# Think First. Write Second.

Source: A Self Help Guide For Copywriters - [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QX83N9K/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)

### The first mistake you can make when you have to write headlines is starting by writing headlines.

If you start with writing, you're starting with a blank page and a blank brain. And for every second that goes by without your brain spitting out a decent headline, the critic, that judgmental voice that lives inside your brain, starts to gain momentum.

Starting with headlines feels like the most direct route, but forcing out one headline at a time is not only less efficient, it can be torture because the longer it takes, the louder and more insulting your inner critic becomes. Repeat this process-less pattern enough, and before too long, you can start to believe the things it says.

So how do you shut it up?

You have to think before you write because great headlines aren't great sentences---they're great ideas expressed in words. Remember, you're a creative first and writer second.

Great headlines aren't great sentences---they're great ideas expressed in words.

If you want to write great headlines, the rule of thumb is---for every great one, you have to write a hundred. That's never going to be easy, but doing it without any structure makes it near impossible. Luke Sullivan, author of Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This, deserves most of the credit/ blame for popularizing this rule. If writing a hundred headlines isn't intimidating enough, he clarifies: *"This is sitting down and slowly cranking out 100 workable lines---100 lines that range from decent, to hey-not-bad, to whoa-that-rocks. The key is they all have to be pretty good."*

So if the first step isn't writing, what is it? You come up with a whole schwack of ideas. And they become headline-writing springboards.

## Create Your Buckets

### Your first step to writing one hundred-plus headlines is coming up with all the different areas or buckets you can then ideate under.

These buckets should be simple, obvious places to start. If they're too obvious, you're on the right track. They aren't meant to be super deep or insightful. These are surface areas. Like digging for oil, you identify surface areas you think might lead to riches and then you drill into them. Your goal should be to find at least twenty. You'll find them by listing **benefits, attributes, insights, and truths** for whatever it is you're selling. Some of these areas won't bear fruit, or oil, but others\...cha-ching.

When you start with buckets, your inner ding-dong doesn't have the chance to kick in with the abuse. This structure will help you get things moving right out of the gate. Like any bully, our inner critics pick on us when we're at our most vulnerable. And we're most vulnerable when we're stuck.

*I'll do a quick demonstration. Udemy will be my guinea pig client.** (Udemy is an online learning platform that sells courses in just about everything.) **Pay attention to how stupid simple these buckets are\...**

**Udemy Buckets**

1\. You can learn from home.

2\. You can learn from the comfort of home. *(A slight word change can inspire different ideas)*

3\. You don't have to go to school.

4\. You don't have to commute.

5\. You can learn from anywhere. *(The world is your classroom)*

6\. Classes start whenever you want them to.

7\. You can use the internet for something positive. *(You won't have to delete your search history for this)*

8\. Learning has never been easier. *(In the olden days people had to walk through six feet of snow to get to school. All you have to do is open your laptop. In bed)*

9\. It's so convenient. You have no excuses not to. *(These could be two separate buckets)*

10\. You can learn at your own pace.

11\. Add new skills to your résumé.

12\. Learning stimulates the pleasure center of the brain. *(I could research other scientific truths about learning. They could lead to even more buckets)*

(Anything above in brackets are just thoughts that popped into my head while I was coming up with these areas. I just jot them down, so I don't lose them, but I stay focused on the buckets.)

Super easy. Nothing too deep. But my page is no longer blank. I've got twelve quick areas I can now think into. But I want at least twenty of these suckers.

Research the product, the competition, and the customer. You can also check out the client's website, social channels, and read reviews. If they have an FAQ section, this often leads to several more wells you can drill. It may feel tedious, but it will pay off.

Doing research and **"Gathering raw material in a real way is not as simple as it sounds. It is such a terrible chore that we are constantly trying to dodge it. The time that ought to be spent in material gathering is spent in wool gathering. Instead of working systematically at the job of gathering raw material we sit around hoping for inspiration to strike us. When we do that, we are trying to get the mind to take the fourth step in the idea-producing process (The A-ha Moment) while we dodge the preceding steps."**

-- James Webb Young, A Technique for Producing Ideas

From a quick pit stop on Udemy's site, I found some interesting features that could all lead to something:

13\. They offer free courses.

14\. Over twelve million students (cafeteria lineups must be insane).

15\. Countless five-star ratings.

16\. Students can rate teachers.

17\. Lectures are only three to five minutes long.

18\. Over forty thousand courses to choose from.

19\. Courses can be downloaded.

20\. You can take courses on your phone.

