Nobody cares about your headline

Just kidding.

I drew your attention though, didn’t I? Even with an anti-headline headline.

At an elemental level, the art of communication relies on garnering just enough interest to secure somebody’s attention. This is where the headline comes into play.

And if you continue to deliver and pique further interest, you gain your audience’s trust and entice the reader to further consume your information. This is where the body of the information comes into play.

Consequently, as you add more value to your audience, you develop a relationship and understanding that transcends basic information exchange. This is where the call to action comes into play, especially as you convert the reader into a follower.

As a result of relationship-building, you create a community of receptive, contributive individuals who begin to exchange their own ideas and develop relationships with one another. They feel understood and valued; most importantly, they feel like they’re adding their own value to the community as well.

Once the community is built out, and the members trust each other, they will be even more open to additional value you can provide to them. Whether in the form of an affiliate product, a service, or new offering that parallels and satiates the needs of your community.

With these additional opportunities, you create an even larger audience base, community, and network. Your community members refer others to your network. You take on engagements that arise from newly created relationships and opportunities. You build out your trust, value-add, and leadership on an extraordinary scale.

This type of approach, in which you organically and gradually scale your influence, applies to more than communication. It applies to any type of vocation, avocation, or external-facing aspiration you undertake.

For instance, CrossFit gyms leverage their coaches to develop a close-knit community of dedicated, like-minded individuals. In turn, these individuals (ambassadors, essentially) bring their family or friends to their “Box,” which allows the gym to grow, provides the member with a feeling of connectedness to the community, and facilitates a healthy lifestyle for the new member. It’s a win for the owner, a win for the coaches, and a win for all the members at large (especially the referring member and the referred member). A virtuous cycle initiated with trust, relationship-building, and community cultivation.

There are literally thousands of other examples out there, whether vocational or avocational in nature, that prove the legitimacy of community, ambassadorship, and opportunity enhancement.

Whenever you engage your community, or interact with your followers (i.e. employees, readers, etc.), or scale your influence, you always need to ask yourself, “What’s in it for my audience?” If you answer this question well, you’ll be able to initiate the virtuous cycle by adding true value to your followers.

Here’s a little hint: over time, as your community grows, you can directly engage your followers and solicit feedback as to how your audience responds to the “What’s in it for my audience?” question. In fact, your audience may give you some additional insights that will help you cater to your people even better.

It all starts with your headline. What are you about? And what will your audience gain from your leadership, insight, or interaction?

Your content (in other words, your action) builds and grows from your headline (in other words, your mission). Take a few minutes to come up with your headline in business, in your personal life, and in your social life. Then align your actions with that headline.

Extra hint: For complete value optimization, find a way to develop one headline that integrates and covers all aspects of your life. Sure, adapt the message and its application depending on your audience (i.e. business vs. personal vs. social setting), but you want to make sure that all the content matches up with your headline (in other words, align your actions with your mission).

Go craft your headline today. And make sure it covers your purpose, and lines up with your character, from your head to your toes.