How to Write Attention Grabbing Headlines on your Flyers and Ads to make Rentals Soar
You might compare a headline to a man at a night club walking up to a woman asking her to dance. His one or two short sentences must melt resistance and create interest, and elevate his status from annoying pest to welcome guest.
What do people see in news or advertising? Headlines!
What do you yourself see in advertising as you glance through a newspaper or magazine? Headlines!
What decides whether or not you stop a moment and look at an advertisement, or even read a little of it? Headlines!
According to David Ogilvy (one of the all time great advertising masters), "Headlines are 90% of your ad's effectiveness. We’ve had one ad out-produce another ad by 22 times. The only difference was the headline."
Really think about that one! A 2200% difference and the only change was the headline.
David Ogilvy goes on to say, “On average, 5 times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. It follows that, unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90% of your money.”
What do Headlines Do?
A headline blasts out to everyone; this is who I am and what I’m about. It’s the Marquee at a movie theatre, title on a resume, or the door-to-door salesman with a foot in the door trying to catch your attention so you’ll listen
A well written headline that generates emotion and that targets an audience is the best hook you can have to get someone to STOP and read your ad. If they don’t stop, they won’t read your ad. Heck, you could be giving away the moon in free rent, and they won’t see it!
Headlines MUST grab the reader’s attention, or the money spent on your rental ads, flyers, and brochures will be wasted.
A Good Headline Does the Following:
- Gets your attention
- Communicates “what’s in it for me”
- Encourages you to read more
Good headlines tap into your target audience’s self-interest. They immediately tell him or her what your property will do for them.
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of writing good headlines, I want you to be aware of typical rental ad headlines. These headlines are regularly found in most flyers, brochures, classified ads, display ads, yellow page ads, signs, banners, and so on. When you learn the importance of good headlines, you’re going to laugh at the following typical rental ad headlines.
Hands down, the most common headline you will find in most rental ads is the “name of the property.” That’s right. The name of the property is the most often used headline in 80% of all rental ads. Take a look at some of the poor headlines I found in an apartment rental magazine:
Typical Rental Ad Headlines
- ABC Apartments
- Beyond expectations
- The essence of living
- Focus on life
- Your own comfort zone
- Just the place for you
- A place to call home
The headlines mentioned above should give you a pretty good flavor for the types of headlines found in most ads. In most cases, the property name was the main headline.
Now, let’s look at some headlines that meet the three important headline ingredients. The following headlines cannot be found in any rental ads.
Headlines that Rent Units
- “How to Live in Trump Luxury on a School Teacher’s Budget”
- “I Found a World Class Apartment for an Amazing Bargain!”
- “We Can Save Your Family Because We Allow Pets”
- “Student Dating-game Gone Wild; Learn How You Can Play”
- “How to Get Approved in 7 Minutes or Less”
- “Attention Single Parents: Apartment Community Teams-up with Parents”
- “A Juicy Diary on Active Adult Living”
Now compare these headlines with the typical headlines found in most flyers, brochures, and rental ads mentioned earlier. Do you see a big difference?
>>Do the headlines speak to a specific target market?
>>Do the headlines offer a benefit to the reader?
>>Do the headlines create curiosity?
>>Do the headlines grab your attention?
Start making headlines for ALL your rental ad material that grabs your reader’s attention. This will boost your traffic, leading to more rentals without wasting marketing money.
