“Open me.” Two words. Two very powerful words issuing a concise, two-syllable command.
Open me.
A half-dozen of us recently filled a whiteboard with dozens of ideas for effective email subject lines at an agency brainstorm session and none captivated the room the way “Open me” did.
Its brevity enables every character to be read on even the smallest of smartphone screens. And its almost-playful invitation makes it easy for the command to stand out amongst dozens of competing email subject lines beckoning you to venture beyond the header.
Of course, if every email subject line in your Inbox read “Open me,” creative marketers would spin the next new angle to make their message stand out. But the point is that short, sweet and direct typically trumps verbose, flowery and meandering every time.
Especially on radio.
Crisp communication in simple English trumps worn cliches that ramble mindlessly, inspiring apathy. And brief, quick-burst commands are powerful parts of the advertiser’s most effective calls to action.
Wait! Am I advocating a reinvention of the wheel every time you script a radio commercial? Yes and no. YES you need more in your arsenal than tired sales cliches that have long lost their value to brands seeking to be memorable. But, NO, that doesn’t require a totally blank page.
Keep your ears open for great lines and phrases in other broadcast commercials and let them inspire applications for your campaign. If you hear them for more a month, it’s probably because they’re working.
We didn’t invent “Open me.” But we’re sure going to take this compact header out for a test drive and adapt its magnetic allure for our own marketing efforts.
“Simple” never really goes out of style. Sometimes we just work too hard to complicate things.
Mark Lipsky is the President and CEO of The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above.Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com