Transform Your Content from Predictable to Provocative with This Bold Method

Stop for a moment to think about a super-athlete.

A person who won 122 consecutive races and broke the world record four times.

That super-athlete is Edwin C. Moses, a man who completely dominated the 400-meter hurdle event and won every race in sight between 1977 and 1987. And then it happened. On June 4, 1987, in Madrid, Spain, Danny Harris beat Moses.

Objections in articles are like Danny Harris.

They bring in an unexpected element to one-sided content. Instead of the article pushing a single idea forward, there’s a sudden disturbance. Let’s find out exactly why objections are so powerful and how to use them in your writing.

So, why are objections so critical?

There’s the obvious reason why objections are part of content that deeply engages your audience: it’s called drama.

Most articles start off driving home a point and keep that sustained point of view until the end of the article. Such an article is almost like an Edwin Moses race: elegant and dominating, but a bit predictable.

When you insert an objection in your article, you create a counterpoint. You add a sense of competition and ignite some drama.

Drama alone is reason enough to make sure you put an objection in your article. But the second, and probably even more important reason, is balance.

When you solely focus on explaining and supporting your idea, you only provide one point of view. The moment an objection shows up, you play devil’s advocate.

Here are two examples that show how objections can work in your content.

Example #1: Speed-reading is a silly idea when learning

Let’s say your article is about speed-reading.

Sure, everyone seems to think speed-reading is a great idea. After all, most of us are falling behind on our reading, and speed-reading seems like a smart solution to that problem.

But the point of your article appears to be different from popular opinion … and you even suggest that speed-reading is like taking a photocopy: You read information but don’t retain it. The concepts are not well-massaged into your brain.

Now, instead of only showing that perspective, you can balance out your content by also discussing circumstances where speed-reading could be beneficial. You’ll support your point and demonstrate that you’ve thought of counterarguments.

See how objections give the article depth?

Let’s look at another example.

Example #2: Why it’s great to visit New Zealand in February (not December)

When you think of a country that’s green and clean, you tend to think of New Zealand. Fabulous beaches, super-friendly people, astounding scenery, and yes, rain.

Auckland can get as much as 176 days of rain in a year. It’s not that silly drizzle that stays around all day. It’s there in all its fury, and then it’s gone. Even so, in New Zealand in February, the greenery starts to take on a tinge of brown, thanks to the scorching sunshine.

But let’s say you’re really keen for tourists to have a good time, and you make a case for why February is the right time to visit New Zealand, including points like how easy it is to book a rental car and Airbnb.

Well, what would someone who thinks February is not the best time to visit say? And how would you respond to that person who thinks another time of year would be more conducive to a fun trip?

Every article has two sides, and the moment you bring in objections, you create that sense of drama and balance.

Where do you add an objection in your article?

Most objections go toward the end of an article. Let’s say your article is about 10 paragraphs long. You’d want the objection to show up around the seventh paragraph.

However, there are also situations where you can’t wait that long to insert the objection.

If you think your article’s message is going to be met with instant disapproval, you’ll need to put the objection right at the beginning.

For example, your article’s headline could be about “how to get rid of all the emails in your inbox.” To most of us that sounds interestingly horrific, doesn’t it? Why would you want to get rid of the emails, painful as they can be?

In such a situation, the headline may pull in the reader, but they could be hesitant to accept your idea.

You could then add something like what you read above to your introduction:

“Why would you want to get rid of email? Email, as crazy as it can drive us all, is a vital form of communication. Just stepping in and wiping out all of your emails seems like a wanton act of madness.”

See what just happened?

The objection immediately addressed concerns that your headline might raise. As the article unfolds, you can go back to supporting the original concept of “getting rid of all your emails.”

Once you add — and counter — an objection right away, you can make your point without the haunting feeling that the reader is not quite on your side.

In most articles, you don’t need to add more than one objection, but in some cases, you may find that two or even three objections are appropriate. It’s your job to provide reassurance with your content and drive the prospect to action.

Take a tip from copywriters

When you read a well-written sales letter, you’ll always notice objections.

A good salesperson will also counter objections, often before the prospect has a chance to bring them up. This is a solid practice because we all have our own points of view.

We want to be convinced, but we are also inherently skeptical.

And when you aim to persuade with a sales page or an article, objections help you craft a stronger message.

If you don’t address objections, your prospect may become too skeptical and hesitate. That hesitation slows down — and may even derail — your persuasive efforts.

Yet, the moment you prove that you’re balanced in your approach, you bring in a huge dollop of trust.

Add some Danny Harris to your content

Edwin Moses was super cool.

Dominating a race for a solid 10 years is a stunning achievement. But after a while, his wins became predictable.

To bring drama and balance into your article, include the unexpected Danny Harris victory. It’s a way to keep your readers absorbed in your content from start to finish.

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5 Writing Techniques that Stir Your Audience to Action

We all want a positive response to the content we work so hard to create. Not all positive responses, however, are created equal.

I’m reminded of this David Ogilvy quote from Ogilvy on Advertising:

“When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product. When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, ‘Let us march against Philip.'”

In other words, if you’re looking for something more than “Great post!” comments, then you’ve got to prompt action. And that means you’ve got to stir something in the audience before they’ll do something.

Now, before we get to that, one easy way to get someone to do something is to simply ask. I’m assuming you’re already using calls to action, but if not, click that last link to read about those first.

Otherwise, let’s focus on what must happen before the ask. What we’re trying to stir is an emotional response.

It’s emotion that moves us to act. In fact, the Latin root for the word emotion means “to move,” because emotions motivate what we do. We don’t necessarily want to make them seethe with anger or burst into tears, though.

The goal is not necessarily to get someone to feel, but rather to want — and to act on that want. Here are several ways to accomplish that.

1. Vivid storytelling

Emotional responses come when we experience a message that corresponds with our existing beliefs. Appealing to the core values of your audience, how they view the world, and their expectations for the future is incredibly powerful — if you truly create an experience.

Dating back to the time of Aristotle, skilled persuaders understood the power of a detailed narrative. The key is that the story must be so vivid that it prompts a vicarious experience in which they can see the outcome of the story happening to them.

