It's true! And you know it! It's a cardinal rule of direct marketing - and as a real estate investor you need to keep it uppermost in your mind if you want to succeed.
And while you may think this is only true for longer direct mailings in other industries, it's even more important with a postcard mailing.
Let's face it, the postcard doesn't have a lot of space on it.
As a real estate investor using this method, you don't have the luxury of developing a two-page argument leading to the merits and benefits of your product as some marketers do.
When you write within the confines of the postcard you must get to your point - quickly and succinctly.
And that makes your headline all the more important - and powerful.
The quickest and easiest way to add muscle to your mailing is to use the tried, tested and true formula of WIIFM - What's In It For Me? Oh, sure, you're tempted right now to answer this question.
But don't.
Not yet at least.
Think about it for a while.
To write the most powerful, muscle-bound headline you can, you need to sit down and have a brainstorming session - with yourself.
Think of every possible benefit a customer could gain from selling his house to you.
Don't worry about the number of benefits.
Don't limit your thinking or your writing.
In fact, the more benefits you can put on paper the better! Study them.
Once you've absorbed them, then you can begin to create various headlines.
That's right! I said headlines in the plural.
Don't settle just on one.
Get those inherent creative juices flowing.
Power your headlines with strong action verbs.
You'll discover that once you start this exercise, you'll have variations around a certain theme.
Some ideas will automatically drop out because others will seem to much more effective.
That's exactly what's supposed to happen.
As you cross out the ideas you consider the weaker ones, you'll be left with only the strong ones.
As you develop these stronger ones, you may not want to narrow it done to a single headline.
Maybe you have two or even three headlines you like.
That's fine.
Why not use them all? Yes, use all three of these.
If you truly believe all fill the bill of answering the question "What's In It For Me?" then use all of these headlines.
This could be a wonderful opportunity to test the effectiveness of them.
In this way you can discover with one works the best.
In the next mailing you may want to use only the strongest of these then.
I know.
It seems that you're taking quite a bit of time just creating your headline.
That's exactly the way it should be though.
Your headline is just that important.
And it's a fact that you should never forget.
In fact, there's no reason in the world that the title of this article "Never Underestimate the Power of a Headline" shouldn't be posted somewhere in your office - someplace prominent.
Go ahead, right now.
Either handwrite it on a piece of paper someplace or print it off your computer.
Hang it somewhere on your desk where you'll see it all day long.
When you remember the true potential your headline has to your postcard marketing campaign - you'll experience true success in real estate investing.