Twenty areas to explore, and it was pain-free. You should be able to get to twenty in an hour or two.

This approach may not be a revelation to you, and even if it isn't, I bet it's not something you're doing consciously and deliberately every time you write headlines. In fact, you may be thinking to yourself, "Hey, I already do that. I just didn't know I did that." Which is great because the difference between having a process and knowing your process is the difference between insecurity and confidence. Either way, I recommend you do this regularly, if not every time, especially if you're finding yourself getting stuck or feeling self-doubt creep in. This structure gives you support. It's not just you, the blank page, and the ticking clock.

**But why stop at twenty?**

What you can do next is look at what the product or service IS NOT. You do this by looking at your existing buckets and seeing if any of them have an opposite. If you're selling a fast vehicle, it's not slow. The words fast and not slow will lead you down different paths.

For example, in the case of Udemy, you could turn lectures being "only three to five minutes," into "lectures are not long and boring." These two areas will definitely inspire different idea babies.

Now with twenty-plus buckets in front of you, all you have to do is write a minimum of five good headlines under each one and you're at a hundred. It's so easy an accountant could do it.

But there's one more thing you can do to make it even easier.

## Fill Your Buckets

You're now going to come up with first-thought ideas under each area.

Yep, first thought. Don't even try at this stage. I'm serious. If you come up with something great, awesome, but don't force it. And definitely don't expect it. I make this point because I want to alleviate pressure and I want to ground you in reality. Getting to great takes time. You have to be patient with the process and yourself. You can't start at the end. You start at the surface and dig down, layer by layer, until you get to the good stuff.

If you happen to stumble upon something great at this stage, throw it out. No, obviously keep it, but don't stop and try and craft it into a headline. Put a star by it and keep going. You want to keep the momentum of ideation going. When you're filling buckets, focus your energy on just that.

**The four streams of writing headlines:**

1. Finding your buckets

2. Filling those buckets with ideas

3. Crafting those ideas into headlines

4. Editing

Each one of these stages requires a slightly different kind of focus and creative energy. When you're creating buckets, stay in that zone. Jot down ideas when they come out, but stay focused on the bigger picture. Same goes for when you're coming up with ideas. When you're in flow and you land on a beauty, don't start crafting it into a headline. It's harder to get back into the flow of coming up with ideas, and that's where the magic lies. That good idea isn't going anywhere. It's in the bucket. It's a caught fish. Gut it later.

**Let's fill up one of these buckets with some first-thought ideas:**

**Bucket: You can learn from home**

You don't have to shower before going to school. (You can take the class in the shower.)

You don't have to wear pants.

Your desk could be the couch, or your bed, or the toilet.

You'll be the smartest person at school.

You are technically being homeschooled.

Another excuse to avoid cleaning the bathroom.

When you fall asleep in this class, it's in an actual bed.

If there's gum under the desk, it's probably yours.

The teacher's in your house. Or wherever you are in your house.

Your cat/dog will be happy you're staying home.

If you have twenty buckets and ten ideas under each one, you'll have two hundred starting points. They won't all lead to great headlines, and several will be dead ends, but that's not the point. The point is you're not starting with a blank page and a blank brain. And if at any point you start to miss the sweet sounds of that self-doubting voice, just go back to winging the creative process.

### Rinse and Repeat

Once your buckets are overflowing with ideas, dig into them, and do it with intention. Dig into those first-thought ideas again and again until you get to more unexpected territory. This extra work is the difference between good and great.

Keep wringing these areas out until you've milked them dry. Then give 'em another squeeze just to be sure. As the ideas start to flow, highlight anything you think might be decent. And again, resist the temptation to start churning any of them into headlines. Mark them with a \*star and keep the idea momentum going. Things definitely get tougher at this stage, but this isn't supposed to be easy. Life's messy. Creativity's messy. Accept it. Embrace it.

If an idea or even an entire area isn't working, move on. Don't force it. There will be lots of dead ends, but they're important too. If something isn't working, ask why. The answers often lead to something that does. Once you've swept through them all, you'll have a zillion starting points, and it will be time to start writing headlines.

If you're thinking "Who the hell has time to run this process?" I'd say, "Good point!" if I thought it was. This doesn't have to take three weeks. If you can come up with twenty buckets in an hour, you could have a hundred crappy to mediocre ideas in two to three hours. Remember, this isn't about perfection; it's about getting things down on paper and giving your brain some creative stimulation. You'll have a crap ton of ideas that could lead to a crap ton of headlines.

