Once a few choice titbits of finely crafted wordplay, the headline in its digital form seems to have everything – including the kitchen sink – thrown at it, and has now taken its place as a frontrunner in online strategic content.
In direct contrast to its more succinct print counterpart, the digital headline has expanded to accommodate pretty much all the bare bones of a story. Just look at these recent examples:
A cure for dementia? First drug ‘that can SLOW Alzheimer’s’ is ready to bring to market after ‘promising trials’, US company claims
MPs torpedo Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan: Commons votes down PM’s bid to fast-track deal and hit ‘do or die’ October 31 date by 322 to 308 – despite threats to pull the Bill and force an election
There’s a reason for this though. With the shift towards search-based discovery, the headline had to adapt to become searchable, clickable and shareable, taking in its share of keywords. As advertising mogul David Ogilvy CBE pointed out: “Five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
I appreciate the need for stories to be easily ‘found’ within the mind-boggling myriad of online content that’s available to us all, but I do have a soft spot for the good, old-fashioned newspaper headline. I firmly believe there’s real beauty in good headlines and, whether they’re online or in print, they’re part and parcel of well-written strategic content.
The best headline writers have the ability to shape words in a way that makes people stop in their tracks. Who can forget the ‘Freddie Starr ate my hamster’ front page splash, for example? But headlines do more – they demonstrate the best of strategic content in that they can be written to spark a particular reaction, whether that’s anger, surprise or amusement. Let’s not forget the imaginative ‘Super Caley go ballistic Celtic are atrocious’ that accompanied a Scottish match report.
I genuinely admire strong headline writers, particularly the sub-editors whose wit, wordplay and ability to make mental connections between news events and songs, names and any cultural reference play out across tabloid front pages every day. Their ability is often overlooked by those who question the ethics of modern tabloid journalism, and I fear it’s a skill that is slowly dying out.
Strategic content in headlines
Good headline writing requires effort. A good proportion of my work is still based in print journalism and I’m lucky to oversee a number of tabloid-style publications for some of our clients. With any print publication, but particularly employee publications circulated in busy workplaces to a time-poor workforce, you have to give your content maximum stand-out appeal. Headlines play a vital role in this.
A neat little headline that intrigues or grabs the attention, captures the essence of a story, provokes a reaction, or encourages people to read on is a delightfully valuable piece of strategic content.
Here are my tips for quality headline writing:
Know your audience: There’s no point filling your headlines with 1980s’ cultural references if your audience is mainly millennial. And colloquialisms won’t cut it if you have an international audience. Think about who you’re writing for, what information they need and what’s going to appeal most to them.
Understand your story: A headline should encapsulate the key points of its accompanying article. If you don’t know that content, you’ll never nail the headline. Read the article, read it again and give it one more go to make sure you understand the message. Generic, loosely-based headlines NEVER work.
Follow your instinct: If you’ve written something that you think is right but there’s a niggling doubt, go with your gut. Either walk away from the headline for a little while, then return to check that it reads correctly, or share it with colleagues to see if they give you the right reaction.
Worry about your words… but have fun too: Great headlines get people to read on, so give them the time and attention they deserve. Remember Ogilvy’s quote? The same applies to print, and putting the effort in will create that standout. That said, it shouldn’t be a slog, so have fun with phraseology, allude to alliteration and brainstorm with people around you if you’re stuck.
Think presentation: How your headline is laid out on the page also has an impact on its appeal. When you’re writing, think about how your headline will sit or stack and what will surround it.
Practice, practice, practice: Few people are natural headline writers, but it can come with practice. Keep going with it, and keep your eyes and ears open to inspiration – it can come from lots of different places.
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