It’s all in the details. Whether you’re in the process of building a new home or in the midst of a strategic marketing campaign, it’s the small details that collectively create a strong marketing strategy. When it comes to your content marketing, one of the seemingly smallest details is perhaps the most important of all: your headline.

Readers will ignore a boring headline, whereas a compelling one will drive clicks time and time again. From email marketing to your blogging efforts, a compelling headline could make or break your homebuilder campaign.

To make your headlines more compelling, be sure to:

Forget Everything You Learned in School

Chances are you’ve been told that your headlines should be informative or grammatically correct. Of course, while these are partially true, there’s a reason that major sites on the web follow formulaic headlines such as “7 Reasons Why _______.” In other words, an important part of your marketing strategy should be to understand what’s working for other web providers and what isn’t. A compelling headline is all about creating a curiosity gap that strongly encourages readers to click on it to learn more.

Make an outrageous promise. The real secret to content marketing is to offer something of true value to the reader. Whether you’re persuading them to learn more about your homebuilder company or revealing secrets about local real estate, there must be something that the reader finds valuable—or else why would they read your content? As compelling as your marketing strategy must be, it must over-deliver on an outrageous promise.

Follow a Formula

Creating a catchy headline can take a lot of time out of your content marketing efforts. By following a trusted formula, you can quickly create compelling headlines without having to worry about wasting time. A simple formula is:

Number or keyword + Adjective + Keyword + Promise

Following this formula, you could get something like “3 Ways You Can Sell Your Home Within the Next 24 Hours.”

See what your readers respond to. One of the most important elements of any marketing strategy is to analyze what’s working and what isn’t working. By closely following your HubSpot analytics, you can see where your current content marketing efforts are succeeding and falling flat. Is there a common theme between the headlines of the posts that consumers are responding to? If so, try to incorporate this into future posts.

Keep it simple. Whether it’s for memorability or for the benefit of search engines, keeping your headlines short and simple is an easy way to improve their value. Keeping it simple will allow you to get straight to the point and focus on what’s truly important.

As you refine your content marketing strategy by improving your headlines, remember that the key to success is providing value to potential clients no matter what. Regardless of your marketing strategy concerning headlines, your content must deliver a meaningful message to potential buyers. Are you making clear and compelling offers to the visitors of your website?