Sticking to a consistent structure may feel contradictory to creativity, but trust me, it doesn't have to take away from the magic. A structure like this organizes all of the thoughts and ideas circling around in your noggin and lays them all out for you to see. And when you take a break, you'll have all of your buckets and know where to find your ideas when you come back to the work. In other words, this is how you can come up with better ideas, faster.

### Look For Relatable Truths

When you're filling your buckets, you want to be on the lookout for human truths. These are ideas that make you think, or more importantly feel, "Oh wow, that's so true." As creatives we're so quick to rule out the obvious, but we should be seeking it out.

When I first started my career, I thought being a great creative meant coming up with something so far out there nobody had ever considered it. I soon realized it was more the opposite. It was about identifying simple, relatable, and even obvious truths. The magic was in twisting them.

"Dramatize the simple." -- Sir John Hegarty , founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty

Think about anything that makes you laugh and ask yourself "why?". It's almost always because you can relate to it or it's familiar in some way. Otherwise, you wouldn't even notice it.

Jerry Seinfeld is a great example of someone who twists the everyday:

• "There is no such thing as fun for the whole family."

• "Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason."

• "Looking at cleavage is like looking at the sun. You don't stare at it. It's too risky. You get a sense of it and then you look away."

• "I don't want to hear the specials at a restaurant. If they're so special, put them on the menu."

• "People who read the tabloids deserve to be lied to."

It's not your job to make the gold, it's to find it and to make something with it. And it may not be buried where you think it is.

To bring this to life in your writing, make truth lists. If you're working on something that will run during the Christmas season, list truths about that time of year. You can then ideate around these truths to see if anything emerges.

1\. Every year, people are amazed at how early shopping malls and stores start playing Christmas music and put their decorations up.

2\. We spend money we don't have on things we don't need.

3\. It feels good to give but awkward to receive.

4\. The awkward moment when someone has got you a gift, but you haven't got one for them.

5\. The feeling of Christmas magic versus the reality of holiday stress.

6\. Not everyone on earth celebrates Christmas. Do I say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

7\. What old Christmas song will be exposed as dated and inappropriate this year?

8\. Someone will have to find a store that's open on Christmas Day to get batteries for their kid's new toy.

9\. There's growing pushback against mass consumerism, especially this time of year (Black Friday chaos and its environmental impact).

10\. How much do we spend on gifts for certain people? Are they a \$20 gift person, or a \$50 gift person? Or is it just a greeting card kind of relationship?

### What's the Benefit of a Benefit?

When you're buying a playhouse it's fun for your kids, but what you're really buying is a break from your kids.

If you've been in the ad business for more than three hours, you'll be familiar with this question, but it's a good one to revisit, even if your name rhymes with Bavid Bogilvy. So, if this is new to you, great. And if this is old to you, great. Keep asking, "What's the benefit of the benefit?" to get to the more unexpected and interesting creative territories. This question can be used to create your buckets and to fill them with ideas.

I rely on this question throughout the entire creative process. I'll ask it as soon as I get briefed (especially when briefs lack inspiration) and whenever I'm feeling stuck, which of course rarely happens for copywriters.

Let's say the benefit of the Internet service you're promoting is speed. What are ten benefits of that benefit?

Don't worry, this is the only exercise in this book, and I don't expect anyone to do it. It's filler.

Okay, fine, I'll do it.

1\. You're basically adding time to your life. What will you do/accomplish with that extra time?

2\. The Call Centre operators will be so relieved.

3\. You won't have to spend time on the phone complaining to customer service.

4\. You'll be first up for online dating.

5\. You'll catch the first wave of whatever's trending.

6\. You won't have to spend time waiting for streaming shows to load.

7\. You'll receive important emails before the competition (and what are all the benefits of this?)

8\. You won't get frozen face on video calls. (Could be a visual campaign)

9\. No more Wi-Fi rage (you'll have to rage about other stupid things instead)

10\. You'll need a ridiculously secure Wi-Fi password because other people will want to steal yours. (Fun Wi-Fi passwords could lead to a solid campaign)

These were ten quick ones, but you could easily get to forty or fifty. Most won't lead to anything, but I guarantee you some will, and all you need is a few. Some products have multiple benefits so you can ask this question for each of them.

From this one question you could end up with a hundred ideas, easy. If you're an overachiever, reframe the question and you'll get even more. So instead of "What's the benefit of the benefit?" try:

What's an unexpected / obvious / helpful / interesting / funny / convenient / comforting / amazing / wild / beautiful / exciting / weird \ benefit of the benefit?

A slight change to the problem you're trying to solve will lead you to slightly different solutions.

