Headline Hacks

How Legendary Copywriter Gene Schwartz Wrote Bestselling Headlines

The two keys to writing innovative, persuasive headlines (+50 examples)

“Exciting sight — watching the multi-talented genius’s fingers flying over the keyboard creating another brilliant ad. And then he’d sit back with that great smile, read it over and enjoy it more and more.” — Martin Edelston

President Martin Edelston of Boardroom Publishing explains how Gene Schwartz wrote ad copy.

Direct copywriter Eugene Schwarz wrote for the most successful direct marketers in the U.S., helping them to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of products across different industries.

Schwartz published a few books, including “Breakthrough Advertising” in 1966. In this book, he shared the timeless philosophies and principles behind his multi-million dollar ad copy.

While Schwartz’s book was out of print, it was selling for over $900 — and so Edelston had the privilege of bringing his wisdom back to print.

In “Breakthrough Advertising,” Schwartz’s goal was to solve a copywriter’s main problem: to write copy that opens up new markets for products.

For new products, to gain immediate profit. For old products, a new angle. For overdone products, new ways to stand out and protect themselves against competitors.

His approaches can help us create enticing headlines.

Why don’t we just copy successful headline formulas?

There’s nothing wrong with this approach. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with learning and tweaking the headlines of successful writers, such as the 24 Headline Templates That Lead to Magnetic Titles. Or the 16 Proven Headline Formulas to Entice Your Readers so you never worry about how to come up with a good title.

Of course, you still need to decide what works for your topic, your audience, and the publication. Still, formulas are a nice, simple, quick way to get a headline sorted, aren’t they?

Well, Gene Schwartz used a simple yet effective approach to create headlines and ad copy — that didn’t follow formulas. It’s why he was one of the highest-paid copywriters of the 1950s and ’60s. Rodale Press was reported to have paid him $54,000 for four hours of work.

His method wasn’t about reviving or copying formulas. Good thing too —if not, the headlines he wrote in the ‘60s wouldn’t be relevant today.

Instead, Schwartz focuses on human nature and our tendency for hopes, dreams, fears, and desires.

We don’t need to create these — they already exist in the hearts of millions of people.

“People don’t change: only the direction of their desires do. They cannot be made to want anything, nor is it necessary to create want. All that is necessary is to be able to channel those wants into proper products that offer legitimate satisfaction for them.” — Eugene Schwartz

When Schwartz created copy for ads, he addressed what he termed permanent mass desires — hopes, dreams, fears, and desires — with temporary mass desires. These are seasonal or cyclical desires, such as car or fashion preferences.

He likens copywriting to the stockmarket or being an atomic physicist.

The stockmarkets deal with the currents of the marketplace.

An atomic physicist deals with the fundamental energies of the universe.

And copywriting deals with the hopes, fears, and desires of men and women all over the world.

All three deal with immense natural forces. And we don’t create them — but we can harness the forces.

We Don’t Create These Forces, but We Can Harness Them

Scientists didn’t create the sun’s energy, but they can direct the energy into the explosion of an atomic bomb.

Speculators didn’t create the demand for electronics after the war, but they can ride the growth and make a profit from it.

As copywriters, we don’t create people’s desires to lose weight, make more money, or show their success to others. But we can channel those desires onto a particular product (or an article), and we can be rewarded for it (get plenty of profit, claps, comments, reputation, admiration, respect).

How We Can Harness These Natural Forces for Each Post We Write

These forces aren’t alike. They each work in a different way.

Schwartz explains that the same formula to release atomic energies fails to solve the problem of rocket propulsion.

Investing in uranium in the same way as the profitability of investing in electronics after World War 2 leads to loss.

And the same weight loss ads don’t work when applied to health foods, though both may reach the same audience.

Why not?

Schwartz tells us that no formula works twice. Each formula was written to solve a particular problem in the past. Change a part of the problem and you need a new formula.

So memorizing theories won’t make you a scientist. Studying charts won’t make you a wolf on Wall Street.

And rewriting someone else’s headlines won’t make you a copywriter.

What will work?

Innovation.

Constant, steady innovation that brings in new ideas and fresh new solutions to new problems. Created by analysis rather than by memorization. Using rough guesses, based on past successes.

The Core Purpose of Your Headline

Schwartz tells us:

“Your headline has only one job — to stop your prospect and compel him to read the second sentence…Your prospect must identify with your headline before he can buy from it. It must be his headline, his problem, his state of mind at that particular moment. It must pick out the product’s logical prospects — and reject as many people as it attracts.”

In advertising, in writing a great headline, while styles may change, the strategy does not.

Tap into desires that still exist — that will always exist — and you’ll create a headline that sells. That’s because people will respond to the power of headlines that channel their desires well.

Two Important Considerations to Write a Great Headline

1. Mass desire.
2. State of awareness of your reader.

1. Mass Desire

Schultz describes mass desire as a private want made public.

Well, you can harness this want into the headline of your next post. Amplify it by exploiting desires that already exist. Mass desires are permanent or temporary.

