You’ve probably heard a million times that a compelling subject line is the key to scoring a rich and fruitful conversation with your target audience.
Yes, you need to engage with potential customers in some way, shape or form, but you also need to make sure that your messaging is heard.
So what does that mean for you, the marketer, as you craft that perfect email or social media campaign subject line?
Well, you can’t just throw a phrase like ‘Hey, consumer,’ ‘Hey, potential customer,’ or ‘Here’s what you need to know’ in a headline and call it good. You need to put a little bit of thought into what you’re going to write.
You also need to write the perfect subject line for your online marketing campaign so that your message is heard above the noise.
In this article, we’re going to walk you through the process of writing a perfect subject line for your next online marketing campaign. So get ready to become an expert online marketer.
Define Your Audience
Before you start writing your subject line, it is essential to identify your audience and what they need from you.
You’re usually trying to engage with people who are a) interested in your offering and b) are willing to receive your message.
For example, if you’re selling clothing online, your target audience may be women aged 18 to 24 who like to feel warm and cosy in the winter and live in a warmer climate in the summer.
These are the people you need to convince to buy your product or service. So, if your product is designed to be used in the winter, your subject line should reflect that.
The more you know about your audience, the more you’ll be able to engage with them and encourage them to engage with you.
You can use a tool like SurveyMonkey to pull together some quick demographic info about your ideal buyer or customer.
Develop Effective Messaging
Once you have a good idea of who your target audience is, it’s time to dive into the content that will form the backbone of your campaign. This is where you’ll want to develop your messaging.
The key to developing compelling messaging is by considering the five W’s: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
These are the questions you need to ask yourself when you’re writing your messaging.
Who are you writing this for? What are you writing about? When does your audience use your product/service? Where do they use it? Why should they care about your offering? How will they use it?
To answer these questions, you need to consider your product/service from the point of view of a) an individual who is interested in your brand or company and b) an average consumer who uses your product/service.
When you’ve developed compelling messaging, it’s time to move on to the fun part: building a compelling headline that will make your message stand out.
Build a Compelling Headline
Now is the time to build a headline that will make your message stand out.
To do this, you’ll want to consider using a tool like Hootsuite to plan out your campaign.
You can use the tool to map out the keystrokes for your next big email or social media push.
Then, you can craft a compelling headline that will pull readers into the message you’re trying to convey.
Here’s an example of a compelling headline:
• “The complete guide to online dating”
If you’re sending emails, try for something along the lines of:
• “How to build a brand for yourself online”
Or
• “Top tips on how to have a successful blog”
To create a Facebook Marketing Campaign, you can use a tool like Canva to create an engaging Cover Photo and Header for your campaign.
Then, you can use a tool like Hootsuite to build a visual content schedule outlining the keystrokes for each major piece of content you’re going to use in your campaign.
For example, maybe you’ve got a blog post you’d like to publish. You can schedule this to go live on your blog on March 6th. Then, you can create a piece of content sharing a link to that blog post.
Then, you can create a Facebook ad with a matching header.
You can use similar tools to create email marketing campaigns. For example, if you’re creating an email marketing campaign for a luxury brand, you may want to consider using a tool like MailChimp to help you build and send your email campaigns.
Thought leadership content is King (and Queen) when it comes to online marketing.
With so much content being published online, your potential customers are being exposed to a lot of information, both good and bad.
People are more likely to trust, follow, and buy from brands that they perceive as more expert than those brands that seem too crude or informational.
To grab the attention of your target audience, you need to stand out from the rest by contributing expert knowledge.
Why should your audience follow you? You should be contributing useful information that will help them solve a problem or achieve a goal.
Some examples of expert content include:
- Analyst reports that examine an issue in depth, breaking it down to a simple, easy-to-understand problem.
- White papers that solve a specific problem
- Webinars that educate about an issue in a live, interactive session
- Tips and tricks from experts in different industries
- Step-by-step tutorials that teach beginners how to solve a problem
With so much competition, it is essential that your content is as comprehensive and high-quality as possible.
To ensure that you’re producing the highest-quality content, you’ll want to work with a professional content writer or in-house content strategist. They should have experience in creating informative articles for different platforms.
Producing in-depth, high-quality content means you’ll need appropriate tools and platforms to do it. Once you’ve got that content, you can start to measure the success of your campaign.
In this article, we talked about the five steps to writing the perfect subject line for your online marketing campaigns. Now it’s time to move into action and start crafting your perfect content!