The Most Seductive Headline Formula, Ever?

I read lots of books. Old books, new books, marketing books, fiction books — I even read books about books, oddly enough.

Back in 1957, John Caples wrote a book called Making Ads Pay. This book, although not as popular as his “Tested Advertising Methods,” is an excellent read nonetheless, although sometimes hard to find.

Anyway, Caples mentions a headline that’s absolutely incredible, and over the next few days I’m going to go over it with you, along with some of the body copy for the ad. The headline read,

“Give Me 5 Days And I’ll Give You A Magnetic Personality. Let Me Prove It — FREE!”

So let’s deconstruct this headline and see why it’s so powerful.

First of all, it’s a very emotionally powerful ad, pushing a number of buy-buttons of the reader. Curiosity, Vanity, Envy, Excitement — all cleverly woven in here.

“Give Me 5 Days” – great way to enhance your promise. The average Joe marketer would say something like “Let me give you a magnetic personality.” A superstar knows that the way to enhance your message is to put a deadline on it, and the shorter the better.

“I’ll Give You A Magnetic Personality.” This provokes extreme curiosity. What exactly is a “magnetic personality?” It sounds great and who wouldn’t want one? Plus, you are giving it to me, so this means I don’t have to do any work, right?

“Let me prove it.” This answers the objection of almost any sale, but especially a sale where what you’re selling in the first place isn’t necessarily well-known or defined. This also makes your prospect lower their guard and be less defensive, which is critical to making any kind of a sale.

And then of course, “Free” means exactly what you think — no risk.

This formula, “Give Me __ And I’ll Give You ___. Let me prove it to you…” is one you can use in almost any business out there, or at least you can use a modified version of it.

You can see an example of this in action, right here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/seductive

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. If you like formulaic headlines that include iron-clad promises in them, and you’re not afraid to “walk on the wild side” every once-in-a-while, then you don’t want to miss Example 3 in this month’s Seductive Selling Newsletter. BUT… don’t let your kids read it, for sure — it’s far from “G” Rated! Let me prove it to you — FREE at: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

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