If your product is in any way resonant to a particular geographical area, try to use a local name in the headline. Not only will you be hitting residents at their comfort level, you’ll also take advantage of another effect that I call “The Joneses Effect.”
People like to keep up with the Joneses, and though it’s a cliché it’s also obvious enough to bank on to some degree. If a headline reads “70% of all Seattle Residents Use Poxy-off!” and you’re not one of them, you start thinking maybe you’re doing something wrong or you’re missing something.
There was a test done a while back where a room with five people was given a simple 50/50 question to answer. The catch is that four of the people were secretly told beforehand to answer each question incorrectly, no matter how simple the question was.
Invariably, upon discussing their answers with the whole group, the fifth person who’d answered correctly would get increasingly uncomfortable. In many cases the fifth person would begin answering incorrectly on purpose, to be like the other four dummies. A few of the people actually even stated that they thought they were going crazy.
Some people call it peer pressure, but it’s nothing more than the desire to share a common reality with the people around you. If you can take advantage of that by writing headlines that appeal to the people in a neighborhood, town, city or even whole country you could reap the benefits.
This is Part III of our How to Write Effective Headlines series. For other installments see:
Part I, The Basics of Writing Effective Headlines,
Part II, Why You Need Newsworthy Headlines.
0 Comments
No comments yet. The coveted first spot is yours should you choose to take it!
Leave a comment