How to Come Up with a Headline Using the 4U + K Formula
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2024 4:29 am
This headline formula was suggested by the great advertiser David Ogilvy. Here is how its components are deciphered:
Usefulness is the benefit of purchasing a product/viewing content/performing a target action like subscribing.
Uniqueness is a distinction from competitors, a certain advantageous difference from the offers of other companies.
Targeting (Ultra-specificity) - targeting representatives of a certain profession, social group, residents of a certain place.
Urgency — the current terms of the promotion, or other time frames that favorably characterize the offer.
+ K is a keyword, the presence of which increases the probability of the material getting into the TOP of search engines. This addition to the formula was invented when the Internet appeared.
It is important to understand that this formula is not a template frozen in granite. You can shorten it, for example, by refusing to set deadlines. You can also experiment with different sequences of its elements.
Here is an example of a selling, catchy headline created using this formula:
"Student (targeting), save 50% on the cost of renting a house (usefulness), in the first month (urgency), with the help of our free service sait.ru (uniqueness)!"
13 Time-Tested Types of Headlines
Over the last century, many templates for catchy headlines have appeared. However, let's highlight the most effective ones:
1) Buying Warning. Most people tend to be cautious, collect and analyze information before making expensive purchases. So, despite the fact that this technique is somewhat hackneyed, many people will still be interested in a headline like:
"Don't buy an apartment until you know 10 ways to check it."
2) Playing with the words "this", "these". The unsaid, interrupted idea is intriguing.
Example: “Thanks to this book, we increased sales by 27%.”
3) Numbers in headlines. According to research, this significantly increases their clickability. Our brain loves numbers - it makes it easier to summarize information.
No amount of copywriting trickery could replace the specific number in this headline on a landing page for selling cooling systems for mining farms .
At the same time, according to statistics, users love catchy headlines with odd numbers more. They are clicked on 20% more often. Researchers associate this with the mystical role of odd numbers in many world cultures - take the same notorious 3 and 7.
Example: "3 Reasons to Throw Away Your TV After Buying a Lokki Computer."
4) The word "how" at the beginning. People love life hacks, guides to solving any issues. Therefore, headlines of this kind are immortal.
For example: “How to protect your child from stress at school – the secret of Elon Musk’s mother.”
5) Question-answer. In addition to the sacramental "how", you can also whatsapp numbers list use other interrogative adverbs at the beginning of a catchy title, for example:
"Where",
"Which",
"Who",
"why" etc.
6) Novelty. Man is a social being, interested in what is happening around him. Therefore, advertising headlines often represent news or their imitations.
Advertisers have been exploiting this principle for decades. It has not escaped the attention of millions of users. So now it is worth being careful with flashy statements about novelty, like the introductory word "Sensation!" Such tricks are cheap and undermine trust. But using the word "new", provided that the innovation is real, still works.
Example: “A new way to bypass Rospotrebnadzor blocks – the Lokki extension.”
7) A sense of belonging. As we have already mentioned, a title can attract attention by mentioning the group to which the user considers himself (students, entrepreneurs, pensioners, Muscovites, etc.). It is worth noting that sometimes playing on the desired sense of belonging also works. For example, a person with huge financial ambitions may be interested in a title like:
Usefulness is the benefit of purchasing a product/viewing content/performing a target action like subscribing.
Uniqueness is a distinction from competitors, a certain advantageous difference from the offers of other companies.
Targeting (Ultra-specificity) - targeting representatives of a certain profession, social group, residents of a certain place.
Urgency — the current terms of the promotion, or other time frames that favorably characterize the offer.
+ K is a keyword, the presence of which increases the probability of the material getting into the TOP of search engines. This addition to the formula was invented when the Internet appeared.
It is important to understand that this formula is not a template frozen in granite. You can shorten it, for example, by refusing to set deadlines. You can also experiment with different sequences of its elements.
Here is an example of a selling, catchy headline created using this formula:
"Student (targeting), save 50% on the cost of renting a house (usefulness), in the first month (urgency), with the help of our free service sait.ru (uniqueness)!"
13 Time-Tested Types of Headlines
Over the last century, many templates for catchy headlines have appeared. However, let's highlight the most effective ones:
1) Buying Warning. Most people tend to be cautious, collect and analyze information before making expensive purchases. So, despite the fact that this technique is somewhat hackneyed, many people will still be interested in a headline like:
"Don't buy an apartment until you know 10 ways to check it."
2) Playing with the words "this", "these". The unsaid, interrupted idea is intriguing.
Example: “Thanks to this book, we increased sales by 27%.”
3) Numbers in headlines. According to research, this significantly increases their clickability. Our brain loves numbers - it makes it easier to summarize information.
No amount of copywriting trickery could replace the specific number in this headline on a landing page for selling cooling systems for mining farms .
At the same time, according to statistics, users love catchy headlines with odd numbers more. They are clicked on 20% more often. Researchers associate this with the mystical role of odd numbers in many world cultures - take the same notorious 3 and 7.
Example: "3 Reasons to Throw Away Your TV After Buying a Lokki Computer."
4) The word "how" at the beginning. People love life hacks, guides to solving any issues. Therefore, headlines of this kind are immortal.
For example: “How to protect your child from stress at school – the secret of Elon Musk’s mother.”
5) Question-answer. In addition to the sacramental "how", you can also whatsapp numbers list use other interrogative adverbs at the beginning of a catchy title, for example:
"Where",
"Which",
"Who",
"why" etc.
6) Novelty. Man is a social being, interested in what is happening around him. Therefore, advertising headlines often represent news or their imitations.
Advertisers have been exploiting this principle for decades. It has not escaped the attention of millions of users. So now it is worth being careful with flashy statements about novelty, like the introductory word "Sensation!" Such tricks are cheap and undermine trust. But using the word "new", provided that the innovation is real, still works.
Example: “A new way to bypass Rospotrebnadzor blocks – the Lokki extension.”
7) A sense of belonging. As we have already mentioned, a title can attract attention by mentioning the group to which the user considers himself (students, entrepreneurs, pensioners, Muscovites, etc.). It is worth noting that sometimes playing on the desired sense of belonging also works. For example, a person with huge financial ambitions may be interested in a title like: