A radio ad I heard the other morning starts out “Another how-to half minute from the Home Depot…”. Now, before you read on, what are you expecting to get out of the next 25 seconds or so left of this radio spot? A “how-to half minute” makes me ready to learn something about landscaping or home repair or even picking out appliances. Teach me something!!
Well….the ad continues with 2 guys, the first talking about how he loves his old tools. The second guy mentions an instant discount on tools going on now at the store. The conversation switches instantly back to the first guy who then says he hates his old tools.
So what did you learn?
Zilch. Me too.
Teach me something if you say you are going to. If you say you’re going to teach me something, then just give me a blurp about your sale, I’m going to turn off (I might even blog about how much I dislike your ad).
On the web there are many places where we only get one small sentence or “intro” to get a click, mainly page titles and text PPC ads. Your visitor expects you to deliver on the page or ad title, and if you don’t…your reader will quickly use that back button. If you have something lackluster to deliver, you may want to think twice about overpromising on the page or ad title.
Underpromise, over deliver is the old adage of sales. This holds partly true, except for when marketing you need to dazzle them, lure them in, pique their interest. You will lose customers if you then under deliver on the landing page, but if you deliver and then some you might just have yourself a sale (or a reader, or a friend, or a …. ).
A recent article featured on CopyBlogger.com also discusses the importance of not going overboard with your title to the point that what you promise to deliver isn’t even believable.
Why Your Best Headline Could Be Too Powerful
Essentially, your headline itself can be so unbelievable you don’t even get a click in the first place. Headlines not only need to deliver the content they promise, but they need to be believable so you at least get the first click.