Here’s the beginning of a story that fueled a $2 billion(!) subscription promotion for The Wall Street Journal:

“On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, both were personable and both — as young college graduates are — were filled with ambitious dreams for the future.

Recently, these two men returned to college for their 25th reunion.”

Do you see the setting in your mind’s eye? Click here to read how the story progresses and see why it succeeded so wildly.

2. Ramp it up

Sometimes when we’re eager to prompt action, we’re tempted to come out of the gate swinging. High energy, high emotion — that’s what will cause the audience to latch on to our contagious enthusiasm and take action, right?

Not necessarily.

Skilled presenters, ranging from politicians to stand-up comics, know that it’s better to start low-key and build momentum as you go.

Persuasive content and copy are often referred to as a slippery slide. The goal of each and every sentence of your message is to keep people engaged the whole way down, gaining momentum along the way to the call to action.

And although the context is different, there might be no better example than Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech from 1963:

The speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century in a 1999 poll of oration scholars. More importantly, it inspired the huge crowd at The March on Washington to the point that the Kennedy administration felt compelled to advance its civil rights legislation in Congress.

3. Hold a unity rally

We all belong to various groups, ranging from nationality, to college alma mater, to favorite NBA team. Appealing to the tribal nature of an audience that’s part of your group naturally invokes emotion, while you also benefit from the powerful influence principle of unity.

Unity goes beyond simple similarities and liking, and instead reaches the point of shared identities. It’s inherently an “us against them” scenario, and if you want to mobilize the choir instead of just preach to it, you’ve got to communicate how “the others” present a problem.

It could be about how a competitor has chosen not to serve the needs of your group. Or how outsiders are belittling your tribe in a way that inspires action. It doesn’t have to be ugly, but it does have to motivate the group to stand together and move.

Sometimes, you can even use unity to inspire others to join the group. This happens because of another powerful, fundamental influence: social proof.

For example, one of our core values is that we believe that building your business or content marketing engine on someone else’s virtual property is unacceptably risky. When we rail against digital sharecropping, website owners flock to the comments to agree — providing powerful social proof for others to get on board with owning their own platform.

4. Be like Mike

Group identity is powerful thanks to our strong need to belong. Emulation works on the same emotional level when you position yourself as a role model to your audience.

Now, that might sound a bit arrogant, and it certainly can be. But if you’ve done the hard work of becoming a likable expert, your audience will naturally choose to emulate you in certain ways, or even desire to be like you.

Think of the whole “personal branding” movement. Everywhere you look, people are becoming micro-celebrities hoping to charge you money so you can be like them — and in many cases, it works.

That’s a little bit too on the nose for me. A smarter approach is to inspire your audience to do something with you, such as join a cause, contribute to a charity, or act in some other way that deepens the broader influence factors of unity, authority, liking, commitment and consistency, and social proof.

5. Show, don’t tell

This last technique is more of a “what not to do” tip that relates to the other four. It comes down to one of the oldest bits of writing advice around, which is to refrain from “telling” them why they should do what you want them to do while making your case, and instead letting the audience experience the realization themselves.

• The story should be so vivid that they see themselves achieving the outcome.
• The “ramp up” should spark the emotional response without explicit direction.
• The realization that “they’re wrong, we’re right” should come from the group.
• The audience should decide that they’ll emulate you before you ask.

On a related note, never telegraph the emotional response you’re seeking up front, or a natural psychological defense mechanism may arise.

Emotions are best triggered without revealing an upfront expectation.

It’s dangerous to proclaim a joke as hilarious before telling it, and it’s likewise bad form to lead with “Boy, is this going to tick you off.” In other words, don’t tell people you’re going to go on a rant, just begin and build to the rant.

Stir the win-win

None of these techniques are going to make anyone do something they don’t want to do. In fact, more often than not the desired action has to be in their best interest first and foremost, and yours secondarily.

In other cases, you may get some action thanks to the previously unmentioned principle of influence — reciprocity. If you selflessly and unconditionally give away something useful, perhaps they’ll do a favor for you in return.

You know, like sharing this article on Facebook or Twitter. Thank you!

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Heroes & Beer Ads: How to write copy that turns reluctant prospects into powerful advocates

Every morning, I grab my phone and brace myself for the dumpster fire that is this moment in history.

I sip my coffee (entirely unspiked with hard liquor), and I take a couple of deep breaths.

I’m preparing myself for some new tweet that announces a human rights crisis or a manufactured massacre or an alternative fact or an existential threat to Western democrazy–er, democracy.

Tweets like this:

And this:

And this:

Or, hey – *sip of totally-not-alcoholic coffee* – how ’bout this:

So many villains.

And no Batman to be found.

That’s because there is no Batman. Instead, there are millions – billions – of heroes in waiting and, as we’ve seen over the last 3 weeks, heroes in action. Having witnessed the incredible transformations of previously “reluctant” folks into earth-shaking heroes, I can’t help but marvel at our ability to switch from living our daily lives for decades… only to suddenly go out into the world as active, battling heroes. You don’t have to have the same political views I have to marvel like I do at how people are answering this question:

Am I Going to Be a Bystander or a Hero?

This post is about being a Hero.

And because we’re in the world of copywriting, this post is specifically about how you can convince regular, everyday people – your prospects and customers – to be Heroes, even when they feel like they have little power or control over the course of events. This is the core of brand storytelling. Can you transform bystanders into heroes?

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How to convince everyday people to be your brand’s heroes – by @wordweaverfree via @copyhackers
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Because great copywriting isn’t just about persuading people to take action.

Any toddler can tell you that, with enough persistence and annoying shrieking sounds, they can persuade their worn-down parents to give them the freaking cookie. But you better believe those parents will put their foot down the next time. (Or at the very least tune out the whining.)

No, great copywriting is about inspiring people to take action.

Really truly memorably great copy is about putting your prospect in touch with their dreams for a better life and a better world, without leaning into sentimentalism.

There’s nothing sentimental about this:

The copy you want to write – or to hire someone great to write for you – is about placing the power to make change in your prospects’ hands.

It’s about showing customers and would-be customers that they are the answer to problems they want to fix. Why? Not because your product is great. Not because your solution is super.

But because they are the Hero of their life.

You’re just here to guide them and give them tools. Good Lord are you there to give them the tools:

You’ve heard a lot about storytelling and copywriting, marketing and branding.

