personal brand — and we all have one of those — to understand some basic grammar rules so you don’t stub your toe. Here are a few resources I would suggest adding to your bookmarks:

            AP Stylebook

            The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

            Purdue University online writing lab (Owl)

Professional writing

If you write as part of your job, that’s a different animal. Regardless of whether you write a report that only your boss will see or social media posts for a Fortune 100 company seen by thousands of followers, you want to put your best foot forward. (Did I just use two separate foot-related references? Wow, I guess I did. Sorry about that.)

Most organizations will have some sort of a style guide or other brand guidelines that will include writing standards. Get to know these standards. Know them well. Know them like the back of your…foot.

Even in the smallest organizations, many companies will also have at least one person who writes extremely well. There may be several people. You know who they are; these are the people others go to when they want to make sure everything looks and sounds good. Find one of these people and rely on them.

A word of caution about grammar: Be careful you don’t mistake a person who takes great pride in being a self-professed ‘Grammar Nazi’ for a great writer. In the Venn diagram of life, most writers know grammar well, but not all ‘Grammar Nazis’ know how to write well. Slippery slope, that one.

So, in the great debate of whether everyone is a writer or not, I hope you will consider the difference between those who may be able to write and those who put in the work to do it well.

If you’re in the first group, find someone in the second group…they will help you. If you’re in the second group, you have an obligation to help those in the first.

It’s just what we do.

What can peach ice cream teach us about marketing?

Every summer, United Dairy Farmers (UDF), a Cincinnati, Ohio-based convenient store chain, proudly rolls out its Homemade Brand peach ice cream and its happy customers (my mother-in-law included) lap up the stuff a half-gallon at a time.

It’s actually pretty good. But here’s the thing: there’s a marketing lesson to be learned here, specifically about supply and demand.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a UDF commercial or some kind of case study and I don’t own any UDF stock. UDF only offers its peach ice creamin the summer because that’s when peaches are in season. But…

What if brands could create this kind of demand without having to worry about whether peaches are in season or not? Or cherries, or pumpkin. You realize I’m not talking about ice cream anymore, right?

These aren’t your marketing professor’s examples

This is typically where people would trot out the age-old iPhone example, so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I would submit there are brands that could do this kind of supply-side marketing better (and Apple isn’t one of them).

There are a million examples of successful brands building anticipation by keeping supplies constrained. Hostess Twinkies, anyone? I don’t want to go there.

This is the opposite of a case study.

Who doesn’t do this well today, but could? As a group, laggard brands (that is, the opposite of innovative brands) may make up as much as 16% of all brands and, some would argue, are necessary in the marketplace. But laggard brands have to eventually evolve or die, right?

Here are some brands I believe have an opportunity to evolve and enhance demand by constraining supply:

·      JC Penney seems like an obvious choice here. They have the infrastructure and brand awareness, but seem to focus on the wrong things lately (like price). Could they disrupt by managing demand differently?

·      Couldn’t McDonald’s have some fun with something almost everyone loves — like their world famous french fries?

·      What about credit cards? AMEX has had success being a bit more exclusive, but no one seems willing to challenge them; opportunity for Capital One?

·      Best Buy is constantly being ‘showroomed’ by people who try products in the store, then buy online from someone else. Could they constrain access to the product in some way (perhaps charging a refundable trial fee)?

·      Denny’s grand slam breakfast is plentiful and relatively cheap. What if it were ever-so-slightly harder to get…say only certain days a week or a certain time of day?

·      Airlines. Ugh. Enough said.

·      H&R Block has struggled to keep up with user-friendly competitor TurboTax. Could Block somehow leverage its face-to-face advantage?

The point here is that there are many ways to promote a brand, but some of the less obvious ways — to zig when others are zagging — can be quite effective.

How can this help your brand?

What do you offer everyday that may be more attractive if you offered it a little less often? I mean, let’s not be jerks about it or anything, but a little demand creation, if you will, can be a good thing. Building some intrigue and mystique can be just what a brand needs, especially in low involvement or mature industries.

What can you do to differently to build anticipation for your brand?