by Agnes Deleuse, Senior Marketing Specialist, Business Wire Paris
Photo: startupstockphotos.com
Headlines are made to draw in readers. They are bait to capture their attention. On newspapers, magazines, blogs, social media, and, of course, press releases, this is what you see first. According to a recent survey by Copyblogger, 80% of readers don’t read beyond the headline. Thus, your headline better be a catchy one if you want your audience to remember you.
Here are a few tips from Business Wire to help you craft the perfect headline.
1/ Provide real information
No jargon. Your headline should imply an interesting and relevant question. You can include figures/data.
2/ Opt for short phrasing
It is a necessity. Today, titles must be short. Think social media. Write headlines like a tweet or a post. Also, remember that if your release is going to be translated into foreign languages, English is one third shorter than French, for instance!
3/ Write your release first and finish by crafting the headline
It will help you focus on the main message you want to highlight. You want to target the brain of your reader. Don’t focus on news release discovery at this stage. To do this, integrate the keywords your audiences use to find your company information in the sub-headline or the first paragraph.
4/ Write at least three headlines, adjusting the order of the words and see which one has more impact.
Work like a sculptor. Add words, remove them, change them, move them around. You can test the headlines on your colleagues.
5/ Think like a journalist!
If you want your news to catch a journalist’s attention, write a headline that is snappy, informative. To think like a journalist is also a way to approach a subject the way a journalist would. Journalists like it when they sometimes just have to copy and paste headlines and body texts directly from a press release!
Quality content, including well-written headlines, contributes to the entire process of delivering information to your right audience.
For additional information on how to craft an effective news release, click here:
- How to write a photo caption
- Cutting Clickbait: Additional tips on how to write a compelling headline
- Case study: Increasing coverage sales with news releases
- Case study: Increasing awareness and downloads with news releases
- [VIDEO] How Business Wire turns news releases into news coverage
Click here to share these tips on Twitter: http://ctt.ec/fRpwd
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