Examples of permanent forces of mass desire

• Women want to be attractive
• Men want to be virile
• All of us want to be healthy
• To be financially stable
• To have the option to work less
• To be loved
• To be happy

Ways to identify permanent forces of mass desire

There’s plenty of information that can give you ideas about what people desire in mass. For example, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs gives a good overview of what we value.

Then we can break this down:

An 80-year Harvard study found community is the key to happiness and a long life.

An investor sentiment survey tells us investors value the option to work less, be financially stable, and retire early.

A palliative care nurse named Bronnie Ware interviewed the dying and found people wished they were true to themselves, hadn’t worked so hard, stayed in touch with friends, and had made the choice to be happy.

You’ve seen how responsive readers are to productivity and self-help articles.

How to channel mass desire into your headline

Well, when you want to write a headline that channels mass desire to read your content further, Schultz advises you to:

• Angle headlines in a new way
• Choose the most powerful desire that can be applied
• Acknowledge it and reinforce it
• Offer the means to satisfy the desire in your headline

Examples of changing forces of mass desire

Changing forces of mass desire refer to what’s temporary or popular. Often, this can happen in cycles so that what was popular 10 years ago may be the big thing again today.

And changing mass desire is also dependent on factors such as location, age group, industry, culture, time of the year, and more. Examples of changing forces of mass desire include:

• Ways to show success
• House designs
• Cars
• Fashion
• Travel destinations
• Social media

Ways to identify changing forces of mass desire

• From surveys
• By talking to people around you
• Noticing what influencers are saying
• Being aware of ads
• Checking out blogs
• Browsing social media
• Checking the news

Be aware that single sources of news may not always reflect mass desire — a person or company may have a vested interest in promoting a product or service. Combine your research with more objective sources, such as surveys and research.

For example, this U.S. car survey tells us compact cars are popular in the U.S. Aussies used Facebook and YouTube more than any other social media in September 2019.

And psychological research found employees are more innovative when a job fits their values and they have job autonomy.

So that covers mass desires. The next important consideration in writing great headlines is the state of awareness of your reader.

2. State of Awareness

To figure out your reader’s state of awareness, simply ask yourself these questions:

What mass desire do these readers have? How much do they know? How many other posts have they read before yours?

The last two questions will give you the content for your headline.

What may work for readers with one stage of awareness won’t work with readers in another stage of awareness. The more aware your readers are of your topics, the less you need to say.

Most aware: You can be specific for the audience you’re writing for. For example, a developer writing for other developers. Parents sharing with other parents.

Different levels of awareness: You need to entice readers. Reinforce their desire. Sharpen it. Expand on it.

Ways to Write Headlines Using Mass Desire and State of Awareness

So far, we’ve discovered there are different types of mass desire: permanent and changing. And we can discover those desires in many ways.

People may be very aware of a topic or have different levels of awareness about a topic. For example, an HR consultant may not know about web development. But both a developer and an HR consultant may be interested in getting better quality sleep.

Powerful headlines solve problems that make it easy for readers to say, “Yes, that’s me,” or, “Tell me more”. They consider both mass desire and address a reader’s state of awareness.

The rest of this post will give you sample headlines using Schultz’s approaches. These headlines are from real posts, ads, books, news articles, and TED Talks.

Sample Headlines for People Who Are Aware — Targeted Audience

Schwartz example: “Revere Zomar Lens, Electric Eye Camera — Formerly $149.50 — Now Only $119.95”

Optical Effects in User Interfaces (for True Nerds) — Slava Shestopalov (Mass desire: to be smart and admired)

I just asked 23,000 developers what they think of JavaScript. Here’s what I learned. — Sacha Greif (Mass desire: to seek validation)

Daily Itinerary Of Your Mom’s Friend’s Perfect Daughter As Told By Your Mom — Jen Albanese (Mass desire: to be good parents)

If the problem isn’t clearly defined and you’re not sure of the mass desire, sharpen emotions:

Schwartz example: “Do YOU make these mistakes in English?”

Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that? — Brian Goldman

If solutions have been promised before and the same direct statements have lost freshness, use verbal twists to restore novelty:

Schwartz example: “How a bald-headed barber helped save my hair” (Mass desire: to look attractive)

Other headline examples:

Is The “Like” An Endangered Species On Social Media? — Ryan Holmes(Mass desire: to be loved)

5 Unicorn Marketer Secrets You Never Knew — Larry Kim(Mass desire: to be recognized and respected)

Projecting an ultimate triumph the prospect will identify with:

For example, Schultz faced the problem of selling music lessons by correspondence to a bigger audience than those who would be interested in a “Play Real Tunes on the Piano in Five Days” approach.

His headline solution:

“They laughed when I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play!”

Other headlines:

“Floats fat right out of your body” — Schwartz (Mass desire: to have an attractive body)

“Shrinks hemorrhoids without surgery”— Schwartz (Mass desire: to avoid pain)

“How To Tell If Someone Is Truly Smart Or Just Average” — Michael Simmons (Mass desire: to be smart/to be more than average)

Cheat Sheet for Mastering Google My Business — Annie Pilon (Mass desire: to gain financial security)

Here’s How to Tell in 5 Questions If Your Workplace Is the Worst Kind of Toxic — Scott Mautz (Mass desire: to work in a place that fits personal values)

Use a common resentment or unvoiced protest to capture a far greater market than a direct statement of the solution would produce:

For example, Schwartz faced the problem of selling a DIY TV repair manual — people didn’t think they had the skills to do it. The market had to include non-handymen by exploiting the existing resentment against TV repairers that rip people off.

