Three Reasons why listing What You Have For Sale is a BAD Headline

1.  It’s a boring headline with no pizzazz

            Nubian buckling for sale—ho hum

            Herd reduction—hmmm, (customer thinks) “I wonder about their management”

            Special calendars—why would he think they are special?

            We have extra ________ for sale—it’s all about you and he doesn’t care about you!

 2.  Lots of rural businesses have the same product or animal for sale.

How are you going to stand out when every livestock breeder has extra males for sale.  A male had better have something very special about him to even be worth mentioning.  Unless they have exceptional genetics.  And if they are worth mentioneing, why are you not talking about what those exceptional genetics could do for a customer?  Because he’s saying, “I should care why???? “ 

Whatever your product, the headline needs to make it plain why yours is just the one they need—and it does not happen unless you can excite that customer with your headline—your only chance at a first impression. 

3.  Listing what you have for sale might get the attention of the guy who is actively looking for your thing, but a better headline might remind a bunch of people that they really do need your product, they just were not thinking about it today.

One of my favorite examples that I’ve used in my marketing seminar is this:

     “We are starting our fall semen collection trip.” 

·        Who is that headline about?  (answer, not the customer)

·        Who cares about it?  Maybe one or two people who know they want their animal collected.

·        How to fix that headline?  “Safeguard your valuable genetics this fall with our semen collection service.” 

Now there are potentially dozens of folks with a really fine buck (pig, horse, dog, or other collectable animal) who is getting up there in age.  They’ve seen dynamite offspring and realize the breeding years for the really good ones are limited.  Your headline has reminded them that his contribution is at risk and getting him collected will give them peace of mind.  The second headline is about what the customer gets, not about the seller of the service. 

A good headline gets attention, speaks to the customer’s self interest.  See if you can write a headline about your for-sale thing that does that. 

Always ask yourself this question about your headline.  “Who is this about?” 

If it’s about your stuff or about your farm or about you, you’re missing a chance to connect with your customers.