So far in my articles I’ve talked about headlines as opposed to the rest of the copy. Now I want to talk to you about subheadings, because headlines are actually divided into two parts, the headline itself and the subheading.

By the way, there may be other titles in the text. In a longer copy, there almost certainly will be. But these are not headlines. You may repeat some of the words you used in the title, but the point you are making will be different. These other headlines will be a kind of subheading. They can reinforce the title directly or expand it by adding other information.

Why do we use subtitles? So that the headline can be shorter and more forceful is the first reason. Using other headings throughout the text also makes it more appealing and attractive. But brevity isn’t the most important reason we use a subheading near the top of our copy. The main reason we use subheadings is to qualify the claim we’ve made in the title.

The goal of the headline, as you’ll remember if you’ve read my previous articles, is to make a big statement that grabs the reader’s attention and encourages them to keep reading. The headline addresses the reader’s pain and promises, not guarantees, to ease it with a solution to their problem. What a subheading does is explain, clarify and define the big claim we made in the headline and maybe focus it more on results, time frame, lack of risk, etc. A subheading often includes the word GUARANTEED. So a subhead makes our claim more credible and focused, and also satisfies our ethical need to be accurate and honest in our copy about exactly what our product or service does.

Here is another example of part of my copy.

Headline:

“DISCOVER how YOU can explode your travel booking business and BOOST your revenue through the roof in the next THREE months!”

Caption:

“Leverage the fantastic POWER of high-powered marketing materials to win clients, build relationships, and achieve a market-leading reputation as the #1 source of world-class enrichment staff for the cruise industry!”

(Some of the words are in red, but that doesn’t matter.)

See how the subheading expands on the big claim I make in the headline and also makes the promise more specific and more compelling by detailing three key results my copy can achieve. I should add that all promises made in copy assume that the copy is used in a professional, proper, and ethical manner. Copy does not promise to make magic out of nothing. It promises to achieve results that can seem like magic when used correctly. The fact that this is so has been proven countless times.

When writing a subheading, it is natural, and best, to write it at the same time as the heading. Think of them as two hands doing the same job, rather than separate pieces that you add to your copy. If you do it right, your title and subheading should be a compelling start to your copy.

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