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Hey Over Here! Tips for Creating Attention-Grabbing Headlines

Headlines are extremely important— not just because they’re big, bold, and the first thing people see. Headlines are important because they’re the ONLY thing your readers will see if you don’t play your cards right. Many of us are skimmers. We fly through content instead of consuming it thoroughly because we just don’t have the time (or we’re just plain lazy). So how do you hook a readers attention when they have “better” things to do? Grab them with awesome headlines. Here’s how: Write a working title A working title is your rough draft. Don’t be afraid to write down whatever comes to mind— good, bad, ugly. Once you see all of your ideas down on paper (or screen) it will become easier to determine what works, flows, and is pleasing to the eye. Avoid being clickbait-y We’ve all fallen for a well known marketing trap known as clickbait, so we know what to look out for. If you intend to bait readers in and then steer them off course, there’s a good chance you’ll annoy them right off the bat. So how do you avoid sounding like clickbait? Don’t over promise and under deliver. It could trash your credibility. Stay true to your brand If your brand/content is typically zany and fun, your headlines should be too. If you like to keep it non-political, don’t throw potential readers off with a political headline grabber. If you usually keep it conservative and serious… well, you catch my drift. Make them do a double-take Some people dress so well that you can’t help but to check out their outfit two (or maybe three) times. Think of your headline as that outfit. How do you dress it up? Build anticipation, add numbers, and solve a problem— not exactly all at once, but choose a method that works with the content at hand. Optimize, optimize, optimize Optimizing headlines for SEO is not as painful as it sounds, and it can make a world of difference. It’s important to immerse yourself in keyword research to discover what topics appeal to your target audience. Once you have a good list of keywords, ensure they have solid search volumes. And always remember… if you’re unsure about your headline, ask yourself: would you click?

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Don’t Buy Instagram Followers. Do This Instead

If you’re looking to spread brand awareness using Instagram, having great content is pretty key. But do you know what else is pretty important? Having a decent following. People may not a take a business with, let’s say, 50 followers seriously, so buying followers can be pretty dang tempting. There are plenty of services available that will hand over 1,000 followers for as little as $10, but chances are you’re just buying a number and not actual engagement. So before you shell out your daily coffee allowance for a follower boost, let’s talk about the cons of this method and what to do instead. Buying followers could hurt your credibility If you have 80,000 followers and an average of 2 comments per post, it won’t take long before your real followers realize what’s up. Even if you’ve only purchased 1,000 fake followers, it’s pretty easy for the average instagram sleuth to scroll through your following and identify them as fake accounts. Once your real following catches on, there’s a good chance they’ll feel deceived. ‘Fake’ followers can distort your performance metrics It’s nearly impossibly to measure how well your target audience engages with your content when a high percentage of your audience isn’t real. Bots and inactive accounts will only seriously skew your metrics. Instagram will likely purge your purchased following and then some Instagram wants interactions on its platform to be genuine, so it’s become really good at identifying inauthentic accounts and removing them. Since buying followers violates Instagram’s community guidelines, it also might just trigger a reaction from Instagram’s big bad moderators. Instagram’s latest algorithm seems to reward engagement more than follower count, as it should. So how do we drive engagement authentically? Your account should be public Only content from public accounts will pop up on users’ explore pages. A private account is a missed opportunity to attract and entertain your target audience— which likely scrolls through explore page content when they’re looking for fresh material. Give users a reason to follow you Post consistently, use high-quality photos and videos, make people think/laugh/relate, and keep your style unique. Whatever you do, don’t post mediocre content and always stay true to your brand. By having an acute awareness of how your brand is perceived, you’ll be able to choose content that relates to it accordingly. Use Instagram to its fullest Instagram is always changing, so stay up to date with the latest buzzing hashtags, trends, and features. Different channels like Instagram Live, IGTV, Stories, and Shopping offer numerous ways to connect with users and drive engagement organically and authentically.

