If you’ve studied copywriting, you know the purpose of the headline is to get people to click and start reading. And your opening copy needs to continue that momentum all the way to the offer or conclusion.
One way to do that is to make a bold, seemingly unreasonable assertion in your title or headline. A proclamation so jarring that the right person can’t help but keep reading, listening, or watching to see where you’re going with it.
As far as I can tell, copywriter John Forde (whose site tagline is, not coincidently, “Learn to sell or else …”) was the first to define the Proclamation Lead:
A well-constructed Proclamation Lead begins with an emotionally-compelling statement, usually in the form of the headline. And then, in the copy that follows, the reader is given information that demonstrates the validity of the implicit promise made.
This type of lead works for both sales copy and persuasive content. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Forde illustrates the Proclamation Lead with a direct mail report that is ultimately selling an alternative health newsletter. Written by Jim Rutz, the piece immediately startles and tempts the prospect with a bold statement:
Today you have a 95% chance of eventually dying from a disease or condition from which there is already a known cure somewhere on the planet. The editor of Alternatives would like to free you from that destiny.
The copy continues not by jumping to the offer, but instead by backing up the proclamation. In the process, the piece systematically removes the objections raised in the reader’s mind about the scientific validity of the bold assertions.
If you feel that example is a little too “direct marketing” for your audience, consider this from respected best-selling author Austin Kleon:
10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
It’s the exact same technique for a completely different target market. The intent is to startle people interested in becoming more creative, while concurrently tempting prospects to further explore what Kleon means by “steal.”
The first example is copy designed to make a sale. The second example is content (a book) that is the product itself. But the reason why both “sell” is the same.
The key to these bold headlines and leads is the immediate emotional response provoked by the assertion. More importantly, that emotional trigger leads to immediate motivation to investigate further — and that’s what every copywriter aims to achieve right from the beginning.
That’s because implicit in the proclamation is a promise. In the Rutz and Kleon examples, you’re promised that you’ll learn about hidden cures to common diseases and the way creativity really works, respectively.
How do you come up with these types of bold beginnings? John Forde says they’re found via research, not conjured up out of the ether — and I agree.
For example, people often assume creativity comes from introspection, perhaps during long sessions of gazing out the window.
But if you research how artists throughout history actually work, creativity is much more about starting with something already out in the world — often the work of someone else — and making it into something new.
Austin Kleon discovered that truth, and then boiled it down to its shocking essence. After all, it was Picasso who famously said, “Good artists copy; great artists steal.”
That said, the proclamation approach is not always the right one for every situation. For example, I could have titled this article:
But that would have been lame, so I didn’t. There are plenty of other headline and lead approaches that also work well, so that headline wouldn’t be accurate or appropriate.
If you find a counterintuitive truth that’s relevant to your persuasive aim, however, you might just see if you can turn it into an almost unreasonably bold assertion that works wonders. But remember, don’t steal specific copy approaches (in the artistic sense) unless you’re sure you can perfectly tailor them for your audience or prospect.
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Super advice Brian. Shock and awe. But it is a process. Shock with headline. Awe with the follow up, meaning, the blog post or sales page or whatever you are creating, the meat of the work. This idea gets lost on manipulators who shock with titles – sometimes using the word “shocking” then follow with mundane, plain Jain, simple, seen many times, average advice. Gotta create something that backs up the title.
I may lead in with some wild headlines with my travel themed posts but it’s because I have nearly lost my life a few times while globe-trotting, I *really* have been attacked by lady boy prostitutes in Bangkok and Wild Men in Kathmandu (note plural) and I’ve had many Netflix-worthy things happen on the road, in my experience.
No need to globe trot and live in remote areas or get punched by wackos to shock and awe though. Just back up your title. And as noted, tailor to your audience.
You’re absolutely right, Ryan, about people that use a bold headline that the content can’t support. That’s why the term “click bait” came into being, and it makes it harder for the rest of us.
Great piece, Brian. It’s always a fine line, isn’t it? You want to attract attention and get an emotional response, but you don’t want to come across as over dramatic or misleading. The trick is to find a way to grab interest while maintaining integrity to your voice and your content.
Definitely a fine line. In my experience, I’d say if you have doubts, don’t do it. But there are times when you find the right truth that supports the bold assertion.
Thanks for sharing, Brian. Even in the world of books, the title, like the headline, sells by drawing the potential reader into its web. And research is definitely the place to find that right drawing card. Great post!
Thanks Jane. Yep, the right book title often makes all the difference, as Austin knows first hand.
I really like the shock and awe headline startup like the “Read This or Die” headline. It really gets people to take action.
How do you come up with a bold proclamation? One thing I’ve done with clients is to get them to list 5-10 truths that are taken as gospel in their field. Then carefully go back through the list until you find one that you could credibly and passionately take issue with. And there’s your claim.
When you do this well, you come across as more expert than the other experts, because you have gone beyond them.
You just have to make sure that your bold proclamation is consistent with your overall business identity and palatable – with your interesting explanation – to your target audience.
Alan Weiss, author of many books about consulting, is a master of this technique.
Good advice!