Creative headlines and crossheads

TL;DR

• Copy that never gets approved never converts: the CMO/client is your first customer¹.
• Creativity belongs in only two places: the big idea and the headlines + crossheads. Everything else is frameworks, VOC, proof².
• Order of operations: write the full conversion page first, then rewrite headlines/crossheads to be creative³⁴.
• Bland 4–6-word headlines are clear but make no one feel anything; aim for an “oh, cute / that’s clever” reaction⁵⁴.
• Method: take a phrase the market already believes and swap one word for your brand — “America runs on coffee” → “America Runs on Dunkin’”⁶.
• Always pair a clever headline with a clarifying payoff line nearby; clever confuses ~90% of people on its own⁷.

Details

Joanna Wiebe (Joanna Wiebe): for a CMO, copy also does a social job — it should make them proud of the brand. That’s why headlines, not body copy, win approval⁵.

Idiom method (worksheet)⁸⁹¹⁰

1. Write three words for the thing you’re selling: one for its category, one for its experience/UX, one for its differentiator (IKEA → e.g. home…).
2. Look each up in an idiom dictionary (or Google “sayings about ”, Pinterest, image search). Collect ~6 per word; the more common the saying, the better.
3. Substitute your brand/feature/spin into each. Keep only those that work on more than one level.
4. Test them in context on the page; tick the ones ready for validation.

Belief-swap variant. Ask: what does the market believe, in their words, and what do we want them to believe? GitPrime: leaders thought engineers “build products”; engineers wanted credit for the business → headline “Engineers build business” — liked by the CMO, engineers and leaders, and kept by Pluralsight after the acquisition¹¹¹². Also: Coca-Cola “Open happiness”, De Beers “A diamond is forever”⁶.

Use positive sayings only. For a marketer-matching service (Maple) “Creative with strategy is called Maple” works; a saying that makes sales sound bad turns against the brand¹³¹⁴.

Antonym bonus. Take the opposite of one of your three words, find an idiom for it and twist it: Segment’s “the segmented wide world” from “the whole wide world”¹⁵.

Disagreements / caveats

• Joanna herself says conversion copy rarely wants cleverness; this is about getting good copy shipped, then headline-testing it live⁴⁷.
• Single-practitioner method, illustrated with her own client wins.

See also

• Headline hooks and choosing a copy framework — conversion-first headline patterns

Footnotes

1. Why Your CMO Doesn't Like Your Copy (And How to Fix It Now) @ 00:00 — Joanna Wiebe ↩

2. Why Your CMO Doesn't Like Your Copy (And How to Fix It Now) @ 06:07 — Joanna Wiebe ↩

3. Why Your CMO Doesn't Like Your Copy (And How to Fix It Now) @ 09:16 — Joanna Wiebe ↩

4. Why Your CMO Doesn't Like Your Copy (And How to Fix It Now) @ 10:45 — Joanna Wiebe ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Why Your CMO Doesn't Like Your Copy (And How to Fix It Now) @ 07:41 — Joanna Wiebe ↩ ↩²

6. Step by Step! Exactly How to Turn "Meh" into "I Love Your Copy!" @ 01:49 — Joanna Wiebe ↩ ↩²

7. Step by Step! Exactly How to Turn "Meh" into "I Love Your Copy!" @ 09:55 — Joanna Wiebe ↩ ↩²

8. Why Your CMO Doesn't Like Your Copy (And How to Fix It Now) @ 13:13 — Joanna Wiebe ↩

9. Why Your CMO Doesn't Like Your Copy (And How to Fix It Now) @ 14:01 — Joanna Wiebe ↩

10. Step by Step! Exactly How to Turn "Meh" into "I Love Your Copy!" @ 03:25 — Joanna Wiebe ↩

11. Step by Step! Exactly How to Turn "Meh" into "I Love Your Copy!" @ 00:00 — Joanna Wiebe ↩

12. Step by Step! Exactly How to Turn "Meh" into "I Love Your Copy!" @ 00:56 — Joanna Wiebe ↩

13. Step by Step! Exactly How to Turn "Meh" into "I Love Your Copy!" @ 05:39 — Joanna Wiebe ↩

14. Step by Step! Exactly How to Turn "Meh" into "I Love Your Copy!" @ 07:19 — Joanna Wiebe ↩

15. Why Your CMO Doesn't Like Your Copy (And How to Fix It Now) @ 16:11 — Joanna Wiebe ↩