Eleven headlines from facts you already have

The blank headline field is where most small-shop ads stall. The usual way out is to write something vague (“Quality you can trust”) or to borrow a claim you cannot back up. There is a better way: collect a few plain facts about the product, then run them through patterns that advertisers have used for a century. No invention needed.

First, the facts

Write these down before you think about wording. They are the same fields AdBatch asks for:

• The name of the product.
• One sentence saying what it is and does.
• Three selling points, each a few words long. Concrete beats grand: “Cold for 24 hours” is stronger than “Superior performance”.
• The price, if you want it shown.
• An offer, if there is one, with its real limit: “20% off this week”.
• Who it is for: “weekend hikers”, “new parents”.

Our running example is a steel bottle. Sentence: an insulated steel bottle that keeps drinks cold all day. Points: cold for 24 hours, leak-proof lid, fits any cup holder. Price: $34. Offer: 20% off this week. Audience: weekend hikers.

The eleven patterns

1. Benefit. Lead with the strongest selling point and nothing else. “Cold for 24 hours.” If the point is good, it does not need help.

2. Offer. When there is a real offer, say it first. “20% off this week.” People scanning a feed decide in a moment, and a clear offer is a reason to stop.

3. Question. Ask the question the buyer is already asking. “Why Everyday Steel Bottle?” Then let the sub-line answer with your three points.

4. Urgency. Only when it is true. If the offer ends, say so: “20% off this week. Don’t miss it.” If nothing is ending, skip this pattern. Invented deadlines are easy to spot and cost trust.

5. Comparison. Set the product against the ordinary without naming a competitor. “Forget the rest. Get Everyday Steel Bottle.”

6. Price. When the price is a selling point, make it the headline. “Everyday Steel Bottle for $34.”

7. Audience. Name the people it is for. “Built for weekend hikers.” The right reader feels spoken to; the wrong one scrolls on, which is fine.

8. Three points. Line up the selling points as the headline itself. “Cold for 24 hours. Leak-proof lid. Fits any cup holder.” This suits layouts with room for a list.

9. Introduction. For something new, simply introduce it. “Meet Everyday Steel Bottle.”

10. Plain. Use the description as it stands. “Insulated steel bottle that keeps drinks cold all day.” Plain is underrated. It is the headline that needs no explaining.

11. Deal. Offer, product and price together for people who are ready to buy. “20% off this week. Everyday Steel Bottle, $34.”

Tone changes the wording, not the facts

The same benefit can be said four ways. Straightforward: “Cold for 24 hours.” Bold: “Cold for 24 hours. Period.” Playful: “Cold for 24 hours. Yes, really.” Premium: “Cold for 24 hours, done properly.” Choose the voice that sounds like your shop and keep it across the whole batch. Mixing tones in one campaign reads as several different companies.

What to leave out

• Reviews and ratings you cannot show. “Customers love it” is a claim. If you have real reviews, quote one in a caption with the reviewer’s permission. Do not make them up.
• Numbers without a source. “Twice as fast” needs a “than what?”.
• Superlatives. “The best bottle” says nothing. “Cold for 24 hours” says something.
• More than one idea. A headline carries one thought. The sub-line can carry the second.

This is the rule AdBatch’s built-in writer follows: it fills these eleven patterns using only what you typed, and skips a pattern when the fact it needs is missing. No price, no price headline. No offer, no urgency.

The sub-line and the button

The sub-line has one job: add the fact the headline left out. If the headline is the offer, the sub-line says what the product is. If the headline is a benefit, the sub-line can carry the other two points or the price.

Button text should say what happens next. “Shop now” for a product page, “Get the deal” when the headline is an offer, “See why” after a question. Two or three words.

Write ten, keep three

You will not know which headline works for your audience until people have seen them, and nobody can promise you a winner in advance. What you can do is put three different patterns side by side, for example a benefit, an offer and a question, in the same layout and let the results tell you. That is far easier when the headlines take a minute to write.

If you would rather not start from a blank field at all, open AdBatch, fill in the facts and it writes the set for you. Every line is editable, and “Write again” gives you the next phrasing of each pattern.