Episode 120 - Listen to This If… You Need a Killer Headline

Transcript

Jen (00:00:10)

Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of Listen to This If… from the Let's Talk SciComm team. This is where we take just one problem that you might be facing or feeling challenged by at the moment, and Michael and I try and give you our best advice.

So welcome Michael. We are talking about what if you need to come up with a really, really killer headline? Like you just have to have a great headline. How do you find it? Headlines are so difficult.

Michael (00:00:39)

Well, first of all, I will say, "Yes! Let's write a killer headline". You've obviously clicked on this episode because you want to write a killer headline. That is the most important step. I think recognising that the headline or the title is probably the most important sentence in a piece of writing.

And then my actual advice would be if it's for a scientific journal article, I really like if you can sneak in like the main finding into the headline. I really like those headlines that are... But make it concise. If you're writing for a general audience, I like the advice of striking a balance between being informative and being engaging, and using a colon to actually physically separate two distinct parts of the headline. So you have, you know, maybe an informative part and an engaging part or an engaging part followed by an informative part. And you know, you can get creative with those headlines as long as they're also informative.

So... And then also maybe do multiple and then compare them and maybe test them out on people. Say, "Do you like headline A or do you like headline B?" Because you want the headline to be as you know, broadly appealing, so it can be good to try it out on a few people I reckon.

Jen (00:02:10)

Yeah, absolutely. That was going to be my main suggestion that I think you have to road test them. And I like your suggestion. I mean, it's a very... you know, well-trodden pathway to kind of have the catchy:descriptive headline. But people do it because it works, right? So you get that mix of yeah, something that's very informative and something that's going to really stand out. But yes, I totally agree that it's about road testing.

But given that you've already said that, I think my next suggestion would be... I think this is a place where AI can be really helpful. So some of you listening will already be very deeply in the world of using AI for all sorts of things. Others of you won't have got around to it yet or maybe have ethical or environmental concerns, which I completely respect.

And there are lots of things that I DON’T use AI for. But this kind of brainstorming, iterating, coming up with crazy ideas, I think that [sometimes], that's somewhere where AI can be really helpful. So this is somewhere where I might sit down with... Claude or ChatGPT or whatever. And the act of me writing a good prompt will help me to become clear in my own mind what I'm looking for in this headline.

Because as you describe to Chat... You're, sorry, as you describe to your AI tool. You know, I'm looking for a balance between this and this, I really think it should include these words. The main idea that I'm trying to do is this but I want it to be appealing to this audience. Like you trying to write a detailed prompt like that I think will really help you kind of focus in on what you're looking for.

And then it can just be fun to see what your AI tool comes back with. And you know, [there'll be] 30 options and some of them, probably most of them, right, will just be terrible. But I think there's one or two that just sparks something in you. And chances are you're not going to get the perfect answer from ChatGPT. I feel like you very rarely get the perfect answer from AI. But it might just set you on a pathway where you can take that as a starting prompt and then improve it yourself. But yeah, at that point Michael, I completely agree with you. I think you've got to go out and do some market research.

So if you're writing for a broad audience, you know, if it's an interdisciplinary audience, then find all your friends who work in different areas of science. If it's a non-scientific audience then whoever is in your friendship group or your family who don't have a science background. See what they understand. See what they find interesting. You know, whoever your target audience is. Show it to as many people as you can and just ask them, you know, "If this came up on your feed or if this came up in your email, would you click on it? Would you read it? What is it about this that either makes you excited or pretty disinterested?" And I think by doing that, we can all become better at writing headlines. Because as you say, headlines really matter. But gee, they're hard. Or at least I find them very difficult. I'm not good at writing headlines.

Michael (00:05:04)

They are. They are difficult. But strong recommendation there for road testing. You know, we don't run our tips by each other before we record these. And as you say, you can get AI tools to give you 30 different options and you can pick parts that you like and then you know, come up with your own headline after that.

So good luck. You can do it!

Jen (00:05:30)

Good luck! And if you come up with some great killer headlines, please get in touch with us.

You can find our email address or you can talk to us on various social media platforms. We'd love to hear your excellent headlines because I'm always looking for tips, always.

Michael (00:05:44)

Please do. Please share them.

Jen (00:05:46)

All right. Thanks for listening.

Michael (00:06:01)

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, we'd love you to tell a friend about the podcast or leave us a review. And you can reach out to us on social media.

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And also a big thank you to our production team, Steven Tang and Madeleine Kelly.