Lawyer Marketing GuyLets Understand the Marketing…!

What is the single most important element of a printed ad? My consultant has been telling me the photographs are the most important part, and he has some great photos—car wrecks, ambulances, bald eagles, court houses, the Lincoln Memorial, and American flags. But they really don’t seem to have much to do with setting me and my practice apart. Have you ever noticed that most print advertising is pretty humdrum? (Have you ever noticed that you don’t notice most ads?) Only occasionally does an ad jump out and grab your attention. Often, that’s the headline at work, first grabbing your attention, and then engaging your mind.

Think of a headline as the ad for your ad. If the headline “sells,” readers will read your ad.

New York-based Video Storyboard Tests (VST) conducts extensive research to discover the value of headlines. In a recent study, they showed focus groups ads that included headlines communicating key buying points. They showed other focus groups the same ads without the headlines.

The ads with the headlines scored dramatically higher in message recall and understandability. More importantly, the test groups rated ads with headlines substantially higher in persuasiveness and relevance. Ads with reader-focused headlines persuade; they are seen as relevant. Isn’t that what you want from your advertising?

Which kinds of headlines work best?
• Headlines that provide solutions to readers’ problems (or suggest to readers they will find a solution to their problem if they continue reading)
• Headlines that communicate key buying points, and
• Headlines that jump off the page and grab the readers’ attention.

Here’s an exercise that will help you create more powerful headlines for your advertising:

Write down all the reasons that you think potential clients would choose your firm over a competitor’s.

Next, reduce your list to the three most powerful reasons. For each of these three reasons,
1. Create a question.
(Examples: “Are you tired of… ?” “Do you want… ?”)

2. Create an attention-grabbing statement.
(Examples: “Warning!” “Wait!”)

3. Create a statement that engages the reader.
(Examples: “Not all ___________ are alike.” “We goofed!”)

4. Create a problem and follow it with a solution in the subtext.
(Examples: “Last year, 22,478 Smithville residents overpaid for their auto insurance…” …We guarantee the lowest rates.
“Don’t take chances!” …If you value your fine carpeting, don’t let just anybody with a carpet cleaner and a van “clean” your carpet.)

Now, test your headlines on others. Then, decide on a headline. (If this is a hard decision to make, great! Powerful headlines are hard to choose between.) Now put your new power headline to work.