Every topic has its basics. These are the factors that don’t change, no matter how sophisticated a topic becomes (or is made to appear).

Example: Good health is a matter of sensible diet, hydration, sufficient sleep, and regular exercise. There are plenty of exotic vitamins and supplements, exercise regimens, programs and equipment you can spend a lot of money on too…but none is a replacement for the basics of eating right, drinking plenty of water, sleeping at night, and exercising a few times a week.

An example that might have more meaning to you is your marketing. No matter if you market online or off—whether you use postcards, Facebook ads, or roadside billboards—success or failure is based on the never-changing basic of the 15 words.

Have we made this mysterious enough yet?

It’s No Mystery

We’re talking about your postcard’s headline.

Like the importance of sleep and exercise to your personal vitality, the headline on your postcard is the key to your business’ vitality.

A great headline is the doorway that your prospects willingly step through to find out more about your product or service. When the headline is weak, not well thought-out, they keep walking (past your door).

So those first 15 words are more important than all the other copy on your postcard or other direct mail piece.

Writing effective headlines has been made by some to seem complicated. True, the more you do it, the better and faster you get but headlines have their basics too. And if you know them and keep them in mind when you write your headlines, you will do better than if you just “wing it.”

Headline Basics

Though some experts will tell you that an effective headline contains four, five, or more factors, we have found that you can do quite well if you just pay attention to three:

1. Benefit

Ask yourself “Why would a prospect or customer walk through my door?”

Is it because they have some time to kill? No. Is it because they feel obligated, since you sent them such a lovely postcard? Nope. It’s because they get the idea—embodied in your headline—that there is something there that will benefit them in some way, such as:

• Make their life easier
• Make them feel more secure
• Make them more attractive
• Save them money
• etc., etc.

So, state it, hint at it, promise it, but make sure it’s in your headline.

2. Curiosity

Look at the headline of this article: “The 15 Words That Determine Screaming Postcard Success.”

The benefit is pretty obvious: screaming success with your postcard promotions. (I want that!)  The curiosity factor? It’s “The 15 Words,” because it makes the reader wonder, “What are those 15 words?” and they will continue reading to find out.

Often, with postcard, a strong benefit will be enough to get people to walk through the door.

But sometimes you may need more. That’s when you should inject some curiosity.

3. Brevity

We could have called this article “The 15 Words You Need to Know About That Can Make All the Difference in Whether Your Postcard Campaigns Succeed or Fail.”

That’s 22 words. Our actual title is a mere eight words.

So 15 words is the absolute maximum but if you can transmit benefit (and curiosity, if needed) in 12 words, or nine, or fewer, you will give your postcard even more persuasive power.

Here’s a few short words about www.prospectsplus.com/pei, where you can log on and design professional-looking cards and mail them right from your desktop.

Or, call Opportunity Knocks at 1 (866) 319-7109 and we’ll handle the design and mailing and you can relax and get ready for the screaming (success) to start.