In a recent post on her blog, Results Revolution, Marianna Hayes writes about her pet peeve—blaming media choices for a failed marketing campaign. Deciding that your direct mail or print ads didn't work can be a costly mistake, for instance, when a more likely explanation is that you chose the wrong message for your audience.

Or perhaps the problem is as simple as a boring, ineffective headline. You might even have forgotten to include one at all! Explains Hayes, the president of HALO Business Advisors, "Your business name in bold across the top of an ad does not count as a headline."

Her advice for getting your readers' attention:

• Get right to the point. Brief, punchy headlines work best, and keeping verbiage to a minimum reduces your margin of error.
• Make it active. Energize your headline with vivid, action verbs.
• Grab readers' attention. Hayes recommends copy that asks a personal, poignant or catchy question. She also believes in visual appeal and often reverses white type on a black background.

The Po!nt: "Don't expect the headline to sell for you," writes Hayes. "But on the flip side, don't expect the reader to stop without a show-stopping headline."

Source: Results Revolution. To learn more about making the most of your advertising budget, read the full blog post.

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