Radio Hed Logo 2By Jeffrey Hedquist

 Clickbait – intriguing headlines that lead us to click on a link. They’ve been used for generations…long before we were clicking.

“They Laughed When I Sat Down At the Piano, But When I Started to Play!-“

Advertising pioneer John Caples was using “clickbait” in the above example as early as 1927. The technique has continued to work because we’re all curious beings. We want to know the rest of the story. You’ll have our attention until we find out what happened.

Can this work in radio? Sure. Using clickbait in audio messages can encourage audience members to keep listening, but, it can backfire horribly…

You could offend your audience and get negative results for the advertiser by not following some simple rules:

  1. Audio headline – it’s a promise that needs to be relevant to the problems or challenges of your client’s typical customers.

  2. The promise, and the content must deliver a benefit.

  3. The promise must be specific.

  4. The promise must be interesting enough to be “click-worthy.”

  5. The commercial needs to deliver on the promise.

As you know, “clickbait” is a negative term for something that leads someone to expect something, only to be deceived. What we’re talking about is the opposite - a promise to the listener that you fulfill.

This is a way to build an effective campaign – a series of messages, each with a tip, a little-known fact, advantage, or insider’s secret that will make the listener’s life better.

The promise can have all the power of clickbait, but you need to deliver on the promise to establish trust. Establish trust and you’ll be part way to making a sale.

Use the lure of clickbait, but deliver the integrity of a promise.

After 15 non-stop years of writer’s block these ten secrets changed everything…
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