Writing Exercise #1: Headlines, Hooks and Leads

Okay, now that you know the basics of writing headlines and leads, let’s take a moment to practice what you’ve learned.

Choose a product or service. It could be something your client offers. It could be one of your own products or services. Or it could be something you’ve seen on the store shelf, at Amazon, or in an ad recently.

If you’re not writing for a client or yourself, you likely won’t have the indepth research that you might have if you went through the 4:20+ process we shared with you in Research Mastery. In that case, use your best guess. But consider using the 4:20+ process to help focus your thinking.

Think of your product. And the customer who will buy it. What problem do they have? What stage of awareness are they in? What result do they want?

Now write 25 headlines. Try to write at least one for each of the headline types we showed you in Segment 5. Even better if you write more than 25 headlines. Think about big ideas that will hook your reader and make them want to read more. Make sure at least some of your headlines reflect those. Take the best 3 and develop a 300-400 word lead that develops the hook beyond the headline. Use at least one of the lead types we shared with you in segment 3.

What you end up with may not be great. But the practice of coming up with hook ideas, writing headlines, and developing leads will make you a better copywriter. And when it comes to building your skills, it will help more than almost any other activity.