They’re indelibly intertwined. Now I’m going to show you:

How to Bring Out Your Most Reluctant Prospects’ Inner Hero (So They Rally Behind You)

You want to turn your visitor, reader, subscriber or customer into a hero for this reason: When it’s time for you to throw down the gauntlet and challenge them to take action, they will be in the position to take one fearless step closer to converting into a customer.

Authentically placing your customer in the role of Hero wins you their trust, loyalty, praise and advocacy.

But what does your-customer-as-hero look like?

When we think of a Hero, often the first picture that comes to mind is this or something like this:

Source

The hero we’re fed is someone who puts herself in harm’s way on behalf of another person or worthy cause.

Why doesn’t that feel right when we’re talking about our customers?

After all, they’re not putting themselves in harm’s way when they save 15% on car insurance with you. They’re probably not acting for the greater good when they buy your Big Kahuna Burger.

And, well, they’re not gonna shimmy into some skintight unitard and swing around tall buildings. People don’t do that. Not a single person marching in protest does so in a unitard. That’s not what heroes look like.

Here’s what’s wrong with the image above, other than the fact that she must be missing a few ribs: our image of a hero is the image that appears at the END of the story. Or at its climax.

What happens leading up to the heroic moment is just as important in the making of a Hero as the rescue. The whole hero’s journey. The path there. THAT’S where your customer lives his or her quiet life. So here’s a big takeaway. Before you can turn your prospect or visitor into a hero, you need to know two things about them:

Your Hero Needs an Origin Story and a Defining Moment

Know your customer’s origin story and defining moment to begin the process of moving them toward Hero status.

The origin story is where your customer comes from. The life they’re leading. 

Their defining moment is a moment of crisis or threat.

According to Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces:

“The usual hero adventure begins with someone from whom something has been taken, or who feels there is something lacking in the normal experience available or permitted to the members of society. The person then takes off on a series of adventures beyond the ordinary, either to recover what has been lost or to discover some life-giving elixir. It’s usually a cycle, a coming and a returning.”

Let’s take Batman as an example.

Here’s his origin story: he was born Bruce Wayne, beloved only son of Gotham City socialites. Bruce was a carefree child who lived a life of privilege until the night his parents were killed in front of him. 

Then he had his defining moment: after his parents were murdered, Bruce Wayne vowed never to rest until Gotham was rid of crime. 

You might be thinking, “Okay, so all I have to do is create an origin story for my customer and come up with a defining moment to convince them that they’re a Hero by clicking the  ‘Buy’ button, and my job is done.”

Not so fast.

The creators of Batman were masterful storytellers, but they had the luxury of dealing with a fictional character who would bow to their creative whims.

As a copywriter, you get to deal with real life human beings. And when it comes to taking heroic actions, the average human is… well… messy.

The Problem with Real People as Heroes

In copywriting, origin stories are easy: they’re customer/user/buyer personas. All you need is competitive data and information on your current customers to come up with one. Yes, I know that sounds like I’m dramatically minimizing it. But this post is already a 20-minute read – instead of digging deeper right now, download this guide for later.)

So the origin story is something we can understand. With research.

But figuring out the defining moment?

That’s a bit more complicated.

Here’s why. First: a defining moment doesn’t necessarily turn someone into a Hero. It’s just the moment you become aware of a problem that you wish to solve. Second: your response to a defining moment may be vastly different from someone else’s. Witnessing his parents being murdered inspired fictional eight-year-old Bruce Wayne to begin a decade of intense physical training so he could fight crime. The same scenario played out in real life would most likely make an eight-year-old boy feel totally powerless and paralyzed in his ability to act.

That’s because most non-fiction / real human beings are “Reluctant Heroes.”

That is, the average joe is more likely to do nothing in the face of a threat than take action against it. 

Psychologist and Stanford professor Philip Zimbardo has been studying the inner workings of everyday heroics for over a decade. He established the Heroic Imagination Project, an initiative that translates findings in social psychology into tools that help people to act courageously in challenging situations in their lives.

Here’s what he has to say about reluctant heroes:

“…few people do evil and fewer act heroically. Between these extremes in the bell curve of humanity are the masses—the general population who do nothing, who I call the ‘reluctant heroes’—those who refuse the call to action and, by doing nothing, often implicitly support the perpetrators of evil.

So on this bell curve of humanity, villains and heroes are the outliers. The reluctant heroes are the rest. What we need to discover is how to give a call to service to this general population. How do we make them aware of the evil that exists? How do we prevent them from getting seduced to the dark side?”

Villains and heroes are the outliers. Everyone else is a reluctant hero.

Sounds like a pretty pessimistic take on humanity, right?

Except it’s not. Because the VAST majority of us – as in, probably everyone reading this post – has the capacity to be a hero. We’re just… reluctant. But there is a hero in each of us. And once we identify the forces that prevent people from acting the way they should, it’s easier to get them to step up instead of simply going along. But first we need to understand this:

Why People Don’t Step Up

Let’s say that you were walking down the street and noticed a strange man lying on the ground, doubled over in pain.

Would you stop to help or would you walk past him?

Don’t answer that yet: read on.

The Bystander Effect

In the 2012, a subway platform full of New Yorkers watched as a man was pushed into the path of an oncoming train and killed. No one made a move to help in the 30 to 90 seconds before the man met his death. A photographer for The New York Post snapped a photo of him as the man tried to climb his way out.  The news story made the cover of The Post and later became an emblem of the indifference of New Yorkers.

The subway killing follows in the the tragic footsteps of the 1964 Kitty Genovese case, in which a girl was stabbed to death within eyeshot of over 30 witnesses. At least with Kitty Genovese, two or three people attempted to help. But still – only two or three out of over 30?

Something’s not right here.

Were these people so used to the cruel, cold city that they didn’t even bat an eye when a fellow human being was in need of help?

Psychologists later explained the reason witnesses in such cases do nothing isn’t due to their urban landscape or even their lack of courage. It was due to a social phenomenon called the bystander effect: 

When there is an emergency, if people are in a group, the larger the group is the less likely it is that anyone will help. 

