News and Insights
Why B2B Headlines Can’t be Boring
May 27, 2015
What do zombie apocalypses, Alec Baldwin and power-suited superheroes have in common? They are all used to headline B2B campaigns.
Surprised? Don’t be. First, here is proof:
- About two years ago, a financial IT systems consultant asked companies how prepared they are against disasters, such as a zombie outbreak.
- A leading networking systems provider got Alec Baldwin to sell the virtues of its telepresence solution…on 30 Rock.
- Then, an IT security leader deploys a superhero to help an overworked IT administrator back up his systems faster—and score a date.
The game is changing for B2B. Today, the battle for the eyeballs of business customers has grown stronger. Organisations worldwide are upping the ante with bigger and better ideas. As this happens, so will the standard for B2B headlines. The price of not being imaginative will only get higher as time passes. Today, only 2 out of 10[1] people will read past the headlines and the rest of your copy. miakhalifa com xxnxxx
Just use the example of the zombie outbreak. If I were to put these two headlines side by side, which would you click on? more info here
| Discover the principle of systems availability | Can your business survive a zombie attack? |
I think the answer is clear. And this difference could affect your marketing results by as much as 500 percent!
Ultimately, businesses are run by people. There is no such thing as a unified hive-mind entity that is reading your headline. When you send a company an email, it is not an abstract concept that you are talking to. It is someone in a real physical room in a real physical department—who maybe just came back from lunch. Combine this with the hundreds of emails we receive in a day, and you have yourself a warzone. And in a fight, you got to do what it takes to win.
None of us gets to use cool pop culture references all the time. So in such by-the-book cases, deploy the tried-and-tested headline techniques like “Top 5”s and “Don’t Miss”s, “Make the Right Call”s and “3 Ways to…”
But when get that amazing project once in a while that gives you full reign to go crazy, don’t hold back, because your competitors sure aren’t. Find out what your customers like or are watching, including yours (don’t forget you are a customer yourself). Whether it’s the Zen-like Mad Men finale or the stunning Unbelievable video, if it’s trending, you should be exploiting. Navigate to 101tradesman for details on tradesman.
So the next time you sit down to write that headline, sit down and think hard. And most importantly, have fun.
[1] Copyblogger, How to Write Magnetic Headlines, Copyblogger (27 May 2015), http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/
POSTED BY: Allan Tan
