Lead with a Hook

The Basic Idea: In every minute of every day, there are thousands of other things your intended reader could be reading. Before you can influence someone, you must attract his or her attention. You do this with a hook.

Explanation: The one of the best headlines I ever wrote for myself was, $75,000 Buys Happiness; More Money Does Not. It attracted readers, but it also was 100% in line with the research I cited to support my headline. In other words, my article delivered the benefit my headline (i.e. hook) promised. Here’s the first sentence of that article:

A huge survey of 450,000 individuals found that money only buys happiness to a limited extent.

See what I mean?

As a social media ghostwriter, I’ve learned that coming up with your hook is often the hardest part of creating a book, podcast, presentation, report, article or social media post. You have to get out of your own head and think like your intended audience… and you must realize that they likely lack much of the context that you possess.

Assume the worst, that I know nothing about you, your talents and insights, or the fact that you might be able to help me. What can you say to stop me in my tracks?

(I don’t have an easy answer. That’s up to you.)

Once you know your hook, you then have to put it up top. That might mean in a headline, or in the subject line of an email, or in the first sentence of your presentation to the board.

Example: I first published the below article on Forbes, and Forbes has repeatedly promoted the article through their social media channels. The piece leads with a solid hook, expressed in the headline itself. Not everyone agrees with my premise, but that’s one of the reasons it worked so well.

Notice that in the very first paragraph, I started citing people who know a lot more about this subject than I do.