You know a great headline when you see it.
The kind of headline that stops your scroll.
The kind of headline that shifts your perspective (my personal fave)
The headline that hits harder than your older sibling when you were 9 (I was that older sibling in my family. Sorry, Zack)
But ya know what I’m saying here—the kind of headline that makes you think, “F*ck me. That’s genius. I’ll *never* write something like that for my business.”
Lord knows I’ve muttered that last one under my breath wayyy too many times as I read The Economist’s ads ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

I’m literally frothing at the mouth for this ad

F*cking brilliant

Clearly. ‘Cause my mind is officially blown by this word alchemy
So, listen— if you also suffer from the cramps of crossed fingers while writing headlines, I’m gonna talk about how you can reclaim your copy confidence
How?
By helping you develop your own creative process. And to illustrate this, I’ll share mine via the only way I know how: A good ‘ol acronym-based framework: 💡 I.D.E.A 💡
1/ Ideation
2/ Drafting
3/ Editing
4/ Approve
Cause lemme tell ya—these headlines didn’t just appear to the copywriter from some idea-delivering stork. No, no. There’s a sexy method to this kind of mad genius.
In this post, I’m gonna share the FIRST STEP: IDEATION. I’ll dive into the remaining three in another post
Ideation:
Aptly named, this first step is all about getting your ideas out of your brain and onto paper, a Google doc, a martini-soaked napkin at the bar—you get it.
Because here’s the thing: As the absolute copy genius, Dan Nelken, says: Great headlines aren’t great sentences. They’re great IDEAS expressed into words.
And to conjure up great ideas, you need to think first.
Think first, write second—always. Cool? Cool.
Now, I’m going to share Dan’s idea-baby-making process from his book. Because his process is *so* genius that it would be RUDE not to share it as he intended. Plus, I use this EXACT method when I’m writing headlines for myself and my clients.
📂 STEP ONE: CREATE “IDEA FOLDERS” 📂
(He calls them “idea buckets”, but I like to refer to them as idea folders)
First, we’re gonna create “idea folders” by listing benefits, features, insights and truths about what you’re selling. What we’re doing here is segmenting your ideas into categories or “folders” to help organize your thoughts and streamline your writing process.
This is how we avoid the curse of the blank page by starting with the obvious ideas that spring to mind first. It’s also a great hack to duct-tape your inner critic’s mouth shut, because she doesn’t have time to chime in with the abuse.
So for example:
Let’s say you’re selling a non-alcoholic beverage that tastes like a Gin & Tonic but doesn’t get you drunk.
Now—the good news? These idea folders should be SUPER simple. The more obvious, the better. Try and write 10-20+ (super simple!!) things that spring to mind. Remember start by thinking: what are the benefits of this product? The features? The insights? Truths?
Idea Folders for non-alcoholic gin:
- You can enjoy the taste of gin without the alcohol
- You won’t make bad decisions (or less likely to)
- You can enjoy more, worry less
- Drink it/enjoy the taste of gin anytime (at work, at school, with your kids)
- No hangovers the next morning
- Pretend you are drinking at a party (avoid the whole, “wHy AreN’T yOu DrinKinG?” convo)
- Safe for designated drivers/drink and drive safely
- Calorie-friendly
- Serve at any event
- Crafted with ingredients you can pronounce
See how stupidly simple most of these are?? None of these are headline-worthy yet—but that’s HOW we get the headline gold, right?
After all, “bad ideas are fertilizer for good ideas.” In order to get to the oil, we have to dig up dirt, first.
So release the pressure. This Ideation Phase is intentionally designed to give yourself grace so you can travel to every writer’s dream destination: Creative Flow
Now, once we have a couple of idea folders to work with, we’re going to FILL those folders with more sub-ideas. Kinda like a sub-category, or filling a folder with paper.
📄 STEP TWO: FILL YOUR FOLDERS 📄
Now, we’re gonna take each idea folder we’ve come up with in step one and fill each folder with as many “pieces of paper” as we can.
So it looks something like this:
Folder: You won’t make bad decisions (or less likely to)
- You’ll remember everyone’s names
- You’ll won’t remember your ex’s name
- You won’t call or text your ex
- You can drive yourself home anytime
- You won’t agree to a 5K run the next day
- You won’t get a tattoo with the dude you just met
- You won’t end up owning a timeshare in Florida
Folder: You can drink it/enjoy the taste of gin anytime (at work, at school, with your kids)
- Drink in front of your boss
- Sip at a work meeting
- Go to happy hour at work
- It’s always 5:00 here
- 5 PM feels at 3 PM
- What time is it? Oh yeah, it doesn’t matter
- Perfect for parent teacher meetings
- Parent teacher meeting approved
- Who needs a coffee break when you can have a gin break
Again, you see how this can compound your creativity over time? Not to mention come up with something that hasn’t be said before.
There is no way I could have landed on “parent teacher meeting approved” without this process. We may not have landed on THE ONE yet, but we’re getting there.
This can also help you come up with marketing campaigns by choosing ONE centralized idea to communicate. Then you can start to create the actual campaign (blog incoming about that!)
And if you’re a service-based biz, that doesn’t matter. You can do this, too. This kinda marketing shouldn’t be reserved for big brands like The Economist!!!
Remember, if you’re feeling stuck, the best creatives don’t stop and judge. So, don’t let bad ideas slow you down. You homework is to get dirty and write as many bad ideas down as you can. Who knows, you may strike oil.