Titles
Deciding on the title of a document is one of the easiest, but also one of the most difficult of all the tasks in written communication. Picking a title of a document is easy because it's only a few words, but it is difficult to choose precisely what those words are, as a title must be concise, accurate, and engaging, while also representing you, your work, and your company as professionally as possible.
Making sure that a document's title is concise requires that we limit its number of characters, with a general recommendation being that a title should be at or below 60 characters. This limit is to help avoid situations where the title is truncated when displayed as an email subject, file name, link preview, social media share, or search result.
Making a title accurate is simply making sure that the title matches what is contained in the document.
For example, if you wrote a report covering your company's growth opportunities in Asia-Pacific, a title of "Growth Opportunities in Asia-Pacific" would be only 36 characters, making it concise, and as the title matches the topic covered in the document, it would also be accurate.
Concise, accurate titles are always a safe bet in professional written communication, as though they tend to be a bit dry and dull, their clarity and directness are usually expected and even appreciated.
Where titles can become more difficult is when writing documents for the general public, which is often a requirement in roles such as marketing, sales, and customer support. When attempting to grab the attention of the general public, it is rare that a concise and accurate title will be engaging enough to get people to click on whatever you want them to read.
There are two important concepts as it relates to engaging titles: "Click Throughs" and "Click Bait."
Note that though the word, "click" technically only applies to clicking a mouse button on a computer, in the age of touchscreens "click" is still used instead of the more accurate "tap," such that people will say they clicked on a link, even though they tapped the screen of their device.
The term, "Click Through" is a critical concept in online advertising and content marketing, as it refers to each time someone clicked or tapped on whatever content they were presented with. Considering that the online advertising industry is worth over 300 billion dollars, and that advertisers usually only make money when someone clicks on an ad, and that what someone clicks on is usually a title - it could be argued that the 300-billion-dollar online advertising industry relies on people clicking on titles.
This results in online advertisers obsessing over how to write catchy, engaging titles that grab people's attention, and entice them to click a link. Note that television advertisers don't have the challenge of writing catchy titles, as they rely on the fact that their video ads will be shown to the person watching TV, whether that person wants to see their ad or not.
The necessity of online advertisers writing catchy, engaging titles has given rise to what is known as "Click Bait," which are titles that are far more concerned with being engaging than they are with being either concise or accurate. They often use sensational, emotionally charged language, and tease information without revealing too much.
Examples of clickbait-y titles are:
"10 secrets the food industry doesn't want you to know!"
"This one weird trick will change your life forever!"
"This simple hack will save you thousands on your next vacation!"
"Experts are calling this the 'miracle cure' for athlete's foot!"
"Why everyone is talking about this viral video - and why you should be too!"
While everyone tends to complain about clickbait-y titles, the reason they are a common fixture in online advertising and content marketing is that they tend to drive better click-through rates than their concise and accurate counterparts.
If we were to rewrite our original example to be click bait, instead of "Growth Opportunities in Asia-Pacific," we might come up with:
Unlocking the Secrets: Asia-Pacific's Game-Changing Growth Opportunities!
Transforming Our Business: 5 Must-Know Asia-Pacific Strategies for Explosive Growth!
Unleashing Our Potential: The Asia-Pacific Market Opportunities We Can't Afford to Miss!
Asia-Pacific's Untapped Goldmine: How to Skyrocket Revenues in Emerging Markets!
Riding the Wave: The Asia-Pacific Trends That Will Propel Growth to New Heights!
While these titles are more engaging, they have the effect of eroding our professional credibility, and would probably not be the best representation of our company to customers and shareholders.
However, if we were to dial back the amount of clickbait, we might come up with:
Exploring Asia-Pacific's Growth Opportunities: Key Insights for Our Company's Success
Tapping into New Markets: Identifying Asia-Pacific Opportunities for Business Expansion
Capturing Growth in the Asia-Pacific: A Comprehensive Guide to Market Opportunities
Emerging Trends in the Asia-Pacific Region: Implications for Our Company's Growth Strategy
Asia-Pacific Market Opportunities: A Roadmap for Accelerating Our Company's Growth
These titles strike a good balance of accuracy, engagement, and professionalism, but they are all around 80 characters rather than the general recommendation of 60. Still, the main part of the title comes first, such as with "Exploring Asia-Pacific's Growth Opportunities," so that if the title were truncated, the reader would still get a concise, accurate, and professional title, even without the remaining: "Key Insights for Our Company's Success."
Striking the right balance of a title's conciseness, accuracy, engagement, and professionalism is crucial for effective written communication. While coming up with titles that are both engaging and professional can be a challenge, as you learn to do so, you can effectively communicate the main ideas contained in the document, while still increasing the chances that someone clicks to read what you wrote.