Home page headline copy formulas

My head hurts - I’ve just spent 3 hours brainstorming the headline copy for our new tech tool.

As someone who runs a writing service, you’d think this would be super easy, but the following challenges make life harder.

#1 challenge - no history

The first challenge we have is centered around the fact we’re a startup. By the very nature of being a startup, the business doesn’t hold any history of conversations, customer questions, issues, and feedback. So, technically we’re writing from the limited research conducted and our opinions. Imagine if a client said: “wow, you guys helped us achieve X” - we could now easily make that part of the headline: “achieve X, without the hassle” (or something like that).

If you’ve been in business for years you, therefore, have a conversation advantage that you can leverage into content that enables you to build awareness and a trustworthy and credible brand.

#2 challenge - multiple audiences and benefits

The second challenge we’re struggling with is that there are multiple audiences and benefits to our tool. Do we focus on one and speak to all? They are all very similar. For now, we’ve decided to speak to all but that might quickly change and in terms of benefits we’re focusing on the biggest ones: a) richer client stories and b) saving time.

Now, back to crafting a headline. I need to somehow work with the above and create a headline that introduces our offer whilst capturing interest.

Headline Copy Formulas

There are a number of different headline copy formulas you can use to help you structure your ideas.

I was brainstorming our copy with a Founder friend and they recommended we focus on keeping the headline super simple and telling people what we do on a tin.

So, the headline formulas that I’m focusing on are as follows with examples:

a) Simplify what it is and simplify why it’s different e.g. brand-rich stories without calls and emails

b) State the value proposition e.g. easily craft brand-rich stories

c) Introduce the product and say what it does e.g. audio app to produce better stories in less time

Today, I spent 3 hours brainstorming potential headlines and reduced it down to around 10 I (somewhat) liked as a seed idea.

It’s now with our Creative Director of Copy to flesh out and provide 2-3 ideas.

It’s not easy and honestly, I think we might be too close to the problem and solution. We’ll see how we go but I’m considering working with a branding agency to help get an outside view.

I’m building this business in public to help you learn along the way and build a bigger and better business – feel free to ask questions and I’ll aim to cover it in future posts.