There’s nothing worse than scrolling online and coming across a headline that you simply have to click—only to discover you’ve been completely misled and won’t be getting the answers you wanted. As a copywriter, how do you know if you’re writing effective hooks or if your copy falls into the dreaded clickbait category?
In this episode, Nicki and Kate discuss the importance of hooks in copywriting and how to distinguish between hooks and clickbait. They provide examples of impactful hooks and caution against using clickbait techniques that disappoint readers and erode trust.
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Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:00] Kate explains what a hook is and why it is important.
[3:19] In order to draw readers in, a hook has to be something that’s genuinely intriguing to the target audience. Nicki and Kate discuss some different examples of what that could look like.
[5:12] Numbers and questions make effective hooks because they pique curiosity and make people want to find out more.
[6:53] Kate reminds us that it is possible to lead with the benefit and do a catchy hook.
[7:27] If you are giving some kind of a hook, you have to actually pay it off. Using a hook and then launching into something else will lose the trust of your target audience.
[8:59] Clickbait is when you don’t pay it off and lure people in without answering whatever it was that piqued their interest in the first place. This can hurt your marketing efforts and frustrate readers.
[9:54] Our co-hosts share examples of clickbait and discuss how this angers readers when they do not get the information they were expecting.
[11:34] As a marketer and as a copywriter, your job is to ensure that not only do you come up with great hooks for your clients, but that you also pay off that hook in a way that is intriguing.
[12:39] Spending time looking at copy around you and evaluating hooks can help to make the differentiation so you are able to have a positive impact on your client’s copy.
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
“A hook is by definition in order to hook them in, it has to be something that’s genuinely interesting or intriguing to that target audience. So It might be an interesting statement, a provocative statement, it might be a question that interests them. It opens a loop that they want closed.” – Nicki
“The hook has to bring people in but it also has to get paid off and it has to get paid off in a genuine way. If I say “The 5 Biggest Mistakes that People Make in a Portfolio”, either when people keep reading or maybe people click through, they should get the five mistakes.” – Nicki
“You can’t use a hook and then launch into something else because you’re going to lose the trust of that target audience.” – Nicki
“You can actually hurt your marketing efforts by using clickbait because you’re getting clicks, but you’re not getting the actual engagement that you want or need to move your client’s business forward.” – Kate
“It is very, very easy to lose an audience’s trust. And as a copywriter, it’s your job to make sure that your copy helps build that trust and doesn’t do anything to jeopardize it.” – Nicki
“Your job is to ensure that not only do you come up with great hooks for your clients, but that you also pay off that hook and give information in a way that is useful, intriguing, and gets them to keep reading.” – Nicki
“It is always beneficial to look at the copy around you and evaluate it.” – Nicki
Related Links
- What Your Headlines Are Missing
- Copywriting Q&A: When to Use Curiosity Headlines
- Ep. 27: The Most Important Piece of Email Copy
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Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
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Last Updated on September 10, 2023
