Five Places to Position Your Most Important Copy

Last Modified: December 3, 2018

Emily Brontë wrote in Wuthering Heights, “A person who has not done half his day’s work by 10 o’clock runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.” Think of your advertising copy the same way. If you don’t get most of your message across early in your headline, you run the chance of leaving the rest unread.

To improve readership and impact, position your most important messaging in these five strategic spots, which we all read first before deciding whether to invest time in the body copy.

Headlines and Subheads
Make these engaging and specific to your brand. Instead of “Our Difference” as a subhead, for example, state what that difference is.

Slogans
If your brand sports a slogan, use it consistently in every brand touchpoint. And remember, some of the best slogans are rolled out as headlines.

Photo Captions or Infographics Copy
Because images are engaging, the copy associated with them gets read more than copy blocks.

Bullets
Pull out important points from paragraphs for at-a-glance readability. This is advertising, not a formal English essay, so fragments are OK. And so is starting a sentence with “and” for that matter.

Listicles
There’s a reason these short lists are all over social content – because they’re intriguing and quick-reading.

Consumers want to self-qualify themselves for copy worth reading to them. Make it easy to stay engaged with strategic placement of your most compelling message.

Published: December 3, 2018