The reasons for the bystander effect are numerous, but here are a few ways people justify inaction:

• Fear of harm, retribution or reprisal – “If I take action, it will cost me time/safety/money.”
• Loss of privacy – “If I take action, it will bring unwanted attention to me/my family”
• Fear of loss of relationship – “If I take action, they won’t like me anymore.”
• Belief in insufficient evidence – “I can’t take action until I know for sure that this is a problem.”
• Assumption that someone else will take responsibility – “Let someone else do something about this.”

How does that translate to copywriting? It means that, although social proof and herd behavior may bring people into your funnel, when they reach the point of the funnel where you want them to take action, you should treat them as individuals – not one of many in a large group.

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To get visitors to take action, treat them like individuals, not one of many – by @wordweaverfree…
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The bystander effect is one of the main reasons people don’t respond to non-profit fundraising appeals. Ever sit in the car during a public radio fundraising marathon and skip donating because you figure plenty of other listeners have it covered?

Bystander effect.

The bystander effect is also big reason why people don’t respond to customer surveys. How many times have you been asked by your favorite blogger or your coffee shop barista to fill out a survey and done nada? After all, they have plenty of other customers.

Bystander effect.

So how can we fight it?

The Antidotes to the Bystander Effect in Copywriting

Remember that defining moment I mentioned above? Yeah, it’s at the core of overcoming Bystander Effect. Here are three antidotes…

1) Make the Battle About Them

First of all, we need to make sure your prospect has a sense of responsibility.

Which means they need to feel singled out. Selected. Chosen.

If someone walks up to you, makes eye contact with you and asks you to help them, it’s a lot harder to ignore them or pass them by. It’s a lot harder to pass up that Defining Moment.

The same thing goes for copywriting: the more personalized the message, the more likely you are to engage your prospect.

According to MailChimp, segmented email campaigns sent to small, targeted groups get 94.7% more clicks than non-segmented campaigns.

So when you’re planning your next email campaign, for example, don’t be afraid to get personal:

• Use the first name merge field
• Create an email template that’s super-specific to the prospect’s job role/location/level of expertise/awareness
• Reference a current event that impacts your prospect
• Research their social media profile to find a point of commonality

Watch this tutorial on how to get your new subscribers to “self segment” – so you know who they are and can believably connect in a personal, relevant way.

You can do the same kind of hyper-personalization for social media ads, sales/fundraising letters, landing pages…the point is: Don’t play to the crowd. Play to the person.

2) Earn Their Empathy

According to psychologist Ervin Staub:

“active bystanders [that is, people who help in emergencies] tend to have heightened concern for the welfare of others, greater feelings of social responsibility and a greater commitment to moral values.”

Let’s break this down.

In order to get that public radio listener to donate, we need to appeal to their:

• Concern for the welfare of others
• Feelings of social responsibility
• Moral values

Combined, do you know what these attributes make? A heaping pile of empathy. Once you trigger empathy in the human brain, you have yourself a Hero in the making. CalTech philosophy professor Stephen Quartz has observed that the clue to empathy:

“…lies in an evolutionarily recent part of the brain known as the medial prefrontal cortex. It appears to measure how closely we recognize others as being like or unlike ourselves; we think of others along a gradient from those we love, to friends, to strangers. In the split-second decision to help, then, a meeting of eyes or a cry for help may evoke an intimate recognition of another’s suffering in our medial prefrontal cortex and spur us to an extraordinary act of heroism. In that moment, the ordinary moral brain becomes heroic by making the final link between empathy and altruism: to recognize another as oneself.“

In other words, when we understand someone else’s pain or imagine ourselves in that person’s position, we’re more likely to take action.

And the best way to understand someone else is to hear their story.

3) Create a Relevant Story

When I say the word “story,” people often think of a long-form narrative with a beginning, middle and end. But stories can be told in a single word, when told well. Remember the news story about the man who was pushed and killed by a subway train?

Check out these two headlines and tell me which one tells a story that you care about:

Or:

Both of those headlines give the same information: the suspect in the subway murder has been charged. But the first headline places the focus on the emotions of the victim’s family, humanizing the victim, making the reader care about them. In other words, in the space of 10 words, the writer has appealed to your empathy.

Let’s take a look at some ways to create a story that will transform your customer from a bystander into a Hero.

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1) make the battle about your customer, 2) earn their empathy and 3) tell a story #heroes…
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How to Cast Your Customer in the Role of Hero

People are filled with potential energy. If your brand can tap into that energy, it can compel all the reluctant heroes in your audience to act. So what can you do – practically – to start transforming your reluctant heroes into enthusiastic advocates and customers? Here are 4 questions to answer:

1. What is about to change in your customers’ world?
2. What can they do about it?
3. What is at risk if they don’t take action?
4. What is the best outcome for their world, including for themselves?

Those four questions read like the outline of a long-form sales page.

For good reason.

Sales happen – conversions happen – when your prospect has a powerful emotional reaction. When your prospect transforms. When your prospect turns into a hero. So let’s unpack those 4 critical questions (so you can use them in your business).

1) What is about to change in their world?

In times of change or crises, Heroes are born.

We’re seeing this with every act of protest and resistance against the new administration in the U.S.

After the Trump administration put a gag order on federal employees, the Badlands National Park Service began tweeting climate change facts as an act of defiance.

After the executive order was issued banning refugees and green-card holders from Muslim-majority countries, thousands of attorneys marched to airports across the country to fight for the rights of detained travelers.

But here’s the key to igniting the fire of outrage and action in these freedom fighters. In both situations, they are fighting for:

• Something they care about
• Something they have the power to stop/protect/rescue from/adapt to

These people are acting because they see a threat to American democracy that personally affects them (or that they personally can relate to) and that they know they have the power to prevent.

What’s at threat for your customer?

Take a look at this pop-up page from Greenpeace:

They’ve clearly defined the problem: the climate is at risk because there attacks on climate progress.

2) What can they do about it?

In the above landing page, it’s obvious what the prospect can do: DONATE TODAY

But the landing page has also described what that donation is doing: it’s defending people and the planet.

Elsewhere on the Greenpeace website, visitors are invited to take action through resistance:

I love that the image is referencing a massive banner that Greenpeace activists deployed over the White House the week after the Inauguration.

