How To Write Engaging Hooks In Marketing
Writing engaging hooks in marketing is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, quite a lot of writers, bloggers, and marketers still struggle to write the perfect hook without come across like click baiters. In the industry of instant-gratification, it’s hard to resist writing “CLICK NOW” or “KEEP WATCHING” in your copy. Although these hooks and call to actions work to an extent. Nobody wants to come across as click-bait or spammy, especially when they’re trying to build a reputable brand online.
More often than not, my clients want to be the voice of authority in their industry. I think I’ve had one client who purely just wanted to post memes to get follows (it was a lettings agency, you can probably guess that they didn’t work out).
Your clients come to you because they need your help, they know there’s a gap in their strategy or an hour that they can’t afford to spend on a specific task, so they hire you! But channeling their energy into thought provoking hooks can feel a bit like ramming a cube into the circle shaped hole of the wooden baby toys.
Whether they know it or not, every business needs a hook for any content or campaign they run. Even established businesses like Hubspot need hooks to catch the attention of their mailing list.
If your marketing hooks fail to grab attention, you’ll lose your audience, and potentially your leads, for good.
How to make your hook effective
Attention is gold-dust in marketing.
Everyday we’re bombarded with emails, notifications, updates, and social media pings - every single one is demanding your attention as a consumer. If you’re going to compete with the crowd, your marketing hook needs to stick to the following rules;
Be different: Stand out from the crowd in a world packed with attention hungry banners and updates. 350 million photos are posted every single day on Facebook, how will yours stand out?
Have a polarising message: Say something that shocks or sides strongly with your audiences’ opinion.
Reject the status quo and conformity: If you run marketing campaigns that have the same message as everybody else, your hook won’t stand out. Find something that’s wrong in your industry and use it.
Be authentic: Don’t create a hook that isn’t real or lie about your opinions. This might win you attention on day one, but by the end of the month, you’ll be back where you started.
Creative the hook
Although I’d love to, I can’t give you the perfect business hook on a silver plate. Every industry, brand, and product is unique, and we couldn’t possibly create something generic and fit-for-all. It wouldn’t be an engaging hook if everybody used it.
In order to create the perfect hook, you’re going to need a pinch of creativity and a dash of our of the bon thinking. If you’re a paint by numbers kind of guy, I have three techniques which may help you crack the perfect hook:
Ask new questions, reveal new pain points
What is everyone else saying? In fact, what are they not saying? Focus on the principles of hitting a desire or strategic pain point in your business, and speaking to your audience in a way nobody else quite can.
In order for you to create a marketing hook like this, you’re first going to need a detailed understanding of your target market – I’d suggest creating a customer avatar.
When you have that, follow the steps below:
Consider your audience. What’re their needs? Wants? Desires? Pain points? Problems?
Think of a message that appeals to one of these interests/pain points
Research customers/competitors/authority holders that use the same message or are experts on the subject.
Look at what they’re:
Saying
Not saying
Find something interesting that they’re not saying and apply it to the 4 rules (in Making A Hook Effective, above)
There’s your marketing hook
Weaknesses as a Marketing Hook
Weaknesses as a hook?
As marketers it pays to be smart with your messaging. This can occasionally mean flipping things on their head and approaching a problem in a totally new way.
Using ‘weaknesses as a marketing hook’ achieves exactly that.
The first thing you’ll need to do in order to use this technique as your hook in marketing, is find a weakness…
Find a Weakness
Sometimes weaknesses stick out like sore thumbs. If that’s the case, you probably need to fix your product/service.
But for now, we’re going to assume you’ve got a rocking product/service or piece of content to promote.
To find your weakness, you’re going to need to start digging. Here’s a few tips:
Be objective
Put yourself in your customers shoes
Use customer feedback (reviews and testimonials are the perfect place to start)
Think about leads who didn’t convert and their biggest objections to buying
Do you own the product? Have you received the service? If not, why?
2. Overcome the Objection
This is where our hook comes in.
We’re going to create an attention-grabbing leverage point that overcomes an objection (due to a weakness) before it’s spotted.
This is why weakness hooks are awesome!
A fix, bonus or perceived add-on that handles an objection before it arises gives leads an ‘aha moment’. They create a complementary enhancement that makes a customer feel like they’re getting more for their money.
For example, if your product is more expensive than your competitor’s this would be considered a weakness and a potential objection point for your prospects.
However, if you were to use a hook that elevates your product’s status and its ‘premium’ price, you could turn this into a desirable element of your product.
The Big Gain Marketing Hook
As we know, a hook is an angle we use in marketing to grab the attention of our audience.
The big gain hook does just that.
Simply described, we are aiming to tempt our prospect into our content by showing them what they could have.
The big gain acts as bait.
Think of your where your target market are, and then where they want to be. Your marketing hook needs to show your product/service, content or offer aligned with where they want to be.
Here’s an example of how to find your big gain marketing hook:
What are the PROBLEMS/PAIN POINTS of your target market?
Use your Customer Avatar to find the biggest problems your market faces.
A (Post-Christmas) Example: Our target market has eaten far too much unhealthy food over the festive period. They are worried about their health and weight.
What are your customers GOALS with regard to this PAIN POINT? And why do they want to achieve them?
Is their problem something that can be totally solved? Or do they need to take steps towards it?
Example: Our target market wants to feel healthier and look slimmer. They want to lose the extra weight they put on and get a body they can be proud of.
What can the customer gain from achieving their goal? What are the advantages?
This should be a specific answer. Go into as much detail as possible here, because this is where you’re going to draw your big gain marketing hook from.
Example: Our customer can go from swollen stomach to six pack, look more attractive, fit in that dress they always wanted, get the body of a GOD …etc.…
What You Should Have
If you’ve spent some time digging and followed our steps, you should be able to use one of these methods to develop an attention-grabbing marketing hook.
From there, you’ll have the opportunity to present them with more of your product/service content or marketing offers.