His headline solution:

“Why haven’t TV owners been told these facts” (Mass desire: to avoid being exploited)

Another headline example:

How Children Get Hooked on Sugary Drinks —Andrew Jacobs. This could be a great headline to suggest drinking more water, or to sell water filters. (Mass desire: to keep kids healthy)

Sample Headlines for People Who Have Different Levels of Awareness

When people aren’t as aware of your topic, Schwartz uses a variety of approaches to gain their attention:

• Reinforce by fresh proof
• By mystery
• Wonderment
• Solving a need
• Preventing a future problem before it occurs

Here are examples of real headlines that use these approaches.

Reinforce by fresh proof:

Schwartz examples:

“When doctors feel rotten — this is what they do” (Mass desire: To feel good)

“Take foolproof photos with the Xenophon 1750” (Mass desire: to capture precious family memories)

Other headline examples:

What Do 90-Somethings Regret Most? — Lydia Sohn (Mass desire: to avoid regret)

Travel Is No Cure for the Mind — More To That (Mass desire: to feel alive, excited, and happy)

What would happen if you didn’t sleep? — Claudia Aguirre (Mass desire: to feel good)

Use mystery:

Schwartz example: “No! Run your car without spark plugs!” (Mass desire: to save money)

Other headline examples:

“Do you have the courage to earn half a million dollars a year?” (Mass desire: to make more money and to stand out from other people)

The new bionics that let us run, climb and dance — Hugh Herr

How To Build A Multimillion Dollar Business Based On One Simple Rule Of Bridges — Michael Maven(Mass desire: to gets rich quickly)

How Technology is Hijacking Your Mind — from a Former Insider — Tristan Harris (Mass desire: to be smart or not to be seen as stupid)

Why Everyone Missed the Most Mind-Blowing Feature of Cryptocurrency — Daniel Jeffries (Mass desire: to have better finances)

How Does Spotify Know You So Well? — Sophia Ciocca (Mass desire: to maintain our privacy)

By wonder:

Schwartz example: “Whoever heard of 17,000 blooms from a single plan?”

Other headline examples:

Digital Exile: How I Got Banned for Life from AirBnB — Jackson Cunningham (Mass desire: to do something outrageous now and then)

A robot that flies like a bird — Markus Fischer (Mass desire: to be entertained)

How I held my breath for 17 minutes — David Blane (Mass desire: to have a skill people admire)

The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You — Zat Rana (Mass desire: to be naturally good at something)

To introduce a post that solves a need:

Name the need and/or its solution.

“How to rinse away your blackheads” (Mass desire: to look attractive)

“Shrinks hemorrhoids without surgery” (Mass desire: to avoid pain)

Other headlines examples:

How to fix a broken heart — Guy Winch (Mass desire: to be loved)

How To Become World-Class at Anything — Duncan Riach, Ph.D. (Mass desire: to boost self-worth and be admired)

How to Be the Type of Person Everyone Wants to Know — Hazel Gale (Mass desire: to be admired)

Want to Reduce Brain Fog and Improve Clear Thinking? Give up These Things Immediately — Thomas Oppong(Mass desire: to have clarity)

How to stay calm when you know you’ll be stressed — Daniel Levitin (Mass desire: to be in control)

About Simplicity

Schwartz explained that “sometimes the simplest statement of the desire is the best.” This can be seen in the classic book title of Dale Carnegie‘s How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Other headline examples that illustrate simplicity:

Schwartz example: “How to make anybody like you!” (Mass desire: to be liked)

Atomic Habits — James Clear (Mass desire: to be good at something)

Do schools kill creativity? — Sir Ken Robinson (Mass desire: to be creative)

Your body language may shape who you are — Amy Cuddy (Mass desire: to be confident)

I Will Teach You To Be Rich — Ramit Sethi (Mass desire: to be rich)

Why Most People Will Remain in Mediocrity — Anthony Moore (Mass desire: to be more than average)

Why Women Need Twice As Much Sex As Men Dr. Stephanie Estima (Mass desire: for pleasure)

How Not to Diet — Michael Greger (Mass desire: to look and feel good)

Summary

We can use headline formulas for quick and easy headlines that have worked in the past. But to come up with more unique and powerful headlines, Schwartz explains we need to consider two important aspects:

1. Mass desires (permanent and changing)
2. State of awareness (very aware, or other levels of awareness)

We can’t change natural forces. Instead, we can harness them through headlines that consider our reader’s state of awareness of our topic and their mass desires.

If our reader is very aware, we can be specific with our headlines. If not, we can use a variety of approaches:

• Sharpening emotions
• Verbal twists
• Triumph
• Fresh proof
• Wonder
• Naming a need, a solution, or both

So to create innovative headlines, consider mass desires and state of awareness when creating every headline.