In this landing page we have a call-to-action (“RESIST TODAY”) within a call to action (“Join the activists who delivers a message of love and progress…”) within a call-to-action (Huge banner that says “RESIST”). This is a powerful Defining Moment for anyone who feels passionate about fighting climate change deniers in Trump’s administration.

3) What is at risk if they don’t take action?

Sometimes you just have to spell out what’s at stake. Check out this landing page for Planned Parenthood’s political action website that explicitly states that women’s health is in danger:

The Anti-Defamation League also tells visitors what’s under threat and what they’re fighting for:

And take a look at this to-the-point NAACP banner ad:

The CTA – “I’M IN” – is a perfect antidote to the bystander effect because it singles the visitor out.

4) What’s the best outcome for their world and themselves?

This is your opportunity to invite your prospect to envision themselves participating in their dream scenario, also known as future-pacing.

Planned Parenthood’s women’s healthcare center website takes a decidedly positive approach to appealing to potential donors, patients, and volunteers by offering a reassuring vision of their future:

And the ACLU illustrates exactly how members responded to Trump’s Muslim ban and what donor can expect: results.

Okay, so what if you aren’t running a non-profit or seeking to make social change?

Can you still appeal to your prospect’s inner Hero?

Absolutely.

You can make a Hero out of anyone. The key is to appeal to their personal sense of justice, empathy, and responsibility.

Every interaction you have with your prospect is an opportunity to create a little story with them in which something is at risk and they have the power to help because they are uniquely qualified to do so.

Does that mean that YOU need their help? Not necessarily.

Your brand can play the role of their sidekick, their guide–even the adversary they need to vanquish in order to achieve their goal.

As Promised: Beer

When you’re thinking about writing copy for your brand, you can apply the principles of the “reluctant hero” to create a stronger emotional pull.

Alcohol advertisers have been doing it for decades.

Take a look at a few of these beer ads, all of which play to their target customer’s sense of heroism. The first is for Surly, where they’re casting the customer in the role of the altruist and themselves in the role of the civic-minded advocate:

This vintage ad from The Brewers’ Society depicts the target customer has the workaday Hero and a frosty mug as a hard-earned reward for a job well done:

Schlitz makes their beer out as the stand-alone in an industry full of cheap, less-than-virtuous beers. In the Camelot of beer, Schlitz is Guinevere and their customers Lancelot. They value purity and honor above all else, as legendary copywriter Claude Hopkins made clear in this ad.

This old-school Guinness ad shows a pint as a damsel in distress: it’s up to the customer to rescue it from the clutches of the crocodile’s jaws!

And one of my favorites: Anti-Hero targets itself to “all the ambivalent warriors who get the girl in the end.” And then they quote Han Solo. Who doesn’t want to be Han Solo?

The other day, I was in the car with my monster-obsessed five year old and he spotted a billboard for DoubleDog Double IPA by Flying Dog Ale.

Take a look at their packaging:

That’s right: it’s a vicious dog-faced demon in tighty-whiteys. It’s an illustration and quote by Ralph Steadman, he of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas fame.

“Mom,” my five-year-old said, “Why is that monster on that bottle?”

I thought about it for a moment. “Well, it’s called Double Dog, which is a kind of dare. So I think the people who made the beer are daring the customer to drink the beer.”

“Yuck, beer. Why would they want to make their beer scary?”

“It’s daring the customer to take a risk and be brave.”

“So monsters dare people to be brave?”

“Yes, bud. That’s why they exist. To bring out the courage in others.”

To which he replied, in his scary-wise-beyond-his-years way: “So, mom, monsters exist to make people into Heroes.”

Amazing what kids have to teach us about being Heroes.

So go forth, copy warrior, and vanquish the forces of human complacency with inspiring messages that shine a light in the darkness. May your words make Heroes of us all.

~alaura

The post Heroes & Beer Ads: How to write copy that turns reluctant prospects into powerful advocates appeared first on Copywriting For Start-ups And Marketers.

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Get Engaged to Your Audience and Customers

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Valentine’s Day is Tuesday
Why is content marketing so hard?

Welcome to the week before Valentine’s Day! As it happens, it’s connection and engagement week at Copyblogger — and the content this week is all about how you can create a more profound bond with your audience.

On Monday we had a fun day, because we got to finally let you know about something cool we’ve been working on behind the scenes — StudioPress Sites. This new product was conceived and shaped based on our in-depth conversations with customers, and we’re super proud of it. If you’re looking to launch a new site with all the flexibility of WordPress — and without the irritating parts — check it out.

On Tuesday, Brian gave us an in-depth post about how to create content that deeply engages your audience. This is a meaty post, so plan on giving it your full attention and spending some time with it (and your caffeinated beverage of choice, if you choose).

And on Wednesday, Jerod talked about cognitive biases — how your brain is wired to work, whether or not you’re aware of it. He explained ethical ways we can use these biases to shape content to work with our natural tendencies, instead of against them.

Finally, a little earlier today we announced our Content Excellence Challenge prompts for February. These are community challenges we do together every month. This month, I’m giving away five copies of Jonah Sachs’s fascinating book Winning the Story Wars, which is stuffed with ideas about how to connect more closely with your audience … and persuade them to take action.

You can learn more about Winning the Story Wars on the Copyblogger FM podcast this week.

Hope your weekend is an excellent one, and I’ll catch you next week!

— Sonia Simone
Chief Content Officer, Rainmaker Digital

Catch up on this week’s content

---

Introducing StudioPress Sites: WordPress Made Easy … Without Sacrificing Power or Flexibility

by Brian Clark

---

How to Create Content that Deeply Engages Your Audience

by Brian Clark

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5 Cognitive Biases You Need to Put to Work … Without Being Evil

by Jerod Morris

---

2017 Content Excellence Challenge: The February Prompts

by Sonia Simone

---

Copyblogger Book Club: Winning the Story Wars

by Sonia Simone

---

Creating a Productized Service, with Dan Norris

by Brian Clark

---

How Screenwriter and ‘All Our Wrong Todays’ Author Elan Mastai Writes: Part Two

by Kelton Reid

---

[Guest] Expert Tips for Conducting Better Interviews, with Krys Boyd

by Jerod Morris & Jon Nastor

---

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2017 Content Excellence Challenge: The February Prompts

Leave a comment with your entry for this month’s content challenge. You’ll have the chance to win a really good book!

