- H1 Gallery
- Posts
- Marketing headlines of the week
Marketing headlines of the week
Outerbase, CodeFast, HEY
In partnership with
Hey there!
Welcome back to H1 Gallery — a collection of the best marketing headlines on the internet.
Sorry for missing last week. My wife and I had our first baby! This made it a bit hard to mindlessly scroll the internet for good marketing copy 😅
Also… two weeks ago I ran a poll asking if you actually wanted to read my analysis of these headlines. Surprisingly, you do.
So let’s talk H1s!
— Ryan (@rjgilbert)
P.S. In case you somehow found this newsletter from somewhere/someone other than me… I also publish another newsletter called Workspaces that I think you might also enjoy.
Securing top talent with our guide is a click away
Deel’s simplified a whole planet’s worth of information. It’s time you got your hands on our international compliance handbook where you’ll learn about:
Attracting global talent
Labor laws to consider when hiring
Processing international payroll on time
Staying compliant with employment & tax laws abroad
With 150+ countries right at your fingertips, growing your team with Deel is easier than ever.
Outerbase's headline "We make working with data easy" is a simple yet compelling message.
Let's take a look at how this headline came to be and why it works.
In Outerbase's words:
What goes into making a good marketing headline?
If a website is your elevator pitch, the headline is your hook. It should be clear, concise, and resonate with your target audience, encouraging them to stay and continue reading further.
How important is it to consider marketing copy alongside design?
Marketing copy and design are one in the same—together, they form what I’d call “content design.” Effective copy compliments the page design, creating seamless visual flow. It should break naturally across lines, guide the reader’s eye toward the call to action, and blend tonally with your brand’s voice.
How many headline interactions has Outerbase gone through?
So many.
Outerbase is a niche platform in the database world with a lot to offer. Summing up everything we do in a single sentence—especially for both technical and non-technical audiences—is a challenging task.
Overall, our goal is to appeal to those seeking to simplify how they work with their data.
Why does this one work?
It sort-of clicked one day while we were dreaming up headlines for the new site. Some were very specific while others were more general and open-ended. We ultimately landed on one that was straightforward and dead simple: “We make working with data easy.” This statement is the overall thesis behind Outerbase. Though relatively broad, it aligns with everything we offer our customers, allowing us to continually develop new tools and features while staying true to our core message.
CodeFast's headline "Learn to code in weeks, not months" is a powerful and direct message.
"Learn to code" is beautifully simple and direct. It avoids technical jargon or specific programming languages, making it accessible to beginners while clearly stating what users will achieve.
The direct comparison "weeks, not months" immediately communicates the key value proposition - faster learning. This structure creates a clear before/after scenario that highlights CodeFast's key advantage.
By challenging the conventional timeline for learning to code (months), the headline suggests that CodeFast has optimized the learning process in a meaningful way.
The headline also does a nice job of tapping into a common pain point among aspiring programmers - the lengthy time commitment traditionally associated with learning to code. By promising to reduce this time investment, it addresses a key barrier to entry.
In CodeFast's words:
The idea for the headline came from the fact that I myself learned to code 7 years ago and I spent so much time doing those courses where you have 300 hours of content when all I wanted to do was to build a tiny website on the internet with a "buy" button for my customers.
I wanted to emphasize on this idea that if you want to learn to code as an entrepreneur you don't need to spend 300 hours on software engineer content to work for a big company. So that's how the idea for the business came… CodeFast.
The headline came naturally. Initially it was something like "Learn to code in 14 days" but then I realized it was a bit overpromising. It depended on who was following the course.
So I changed it to "Build your SaaS in 14 days", which again I think was great but it was a little bit too niche because not everyone understands what a SaaS is and also I don't want to promise that you will do something in 14 days exactly because some people have more or less time than others.
So then I reused what I did for another one of my products, ShipFast, where I say "do this in x amount of time, not y amount of time" and so that's how the idea "Learn to code in weeks, not months" came to be.
HEY is an email product from Basecamp and their headline "We finally fixed your email + calendar!" is quite the attention-grabbing and bold message. In the crowded spaces of both email and calendar apps, stopping the scroll with a solid H1 is crucial.
The use of "finally" suggests that email and calendar problems have been a long-standing issue that all of the other options have failed to solve. It implies that HEY has finally cracked the code.
I'm not usually a fan of exclamation points in headlines… but here it adds a layer of enthusiasm and confidence to their bold claim.
"Fixed" is another powerful word choice. It implies that current email and calendar systems are broken and that Hey has actually solved the underlying problems rather than just making incremental improvements.
By saying "your email + calendar," the headline makes it personal to each reader. It's not just fixing email and calendar systems in general - it's fixing YOUR specific problems with these tools.
This addition of calendar alongside email shows that HEY understands just how interconnected these tools are in most people's work lives. This suggests a more comprehensive solution rather than just another email client (which always seem to get acquired and shut down).
Overall, this headline is effective because it directly addresses widespread frustration with existing email and calendar tools while confidently claiming to have solved these issues. The personal address and enthusiastic tone make the message more engaging while the boldness of the claim encourages users to learn more about how HEY has achieved this fix.
If you're one of the many who have first-hand frustrations with email or calendar management… this headline likely grabbed your attention and stopped your scroll.
ICYMI
Here are three other scroll-stoping headlines that grabbed my attention in the past.
“The best way to jam on email as a team.” — Jelly (my thoughts)
“Customer relationship magic.” — Attio (my thoughts)
“The computer, de-invented” — Daylight (my thoughts)
Did you enjoy this edition of H1 Gallery? |
Thanks so much for subscribing and giving this newsletter a chance!
If you enjoyed it, please consider forwarding it to a friend or teammate.
If there’s a headline that you’d like to see featured — including your own — you can submit it here.
See you back here next week!
— Ryan (@rjgilbert)