Print ads, sales letters and direct mail are all important components of nearly every B2B marcom campaign. The success you achieve with these materials often hinges on your ability to immediately grab the attention of your target audience. One way to do this is by creating dynamic setup and payoff combinations in your copy.

Setups and payoffs are the vital relationship between a headline and the first few lines of body copy in a direct-response piece. Too often, print ads fall flat because a snappy headline is followed by copy that is not directly tied to the headline.

Avoid this mistake. Always think of a headline as a setup and your first line or two of copy as its payoff. If your headline asks a question, the first line of copy should answer the question.

Headline:

First line of copy:

Setups and payoffs also apply to headline/copy combinations that do not involve questions.

Examples

Headline:

First line of copy:

And that’s just after 12 weeks. Make Martin’s Protein Powder part of your daily workouts for one year—and the sky’s the limit.

Headline:

First line of copy:

Headline:

First line of copy:

Maintain a tight link between your headline and your first few lines of copy, and your writing will always be more dynamic and engaging.

Casey Demchak is an independent copywriter and consultant who specializes in writing compelling B2B sales copy for the medical industry. He is also the author of the book, Essential Sales Writing Secrets. He can be reached at casey@caseydemchak.com; or at (303) 697-4793.

Casey Demchak
Copywriter & Consultant
10437 W. Hampden Ave. #202
Lakewood, CO 80227
(303) 697-4793

Privacy Policy / Refund Policy / Customer Service