Hey, it’s February! And that means we have two new prompts for our 2017 Content Excellence Challenge.

This month, we’re going to send a copy of Jonah Sachs’s book Winning the Story Wars to five randomly selected commenters. (See the details below for more about who we will and will not be able to send books to.)

Remember, you have two weeks before comments on the post close, so don’t dawdle. Give the creative prompt a try and show off how it turned out.

February’s Creative Prompt: Speak to one person

This is one of my all-time favorite ways to make your writing much better, instantly.

The prompt is:

Craft your writing to speak to one, and only one, person. As you write, imagine you’re sitting down with this person over a nice beverage.

Keep in mind that this may take some courage. The political climate at the moment is so charged that even rather innocuous statements can take on a political meaning.

But fortune favors the bold. The courageous voice will always win out over wimpy, dull, “safe” content.

Why it works

When you write for a crowd, you start to pontificate. That verb comes from the word pontiff, and it means to speak to an audience as if you were the Pope delivering a speech from a balcony at the Vatican.

That works great for the Pope, but it won’t work for you.

In your content, imagine one perfect human who’s the exact right match for your business. (Re-read this post if you need better clarification on who that might be: How to Attract Your Ideal Customer with Perfectly Positioned Content.)

I like to visualize this person in great detail. Not just gender, age, or other raw demographic information, but the kinds of details a novelist notices.

• What kind of drink are you sharing? A beer? A coffee? Kombucha?
• Do they have freckles?
• Are they tall or short?
• What are they wearing?
• Where are you meeting?
• What color eyes do they have?

This mental exercise is just to let you imagine a real, warm, flesh-and-blood human across the table from you.

Now, with your next piece of content, write individually to that person. Choose your words, your tone, your metaphors, the stories you tell, and the points you make all with that human being as your audience of one.

If you’re going to play along in our contest this month, leave a short paragraph in the comments showing us how it looked. No more than five lines — just enough to give us a flavor of the tone and voice.

February’s Productivity Prompt: The pivotal technique

This month’s prompt for productivity is one I’ve used for many years, detailed at some length in my post on The Complete Flake’s Guide to Getting Things Done.

It comes from Robert Fritz’s Path of Least Resistance, and in a nutshell, the technique is:

1. Visualize where you want to go. In other words, what will the world around you look like when you’ve achieved what you want? Get extremely clear on this.
2. Notice where you are now. What does the world look like as it is today? Get extremely clear on this.
3. Without a lot of drama or self-flagellation, notice the specific differences.

The point here is not to beat yourself up about all the ways in which you don’t live up to your dreams. The point is simply to get very clear on where you are, and where you want to be.

The next step is just to figure out … what the next step is. What action, large or small, would move you in the right direction?

You can keep cycling through these steps — today, tomorrow, or quite literally for the rest of your life. Each cycle “pivots” you in a small way in the right direction. Over time, small pivots, with forward movement, add up to major changes.

Notes on the contest

A few caveats and clarifications for the free books:

1. We’ll choose five folks at random from those who leave a comment with a brief (five lines or fewer) example of how they used this month’s creative prompt.
2. You’ll need to be in the U.K., U.S., or Canada, so we can get a copy to you without a lot of delivery stress. If you’re somewhere else and there’s an easy way to get a book to you, we’ll consider it.
3. If we choose your comment, we’ll contact you via the email address you leave in the comment form.
4. We won’t share any of your info or use it for something weird, because that would be really dodgy. We’ll just send you your book.
5. Comments that look spammy will get deleted. The editorial team, as always, has the final word on what looks spammy. If you want more specific advice, check out my podcast episode on Leaving Much Better Comments.

Let’s hear those one-to-one voices! Drop your entry in a comment below …

The post 2017 Content Excellence Challenge: The February Prompts appeared first on Copyblogger.

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5 Cognitive Biases You Need to Put to Work … Without Being Evil

All writing is persuasion in one form or another.

This is more obvious in some types of writing than others, but it is nonetheless true for all.

When it comes to copywriting, it is clearly true. Every piece of copy we write should drive a reader toward a specific action.

“Writing gives you the illusion of control, and then you realize it’s just an illusion, that people are going to bring their own stuff into it.”
– David Sedaris

But even the best piece of copy in the world doesn’t actually control a reader’s actions. Well-written copy only provides the “illusion of control.” What a reader does after reading is dependent on the “stuff” they brought into it.

That “stuff” includes past experiences, preconceived notions, and, above all else, cognitive biases.

Let’s discuss a helpful handful of these cognitive biases — some you’ll know well, some you may not — and how understanding them and structuring your content in a way that acknowledges and appreciates them will help you connect, compel, and serve better.

What are cognitive biases?

“A cognitive bias refers to the systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, whereby inferences about other people and situations may be drawn in an illogical fashion.”
– Wikipedia

In other words, cognitive biases are mental shortcuts we all make, all the time, without consciously realizing it, that can lead to irrational thoughts and actions.

An example:

We tend to search for and interpret information in a way that confirms our preconceptions.

I sat down to write this article believing that understanding cognitive biases would be useful for content marketers. So, I researched articles that discussed how marketers use cognitive biases to influence decision-making. Naturally, I found many, which confirmed by preconception.

This is called confirmation bias.

In this case, my clear confirmation bias did not lead to a poor or irrational decision. The scientific evidence is quite clear, and ever-expanding, that cognitive biases are indeed constantly affecting people’s decisions and behavior. So, the premise of this article is built on a solid foundation of unbiased evidence.

But what if my goal had been to poke holes in the idea of cognitive biases existing and affecting behavior?

I would have had a hard time finding any credible evidence to support my hypothesis — and, if I did, I would have been much more likely to place undue weight on its validity due to my preconception.

We’ll never eliminate cognitive biases, in ourselves or others. There’s no use trying. All we can do is understand them, embrace them, and endeavor to use them ethically and morally*.

*This is important: There can be a fine line between understanding cognitive biases and then using them for good or exploiting them for evil. If you’re not committed to staying on the ethical and moral side of that line, please stop reading this article now and consider not coming back to this site. You’re definitely not for us, and we’re probably not for you.

