PART A – HEADLINE ANALYSIS & CRITICAL THINKING

Part A Questions

1. Headline Resonance (6 marks)

Find one (1) headline you recently encountered that you felt was effective.

a) Provide the exact headline

“How to stay fit forever: 25 tips to keep moving when life gets in the way (Saner, 2018).”

b) Explain why it resonated with you

The headline resonates with me because I am interested in health and fitness. I go to the gym regularly, but I have recently been struggling to stay consistent while balancing full time school and a part time job. I still want to achieve my fitness goals before summer so the headline caught my attention. I think the use of the word “forever” helped because it implied to me long term, as I’m struggling to maintain gym results. While also including “25 tips”, it made me curious of the solutions they have to fix my problem.

c) Tie your explanation directly to specific headline elements discussed in class

The headline incorporates multiple headline writing concepts I learned in class, such as, utilizing a number. “25 tips” capture readers attention by indicating they have these specific solutions to fix your problem. The writer also knows who their target audience is, making the headline to best catch their attention. I can easily identify who they are talking to; people who struggle staying consistent to their routine and maintaining their results. They also understand what tone of voice this audience responds to. By sympathizing and using relatable messaging like “when life gets in the way” it uses a tone of understanding, almost like they went through the same experience.

2. Accuracy & Representation (4 marks)

Was the headline in Question #1 An accurate representation of the article content?

a) Explain your reasoning clearly

After reading the article, it did represent what the headline was offering which was tips on how to stay fit forever. The content provided multiple suggestions that aligned with the promise of the headline. However, the tips were generic and are known by many people in this situation, such as working out at home, or not relying on willpower. Although this article did give the 25 tips the headline promised, I personally believe it did not offer any unique or new solutions to stay “fit forever.” 

b) Reference course discussion on misleading vs effective headlines

In my opinion the headline is technically not misleading because it follows through with the 25 habits promised. However the promise of “staying fit forever” could be misleading since there is no guarantee that the habits in the article can make a person stay fit forever. The headline was exaggerated but the article still provided the fitness tips regardless of how generic or well known they were. 

Authors must remember that writing a headline that does not accurately represent the content or misleads the reader in any way could harm their credibility and damage their career. Misleading headlines can cause readers to get frustrated, disappointed or misled. This harms an author’s reputation because people become skeptical therefore will no longer click on their articles.

3. Click Motivation (8 marks)

a) Provide a different headline you recently clicked on.

“The Epstein Files Reveal What Trump Knew” 

c) Explain why you clicked it, not why you liked it

I clicked on this headline because it is a current topic of discussion in the media. The Epstein files are now being released and many of them mention the president Donald Trump. Though I don’t follow the case too closely, I do know Donald Trump has stated he knew nothing about the illegal activity that Jeffery Epstein was involved in. So wording the headline as “ what trump knew” compelled me to click.

d) Tie your reasoning directly to course concepts. This must be a different headline than Question #1.

This headline incorporates several of the topics covered in class such as, avoiding vagueness, being straight to the point and creating a sense of urgency. This headline is short and sweet, addressing directly to readers what the article will teach them. By father implying “ what Trump knew” about the Epstein files it instills the fear of missing out creating that sense of urgency. It gives off a tone as he’s hiding something, making the user feel they are about to read something important. Users usually scan through headlines quickly making these concepts very important for writers, in order to catch their attention in a timely manner. 

These 3 concepts catch attention by making the user read only the necessary information considering the short time slot each advertiser has to grab their attention. It also creates a time urgency by making it seem this information needs to be discovered right now and lastly it tells the user exactly what they will get out of reading the article.

PART B – HEADLINE CREATION & APPLICATION

Part B Questions

1. Headline Variation (12 marks)

Using the article from Part A, Question #1, you are to create three (3) different headlines. Each headline must emphasize a different headline element discussed in class. (3X4=12 Marks)

For each headline:

a) Include the Headline

b) Explain your reasoning

c) Reference specific class concepts

Headline 1 – 23 Proven Habits To Keep You Fit When You Don’t Have Time

When writing this headline I decided to use the word “proven” to make this headline sound like these habits have been backed up by a professional. This kind of wording makes it sound like these habits have been supported by research rather than just a personal opinion. It gives the readers an impression that the article will give real credible advice to their problem, increasing clicks.

Secondly, I choose the specific number 23 instead of using the number 25 ( 25 is an odd number but it’s generic) . From what I learned in class, random numbers are less typically in the reader’s mind which makes the reader feel like the article has credibility. As a LinkIn article stated “Odd-numbered listicle headlines outperform even ones by 20% (Westebbe, 2020).”

Readers think that exactly 23 habits were chosen on purpose rather than adding the number 25 for convenience. This seems like the 23 habits were carefully selected by the author, adding only the important habits to the list. Therefore, using words like proven and odd numbers gives the article more credibility and purpose, more likely to be clicked on.

