When I write a headline, for a direct mail piece, a landing page or a video sales letter, one thing I have to ask is—is the headline specific enough to make it stand out?
“Ultra Specificity”
is a term coined by American entrepreneur and writer Mark Ford. It’s one part of the four “U”s he and his
business partner Bill Bonner identified in studying successful headlines.
They discovered that
all great headlines had a sense of Urgency…contained
something Unique…offered something Useful…and were Ultra Specific.
So when I write a
headline, I want to make sure it includes specific features and/or benefits,
facts or statements that make it stand out among competing headlines and make
it more authentic and more believable.
Here are three
examples of very successful headlines…
For Reconnect, I came up with a headline
that doesn’t just promise conquering hearing loss—but 5 types of hearing loss.
As the prospect reads on, he/she learns these include age-related
hearing loss…blockage of normal sounds…vertigo (imbalance)...ringing in the ears…and noise-induced hearing loss.
For Advanced Cell Rescue, I zeroed in on the
secret of healthy 100-year-olds, not
just healthy older people. If these
centenarians could escape major age-related health problems, I figured
prospects would want to know their secret.
And for Seanol I first asked the question if
this rare sea plant was better than green tea.
Then wrote you’d have to “drink
200 glasses of green tea a day to get the antioxidant protection of a daily
dose of this 62-cent extract.”
I always try to write
headlines that single out a product or service, headlines that are “ultra
specific.” As the examples above show,
these work like gangbusters.