4 more cognitive biases you need to know to better serve your readers

Hopefully it’s clear why acknowledging your own natural proclivity for confirmation bias is important. You and your audience will be well-served by your commitment to combating it.

Now let’s run through several additional cognitive biases that your readers bring with them to your content and how those might help both you and your readers make better decisions. (This is a carefully curated list, but I recommend this blog post at Neuromarketing for a deeper dive into 60+ cognitive biases that are useful to know.)

1. Attentional bias

We have a tendency to be affected by our recurring thoughts. Brand advertising is built on that premise.

The more people see an image or a message, the more likely they are to remember the brand, trust the company, and then do business with it down the line.

So if you want to influence your audience with a call to action — for example, trying out our new StudioPress Sites product — then you’re much better off repeating it often, and in several different places.

Consider how often we have subtly and not-so-subtly exposed people to StudioPress Sites as they’ve navigated through the Rainmaker Digital universe over the last few weeks:

• StudioPress.com has been revamped to display Sites as a major component
• Brian Clark dropped hints, then followed with explicit mentions on his podcast Unemployable
• We reached out to StudioPress affiliates prior to the launch to prepare them, and many have published posts alerting their audiences to Sites’s arrival
• We published an announcement here on the Copyblogger blog
• We’re running paid ads announcing Sites

You get the picture.

Don’t say it once — say it often, and in many different places.

2. Framing effect

There is the offer. And then there is how you frame the offer.

For example, we recently had a fundraising drive for The Assembly Call — a live postgame show and podcast about Indiana basketball that I co-host. We have sponsors for the show, but we are also listener supported.

Our goal was to generate $2,613 (more on the odd specificity of this number in a minute) during an eight-day window. We promoted the fundraising drive to our email list of about 3,300 people.

The offer — in this case, more of a request — began with:

“All we’re asking is for you to contribute what you believe our content is worth. If you do find value in what we do, any donation helps.”

Okay. Fine.

Now here is how we framed the donation request:

“The average donation has been $52 and the most common donation denomination has been $50. But we’ve had donations as small as $4 and as large as $300.

In fact, this email will go out to roughly 3,300 people … so if every person just donates a dollar, roughly the cost of a gas station coffee, we’ll fly past our goal.”

The initial request left so much open to interpretation: How much should I donate? What’s reasonable? What have other people donated? Will my donation actually make a difference?

Questions like these, left unanswered, can lead to friction that prohibits action.

But framing the requested action based on what’s common and what the range has been — and then explaining how a comparatively small contribution could still make a difference — helped to reduce this friction and induce action.

(In addition, you can see the bandwagon effect at work here: the part that explains what other people have already done.)

We reached our goal in less than 24 hours. I have no doubt this framing had a huge impact.

So, did we play a psychological trick on our audience?

No.

We had many donors who actually thanked us for giving them the opportunity to contribute to the cause. They wanted to support us. We have a good product, a good relationship with our audience, and this was a fair request that we’d earned the right to make.

This is the difference between ethical and moral use of cognitive biases in marketing and using knowledge of cognitive biases to take advantage of an unsuspecting target.

3. Bizarreness effect

So, why the oddly specific number $2,613? Why not $2,500 or $3,000?

Because people are more likely to take notice of — and remember — something that stands out rather than blends in. This is also referred to as the Von Restorff effect.

I’ve found it to be especially true when it comes to headlines and email subject lines, and I knew that the amount of donations we’d receive would be in part dependent upon the open rate of the email blast.

The subject line we used was: “Will you help us reach our goal of $2,613?” I also had the email come from “Jerod Morris” as opposed to “The Assembly Call.”

The number shouts from the inbox, inducing curiosity and demanding a click. As does the request of “help,” especially from a person’s name rather than a brand name; it’s compelling.

We never ask our audience for “help” and they rarely get an email from my name. Bizarre. We figured they’d want to know why.

An open rate of 70 percent suggests they did.

And the donations that were coming in as late as a week after sending that email (without another email blast to remind them) suggest that the offer was indeed memorable.

4. Risk compensation

Some of these cognitive biases just make simple sense. Like risk compensation, which suggests that people adjust their behavior in relation to perceived risk — we’re more likely to take a bigger risk when perceived safety increases, and vice versa.

This is precisely why every single product we sell at Rainmaker Digital comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

And why we focus on the guarantee toward the ends of promotions.

For example, we recently announced that the price of the Rainmaker Platform was going up. (Spoiler alert: the promo is over; the price has already gone up.)

Here’s what the final email, sent two hours prior to the price raise, looked like:

“Subject: [2 Hours Left] The Price of Rainmaker Goes Up Soon

One last reminder …

Start your free, 14-day trial of the Rainmaker Platform in the next two hours so that you lock in the current price (before it goes up).

Of note:

• If you cancel prior to your 14-day trial ending, you won’t be charged at all.
• If you decide to cancel within 30 days of your first payment, you’ll get a refund with no questions asked.
• In either situation, you can export whatever progress you’ve made with your site and take it with you elsewhere.

So there’s no risk, just a massive annual savings you can lock in.

Click here to start your no-risk free trial of the Rainmaker Platform today.”

We’d proudly suggest the Rainmaker Platform to any of our audience members who have a desire to build and sell digital products. Still, that doesn’t mean starting a trial is without risk, or perceived risk.

A few risks people might identify — rationally or irrationally — before signing up:

• I have to enter a credit card, so am I going to get charged right away? (Nope, you aren’t charged until the trial ends.)
• If I make a payment, but then realize Rainmaker won’t work for me, am I out the money? (Nope, you get a refund within the first 30 days of payment.)
• But what if there is nothing wrong with the Platform and I just decide I don’t want it? (Not a problem! We don’t ask any questions.)
• I just don’t want to be hassled if I want to cancel and get my money back. (Again, no problemo. The money-back guarantee is no questions asked.)
• Okay, but what if I did a bunch of work to set stuff up. I don’t want to lose that if I cancel. (No worries. You can export any work you do and take it elsewhere.)

See how that works?

The copy answers the kinds of questions that will naturally come up before action and can even preempt the fears that cause the questions in the first place.

