Attention: Is Your Headline Getting Any?

“There’s just no quiet in Vegas.” – Barry Manilow

Same thing online, Barry.

Like driving down the strip, even at an ungodly hour, our old pal the Internet feeds us an unending spread of exactly what we want.

Between the inbox, RSS, Twitter, and name-your-social-network-of-choice, the competition for our attention is aggressive and utterly incapable of mercy.

How can your stuff get read, watched, or listened to if it’s buried alive (see: invisible) under the non-stop avalanche of an entire civilization’s most mundane and brilliant ideas?

It all starts in one place…

In this episode Brian and I discuss:

• The brutal reality of how many readers you really have
• What David Ogilvy said about headlines, and why it’s even more important today
• The 80/20 Rule of headline writing
• The four indispensable ingredients every great headline must have
• What types of headlines are perennially popular with readers, and how to write them

Hit the flash player below to listen now:

Other listening options:

• Click here to download the mp3 | 34.8 MB | 28:56
• Click here to subscribe via iTunes

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Radio Shack Wants You To Check-in Somewhere Else

Radio Shack is running an interesting new Foursquare promotion that asks you to check-in some place other than your local Radio Shack. How odd is that? The badge you’re looking for is called Holiday Heroes and when you earn it you get a coupon good for 20% off your purchase.

To get the badge, Radio Shack is asking you to check into “Hero Hotspots,” which include MidTown Comics and the Golden Gate Bridge. The write up also mentions a gym and a coffee shop because all heroes need to stay in shape and then get a jolt of caffeine.  After you check-in at two of these places, you visit your local Radio Shack and the badge and discount is yours.

This program is one of five new Partner Programs for which Foursquare has designed a special “Trophy Case.” The Museum of Modern Art is also offering a discount, but the other partners, The Ellen Show, People, and the American Red Cross are only offering interesting content from the looks of it.

Foursquare says this is just the start of their new Partner Program and they’ll be rolling out more badges soon. If you’d like to be a partner, there’s a form right here that you can fill out.

We already know the power of the check-in, but the Radio Shack offer is intriguing. What are they getting out of sending people to other locations? Certainly they’re not getting a kick back from The Golden Gate Bridge? Or maybe I’m reading the rules of the game wrong. This hearkens back to a discussion we had earlier this week — this is pretty easy stuff, so why am I still confused after reading the program’s Foursquare page?

Maybe it’s a ploy like the one from Miracle on 34th Street where Macy’s sends the customers to competitor Gimbels to prove that they prize customer service over profits.

Hmm. . . I doubt it.

Have you seen the Foursquare Radio Shack promotion? Am I getting this thing all wrong?

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