5. Create a headline for an article about the SCC Advertising Program targeted to local graduating high school students. I am specifically not telling you what to do or the questions that need to be asked. Please provide the following:
a. Provide the headline
7 reasons why St. Clair Advertising will shape YOUR future (59 characters)
b. Provide an overview of the elements missing in the instructions required for this task.
There are many key elements missing in the instructions required for this task based on question #5. Its clear that the instructions are to target our headline to local graduating high school students, but its unsure what about the program I should be delivering to them in the headline. The missing elements would help to create a more focused and effective headline that is tailored. To start, the goal/objective of the articule isn’t specified so its unsure to really know how to align this headline with the intended message through the content. This goal could be anything from trying to persuade students to apply, just informing them, building awareness or to get them interested in the different classes offered. Without this its really hard to understand what the headline should convey. The headline should mirror what the article is about and in this case I have no idea since no information about the article isn’t present.
Also, we don’t know anything about these local graduating students, we know that they are probably interested in going to college if we are sending them a message but we don’t know their characteristics. There could be students who aren’t even interested at all. Why would we want to send a message to someone interested in nursing about the advertising program? Its important to know if we are targeting students who are actually interested in advertising or students unsure of what they want to do next career wise, or students who don’t want to go to college. Understanding their needs and desires would be key to shape a strong headline dedicated to match the desire of a specific group. The digital user should be guided by headlines but if we don’t know who they are how can we guide them? The publication platform is also not mentioned in the instructions for this task, meaning that I cant match a headline to an exact platform or adjust it based on requirements. Its important the user can see the entire platform and without this its hard to tell if the user would even be able to read all of it at once. Overall, there is no context to what the headline should work on providing making it hard to give an effective headline to local graduating high school students, and that’s why this headline is very generalized.
c. Explain the headline you created, why, and any other reasons/justifications you need to provide to me for the headline you created. (6 Marks)
I wanted to make sure this headline took on beneficial characteristics that make a good headline. I made it as clear as possible while being specific as possible to the instructions I was given. Its never a good idea to make people guess, or work hard by trying to figure out what a headline means because the reality is that we don’t have their attention for very long, if not at all. The goal with a headline is to attract the most immediate attention possible and get them interested. I also used “YOUR” in bold to emphasize and connect with the reader on a more personal level. This can make it feel like the message is speaking to any unique local high school graduate student. We learnt that headlines build relevance and since I don’t know exactly what the purpose of the headline is supposed to serve, I made it as general as possible so that it can directly speak to any general local student. The headline is promising something and in this case its promising a positive education that can lead to a fulfilled future in the real world.
Additionally, I used the number “7” intentionally because odd numbers work. It also indicates that there are valuable insights inside the article that will help and support students through a big life changing decision. They get readers interested because its something they aren’t used to seeing. It also makes it more digestible and structured helping make the headline more compelling. Since its readable, the likelihood of share ability is higher and can hopefully see results from students sending to other students or parents to students. This headline is effective given the information at my disposal because it grabs attention and can meet the needs for local high school students thinking about their next big step in life.
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