If all you did was ask this question a number of different ways on every brief throughout your entire career, you'd have a very successful career.

Another way to twist this question is to ask, "What's a benefit of the downside of this product?" The downside of owning a Porsche is that it's too small for your kids to fit in it. A benefit of that downside is that it's too small for your kids to fit in it. To do this, list all of the potential downsides, and then spin them into positives.

### Ask Questions Google Can't Predict

Piggybacking off the last tip, most creatives when given the same brief come up with similar solutions. This is because we're asking the same questions.

What separates the great from the good, or the unexpected from the expected, are the people who solve slightly different problems. And you do this by asking slightly different questions.

If you're ever feeling stuck and the ideas aren't flowing, just start listing interesting and unexpected questions about the product or the target.

For some reason, when we're focused on coming up with ideas, our inner critic is quick to kick in with the abuse. But when we tell our brain, "Hey, I'm just asking some questions. Nothing creative happening over here", it throws the dummy off our trail and lets us do our thing.

Get curious. Childlike curious. And when you're ready to get back into generating ideas, start exploring and answering those questions.

If you want a more creative answer, ask a more creative question.

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[\"Excuse Me, Ma\'am, Do You Have Any Idea How Fast You Were Thinking?\"](#part0003.xhtml#rch8)

100 MPH Thinking is a great technique to use anytime throughout the creative process. As the name implies, it helps you spit out lots of ideas quickly. Set a goal to come up with thirty to fifty ideas in fifteen minutes. Just set a timer and go nuts. It's an exercise in quantity, not quality. Speed, not perfection. By coming up with ideas quickly you don't have time to stop, judge, and overanalyze. I use this exercise ALL. THE. TIME.

It's about giving yourself permission to suck. By letting yourself suck, you don't just shut your inner critic up, you take away all its power. Here's what Tom Monahan, the man who coined the term, says about it: **"*I believe that it's much easier to come up with fifty ideas than it is to come up with the perfect idea. And I believe it's nearly impossible to come up with fifty bad ideas. And I believe it's easier to come up with fifty good ideas quickly (say in fifteen minutes) than it is to do it over a longer amount of time. Speed gives you momentum of thought, which silences the judge, circumvents fear, and makes failure less painful. Get that root canal over with quickly.*"**

When we stop and evaluate every idea as it comes out of our brains, it can be so deflating. Because the reality is, most ideas are bad, but you have to get them out to get to the great ones. The other problem with keeping score throughout your creative process is that for every bad idea that pops out, your brain starts to think, "I'm bad". What happens next is even worse. You stop at the first good idea because your brain is desperate to feel good about itself. "See, I'm not bad. I'm good!" And you stop there. You stop at good and never get to great.

The best creatives don't stop and judge. Don't let bad ideas slow you down. They're bugs splatting on your windshield as you speed down the highway toward Awesometown.

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### Bad Ideas Are Fertilizer For Good Ideas

Instead of fearing bad ideas or making them mean something about you, see them as an essential and even helpful part of the process.

In his book The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy, Tom Monahan refers to bad ideas as crap or more specifically, fertilizer. His theory is the more crap you have, the bigger your ideas will grow in the end.

So don't be afraid to try your worst. Seriously, if you're ever stuck or just starting a project, instead of aiming for brilliance out of the gates, try to be really bad. When you give yourself the freedom to suck, the chains of perfection fall off and you get to great a lot quicker (and healthier).

### And Now, Some Insight From a Former Forklift Driver

After I finished ad school, my creative genius was so obvious that my first job was in a warehouse, driving a forklift. As I loaded and unloaded trailers, I would dream up spec ads cracking make-believe briefs in my head. At a certain point, I felt like my portfolio was good enough. All I needed was an agency looking for a writer with previous forklift experience.

Instead of working on my book, I started studying the work in award annuals. I didn't just admire it; I started breaking it down, trying to extract the one key insight that may have inspired the creative. I did this for hundreds of campaigns. This helped me see what was driving the work. And what was most enlightening was how simple most of those insights were.

On the following pages, I've extracted some insights from a handful of campaigns. One thing you'll notice is that the same insight inspired all of the ads within each campaign. If you're working on a campaign versus a one-off, you're still only looking for one big insight or angle to build around, not three. It's the same idea, expressed in a slightly different way within each ad. The key is finding that big idea or insight first. And you'll know when you have it because the headlines start writing themselves.

If you're an aspiring creative, you have to do this exercise. And if you're a creative or a strategist at any level, you should too. At the very least, when you look at great work, don't just appreciate it, take a moment to break it down.