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Reminder Advertising: the Basics and How it’s Put to Use

We all need to be reminded of things everyday— wake up at 6, take out the trash, show up to that appointment, and the list goes on. Unfortunately, we typically cannot remember everything without a little help (cue sticky notes and iPhones). Since our potential customers are people too, they’ll also need some reminding that you exist from time to time. So let’s talk about reminder advertising— the process of creating ads to let your audience know that your product or service is available. Sounds pretty standard, right? Well actually, reminder advertising doesn’t try to persuade customers to buy a particular product or service, but it can be just as (or more) important as ads that do. First, let’s talk reminder advertising tactics. Retargeting is when an ad for those shoes you were just looking at pops up on other, completely unrelated, webpages. It’s essentially a targeted reminder to check out the item again— in hopes a purchase will come out of it. Abandoned cart emails also remind potential customers to follow through with purchases. Except this time, they’ve almost completed the process and may just need a final heads up. Email newsletters usually include valuable (industry relevant) knowledge or special offers. More importantly, they keep your customers thinking about you as a reliable source for products and information. Display ads are banners that appear on Facebook and Google, for instance. They, like newsletters, can simply just reinforce brand awareness. Content keeps your brand on your audience’s mind. Update your website, regularly post on social media, and post blogs to keep your content fresh. Now, let’s talk examples. Coca-Cola We’ve all seen Coca-Cola ads for years, and although they do change, the concept is generally the same. They rarely introduce new products, but they do remind you that Coke exists and you might be thirsty. There’s a reason why the simple polar bear ads appear every year— they work. Zillow The average person is not going to make a large purchase on the regular. Yet Zillow wants to remind you that when you’re ready to buy a new home, you can rely on them. In one of their most recent ads the tagline is literally "When you're ready for a change, we're ready to help.” This is a great way Zillow establishes trust and reliability with potential customers— without being pushy. McDonald’s McDonald’s does launch new menu items, or promotions, from time to time, but many of their ads just promote the overall brand. Remember, McDonald’s exists, and there’s a decent chance you might come across one of their commercials when you’re hungry.

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These Brand Partnerships Were Epic Fails. Here’s What To Learn from Them

If you’ve ever worked on a group project, you’ll know that certain types of people just don’t mesh. The same rings true with brand partnerships. While co-marketing can be a great way to pull a new audience into the picture, it’s not always a GoPro and Red Bull love story. So let’s look at some brand partnerships that have flopped to determine what co-marketing moves to avoid and where to draw the line for your next campaign. Pepsi and Kendall Jenner A few years ago one of the world’s most famous models and Pepsi decided they were going to fight for civil rights together and the world may never forget. Although there’s nothing wrong with a supermodel promoting a soda brand (it’s been done properly before), this commercial was different. In it, Jenner handed a police officer a Pepsi during a protest and people felt that the two brands disregarded the seriousness of a very real issue. It didn’t showcase social consciousness, if you will. Neiman Marcus and Target Target has done a lot of incredible collaborations with clothing designers that would usually be over their shoppers’ desired price points. Lilly Pulitzer dresses, for instance, typically retail for $200 a pop. But, the TargetxLillyPulitzer collab dresses retailed for about $50 a piece and they flew off the shelves. Target tried to do something similar with Neiman Marcus, a luxury (like super luxury) brand, and they just couldn’t keep the prices low enough for the typical Target shopper. Remember, the goal at the end of the day is to make both target audiences happy. Forever 21 and Atkins This one is just ridiculous. Last year Forever 21, the trendy fast-fashion retailer for teen girls and young adults, partnered with Atkins— yeah, the diet brand. Anyway, Forever 21 sent Atkins weight loss bars with their online orders and people were kinda furious. Not only did the brands’ missions and audiences not align at all, but Forever 21 offers many plus-sized clothing options. Customers just assumed they were being body-shamed. Kraft and Starbucks This partnership was very successful— for one of them anyway. Kraft helped Starbucks grow by aiding them in the distribution of their products, so they could build their grocery store presence. Unfortunately, Starbucks unilaterally decided to end their agreement without really providing anything in return. The message here? Communicate, communicate, communicate, and dot your i’s and cross your t’s.

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