The key to attracting a potential customer's attention in any form of marketing is your headline. Your headline is the first thing that a prospect sees in your marketing campaign, and it will either make or break the effectiveness the rest of your ad copy. Here are three key steps that your headline must accomplish if it is to draw the reader further into your offering:

1. Get Your Prospects Attention.

Your first job as a marketer is to grab your prospects attention and get them to focus on your message. The two factors that influence whether a headline will have the attention grabbing effects that you desire is the content and design of your headline. The content is the actual words used in your headline, and the design is how it is visually presented. The text you use in your line should cut right to the heart of how your product or service can benefit the reader. This should be a benefit specifically targeted to your desired audience. Get into the mind of your prospect. Whatever it is that they need or want the most should be addressed in your headline if you want the reader's attention. Visually, the design of your headline should cause it to leap off the page to the viewer. Find a way to make your headline stand out amongst other ads that it shares space with, by using a different typeface, color or other attention grabbing visual design elements.

2. Identify Your Target Audience

You should know whom your specific target audience is that you are trying to reach through your marketing, and target your headline to get their specific attention. Wording your headline to appeal to your target audience heightens their interest and draws them into your ad copy like a magnet. This technique of narrowing your message to appeal to a target audience is known as flagging. In a sense, you are holding up flag that says to your target audience, "This message is for you!" This alerts the prospect to give your ad priority attention because you are specifically addressing them. A message that specifically addressees your target audience speaks to them on a more personal level and your ad copy has a higher perceived value because of this.

3. Make A Clear, Benefit-Filled Statement

When your targeted visitor reads your headline the one thing that they need to see to continue onward is benefits. Your headline needs to clearly address how your product or service can benefit your reader. A benefit is different from a feature. A feature describes the contents and characteristics of a product or service. A benefit clearly answers the question in the back of every prospects head: "What's in it for me?" A benefit is the solution or result a customer can get from using your product or service. A benefit should satiate a hunger or relieve a pain, and is the number one reason why a prospect will continue to read your marketing piece. Your headline should inspire the reader with hope that the advertised benefit can be theirs. This hope of a realized dream, or the cessation of a pain compels the find out more about your solution. Clearly state the benefit of your product or service in your headline and your potential customer will be receptive to hearing more about what you have to offer.

In summary, a powerful headline that covers the above three points will serve you well by setting up the rest of your ad copy and marketing message for success. A headline sets the marketing "dinner table" and inspires your guests to gather around it, ready to partake of the rest of the message about your product and service.