Headline 2 – Dream Body, Busy Schedule; How To Make It Work

I wrote this headline because it promises the readers something of value, by addressing the specific issue. I wanted to make the article specific and easy to understand by adding the goal that is wanted while including what the challenge is. This gives readers the feeling that the writer understands their problem and has the knowledge to help. By clearly stating “how to make it work” at the end they are assured that this article will provide them with real solutions to their specific problem.

By being specific and promising something valuable to the reader it invokes curiosity about what the content has to offer. I kept the headline as short as possible due to short attention spans, but I specifically wanted to address the hard truth that staying fit while living a busy life is hard. The promise of value comes in when add in “how to make it work” at the end emphasizing I know what to do and how to help.

Headline 3 – Act Now Before You Lose Results: 23 Tips To Stay Fit

This headline was created employing the urgency headline approach. To do this I added the words “act now” as a call to action to push the reader to respond. While adding “before you lose results”, the situation becomes time sensitive putting pressure on the reader to figure out how to avoid losing their results. 

The target audience wants to remain fit, so by indicating that they might lose their results it makes them curious to learn about the habits. By understanding what my target audience’s values are and their need to prevent these setbacks will help my message get across. As a result, my phrasing communicates urgency by highlighting the risks and possibilities of not knowing these habits.

Urgency headlines are used to motivate and get immediate action by making the situation feel it could be a missed opportunity if they wait to take action. People are motivated by a fear of losing out  and the awareness of having a deadline, which is why I’ve designed this headline for my target audience. Understanding they have achieved a level of fit they are satisfied with, now looking to keep the weight off. Using urgency phrasing makes my target audience aware of what can happen if they don’t maintain their progress, making them more inclined to click on the article due to a fear of losing out.

2. Headline Intent vs Outcome (4 Marks)

Choose one headline you created in Part B, Q#1 Part B and answer the following:

a) What is the primary intent of this headline? (e.g. curiosity, urgency, clarity, relevance, emotional pull)

My primary intent of the article of my headline “23 Proven Habits To Keep You Fit When You Don’t Have Time” is to increase relevancy by making the article sound credible and precise. Clearly indicating I have 23 specific habits to fix the problem that have been proven.

b) What action or response is the headline designed to trigger?

The headline is supposed to trigger the reader to want to click on the article, as they believe this article has backed up solutions to stay fit. To increase clicks, I used tactics of including a specific number and the phrase “proven” to create the belief of credibility. These tactics make the reader assume the article has helped other people in the same situation.

c) Explain why this intent is appropriate for the target audience you selected.

The intent is appropriate for the target audience because it is specifically calling them out. These individuals don’t want long workouts, they want methods that can help achieve the outcome without requiring a lot of time or much dedication.  I intentionally make the readers feel understood by highlighting both the problem and indicating the article has the solution. By addressing the situation in the headline it correctly attracts the target audience by making them feel as though the content is relevant to them and worth their time. 

3. SCC Advertising Program Headline (6 marks)

Create one headline for an article about the SCC Advertising Program, targeted to local graduating high school students.

You must provide:

a) The headline

Headline –  Advertising Skills Universities won’t teach But St Clair College Will

b) An explanation of the information missing from the instructions

What’s missing from the instructions is the details on which direction I should take this headline, as my target audience is not fully defined. All I know is that they are local and graduating high school, knowing nothing about values, interests, motivates or what stage of the funnel they are at. 

I don’t know what pushes them to commit, since my target audience is large and broad, influencing how my message gets across to students. Therefore, the details were missing, leading me to market the assumption they were already looking into advertising as a career.

c) A detailed justification for your headline choice based on course concepts. You are intentionally not being told what questions to ask.

I created this headline using the class concept of promise of value while also incorporating curiosity. My headline suggests that university advertising programs won’t give students the practical skills they need to be successful in this industry, but St Clair will. I suggest to the reader that choosing St Clair College will give them the important employable skills other advertising courses miss. By saying what “universities won’t teach” it grabs the reader’s curiosity which makes them click.

4. Second-Year Course Headline (4 marks)

Create one headline promoting second-year digital courses in this program, targeted to first-year students.

You must provide:

a) Provide the headline

Headline – 7 Reasons Why Scott Makes Or Breaks Your Advertising Career

b) Explain your reasoning clearly using class content

I made this headline for first year students to create curiosity while using emotional personal factors of the target audience. Since it is targeted to first year advertising students in this program I made it personal by adding a professor’s name and referring to their advertising career. There are a lot of rumours that go around about Scotts classes, how they are hard to pass and a lot of work. By tapping into these fears it makes the audience curious and feel like the information is crucial to know. They are likely nervous for second year due to the rumors, which makes them want to know why this professor makes or breaks their advertising career. This headline feels personal, relevant and specific by using “your advertising career”. By tapping into these emotions the headline leaves them without knowing something that is relevant to them, making it more appealing to click rather than to ignore. I specifically chose the number seven because according to the website Medium “Content Marketing tested its hypothesis and tweaked its headline to include the number 7, click-through rates increased by 20%(Blackwood, 2023).” Therefore by also incorporating an odd number it makes the headline sound even more certain and important.