12-Part Sales Letter In Depth: Getting Their Attention The Sub-Headline

Assuming we got their attention with the Headline, now we need to get our audience of prospects to keep reading. To do so, we need to engage our audience both emotionally and intellectually. We do this by clearly identifying a problem which the reader has. Sometimes this requires a sub-headline, sometimes a paragraph and sometimes both.

What matters is that:

• The reader feels that someone understands a problem they have
• The reader is reminded of the experience of the pain of the problem
• The reader is becomes somewhat agitated as a consequence

For example, let's say we are selling an audible finder device. Our headline might read:

"I Turned Off My Cell Phone And Now I Can't Find It!" (Get their attention)

Our sub-headline might read:

"Don't you hate it when you turn off your cell phone at a meeting and then you can't call it to find it?" (Remind them of a problem)

Our sub-paragraph might read:

"Why is a cell phone and all-or-nothing deal? You turn it off in a meeting or theater, and then you misplace it...and you can't dial it to find out where it is, since it's turned off! How frustrating! To make it worse, you might be expecting a time-sensitive call. Sure you could select a quite ringtone, but if you are like most people you don't have the time to dig into the menus to change it!"

If we are doing our job well, we have succeeded in irritating the reader enough so they might:

• Want to throw their cell phone at the wall
• Write to a cell phone manufacturer suggesting an improvement
  
• Buy our handy-dandy voice-activated chirping cell-phone locator
  

At this point we have already verged into Identify the Problem. More on that in the next installment.

Next Installment: 12-Part Sales Letter In Depth: Identifying The Problem