Don't Be a Hero
Who Is the Hero In Your Story?
If I told you my life story, would you care?
What if I asked you tell me your life story?
Eugene M. Schwartz’s The Brilliance Breakthrough: How to Talk and Write So That People Will Never Forget You should be (and often is) considered to be the “bible” of effective copywriting and storytelling. One of the many tenets Schwartz embraces is the notion of making the reader (or the customer) the hero of the story you’re trying to tell.
Too often, we put the capes on our own backs. And that’s where the writing falls short.
Giving Thanks
Short and Sweet? Not So Fast.
Podcast: That's a Wrap!
My co-host, Curtis Hayes, and I put the wraps on the first season of our Bullhorns and Bullseyes podcast recently, recapping the big takeaways and lessons learned from our guests during the first 40 episodes. Click through to watch the episode and learn more about Season One of Bullhorns and Bullseyes.
Happy Halloween!
Top Secret: For Your Eyes Only
Let Content Be Your Praise Singer
Adrian Lurssen tells the story of when he went to see Nelson Mandela deliver an address in his home country of South Africa. He still draws upon the experience today, but in the most unusual context.
As Adrian has recounted this tale to Jay Harrington and me on an episode of The Thought Leadership Project podcast, he likens this notion of a praise singer to how we considers thought leadership content to work on behalf of the expert that shares it.
In Adrian’s estimation — one I happen to share — thought leadership content serves in the capacity of being one’s praise singer. It exists out in the world to tell everyone how smart you are, what you know, what you think, what you can do, how you solve problems. “It sings your praises,” Adrian notes, “even when you’re not there in the room to do it yourself.”
See how…
From the Archive: July 2009
11 Things a Failed Music Career Taught Me About Marketing
It might be hard to believe looking at me now, but a full-time music career and pursuit of rock-and-roll stardom preceded my foray into marketing and public relations. (That’s me on the left up there…looking too cool for school.)
But what I learned as a starving artist back in the early 90s taught me the basics of nearly everything I do today as a marcom professional. In order for us to survive, it was all about promotion…and I mean, literally, “survive.” Here, then, are the 11 lessons I look back on and draw upon even today (musicians always “go to 11”):
Sale at Scale
How Content Allows a Company to Make Sales Calls, As if By Artificial Intelligence
A veteran salesperson knows that look. That tone of voice. That one question for clarification uttered by a prospect that indicates a buying signal.
And that’s when the sale begins to become final.
A good sales agent knows what to do when that signal reveals itself. Soon, the seller becomes the closer, and the prospect becomes a client or customer.
The only disappointing thing about that promise of future success is that they are hard to come by. By that, I mean: those opportunities…those moments…those qualified, veteran sales team that can detect the aroma of opportunity and know how to respond to it.
If only you could clone that qualified sales person. If only those opportunities would arise in greater numbers. If only artificial intelligence could scrape the internet for you, uncovering prospects and revealing sales opportunities.
That’s where content comes in.