By dissolving the fears that risks induce, we offer people a more comfortable journey down a path they are already interested in walking (and that we know, long-term, could be a path they’ll be thankful we presented to them).

And this is a big reason why (along with the cognitive bias that induces FOMO, of course) the last day of the promo was by far the most successful one. Thirty-eight percent of new trials during the promo period started on the final day, many after this final risk-compensating reminder email was sent out.

So, is the “illusion of control” really such an illusion after all?

It’s interesting to note that illusion of control is also a cognitive bias, suggesting “the tendency for human beings to believe they can control or at least influence outcomes that they clearly cannot.” (Via RationalWiki.org)

You’re not there with your reader as she consumes your words. You’re not inside her brain, finding out exactly how she’s interpreting what you’ve written. You’re not present to offer any additional arguments about why she should take the action you’d like her to take.

So any control you feel you have as a copywriter does, indeed, seem like an illusion.

And yet …

We know that well-written copy is more likely to influence desired outcomes than poorly written copy.

We know that well-written copy contains words that make sound logical arguments, that empathize, and that possess the ability to compel useful emotional reactions in a reader.

Your ability to understand and acknowledge cognitive biases with your copy allows you to empathize with your reader, and that is what opens the door to compelling a useful emotional reaction.

And we know that emotion drives action more than logic — the latter of which serves more to justify than compel.

Look, who am I to defy the words of a writer like David Sedaris? And to deny a known cognitive bias? Writing probably does give you only the illusion of control.

But maybe, just maybe …

By committing to a better understanding of the “stuff” our readers bring to our words, we increase our ability to turn an illusion of control into … let’s call it … an opportunity to connect.

And when we connect, we have a chance to compel — a privilege and responsibility that truly unlocks the next level of service to our audiences.

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How to Create Content that Deeply Engages Your Audience

Art Silverman had a vendetta against popcorn.

Silverman wanted to educate the public about the fact that a typical bag of movie popcorn has 37 grams of saturated fat, while the USDA recommends you have no more than 20 grams in an entire day.

That’s important information. But instead of simply citing that surprising statistic, Silverman made the message a little more striking:

“A medium-sized ‘butter’ popcorn contains more artery-clogging fat than a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, a Big Mac and fries for lunch, and a steak dinner with all the trimmings — combined!”

Yes, what you say is crucial. But how you say it can make all the difference.

How you say it is determined by your “who”

“Marketing succeeds when enough people with similar worldviews come together in a way that allows marketers to reach them cost-effectively.”
– Seth Godin

When you create a well-rounded representation of your ideal customer, what you’re really tuning in to is the way your people view the world.

And when you understand the worldview your prospects share — the things they believe — you can frame your story in a way that resonates so strongly with them that you enjoy an “unfair” advantage over your competition.

Consider these competing worldviews, framed differently by simple word choices:

• Crossfitter vs. Gym Rat
• Progressive vs. Snowflake
• Businessman vs. The Man

These are extreme examples, and you can certainly cater to audience beliefs and worldviews without resorting to name-calling. For example, the simple word “green” can provoke visceral reactions at the far sides of the environmental worldview spectrum, while also prompting less-intense emotions in the vast middle.

Framing your story against a polar opposite, by definition, will make some love you and others ignore or even despise you. That’s not only okay, it’s necessary.

You’ll likely never convert those at the other end of the spectrum, but your core base will share your content and help you penetrate the vast group in the middle — and that’s where growth comes from.

Based on who you’re talking to, you have to choose the way to tell the story so that you get the conclusion you desire.

It’s the delivery of the framed message that keeps your heroic prospect on the journey so that their (and therefore your) goals are achieved.

The “how” is essentially the difference between success and failure (or good and great) when it comes to content marketing. You must tell a compelling story with the right central element for the people you’re trying to reach.

It’s all about the premise

When you think about how a story is told, you’ll hear people talk in terms of hooks and angles. Another way of thinking about it is the premise of the case you’re making.

As a term in formal logic, the premise is a proposition supporting a certain conclusion. Applied to content and storytelling, I use the word premise to mean the emotional concept that not only attracts attention but also maintains engagement throughout every element of your content.

In other words:

The premise is the embodiment of a concept that weaves itself from headline to conclusion, tying everything together into a compelling, cohesive, and persuasive narrative with one simple and inevitable conclusion — your desired action.

And yes, you’re telling smaller stories along the buyer’s journey that forms an overall empowering narrative. You’ll have a “big idea” that’s told one step at a time along the path.

The premise connects you to the emotional center of your prospect’s brain, stimulates desire, maintains credibility, and eventually results in the action you want.

This happens when you understand how to frame your message and overall offer to mesh so tightly with your prospect’s worldview that the “this is right for me” trigger is pulled subconsciously.

Of course, each piece of content reflects your core values and overall positioning in the marketplace. Here’s a famous example from the world of advertising.

Nike has one of the most powerful positioning statements on the planet, expressed in three little words — just do it. Beyond selling shoes, this is a way of viewing the world boiled down to its essence, which is why it’s so powerful.

Now, think back to Nike’s commercial featuring John Lennon’s song Instant Karma:

What’s the premise?

First, notice how you don’t see a logo or company name until the very end. In fact, the camera barely shows the shoes of the athletes. It’s all about the lyrics married to the visuals.

The first lyrical tie-in hits with “Join the human race.” Then things really kick in with “Who on Earth do you think you are, a superstar? Well right you are!”

And then the unifying chorus paired with images of athletic adversity punctuated with triumph, as John Lennon repeats, “We all shine on ….”

This individual promotion supports Nike’s overall brand positioning of just do it in a powerful, unique way. Did it resonate with everyone? Not at all … and I’m guessing that very same commercial today would be absolutely despised by a certain segment of the U.S. population.

But the Instant Karma clip did highly engage the people it was aimed at. Repeat this to yourself over and over:

The content you create is for a particular “who,” and no one else.

Let’s now look at a process for finding your how, both with your overall positioning and at each step in the prospect’s journey.

4 steps to creating your winning story concept

Great ideas are unique. There’s no formula for innovative ideas, and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is selling the slickest of snake oil.

That said, great premises always have certain elements in common. It took me many years to understand that, beyond all the tactics, it’s the premise of the message that matters first and foremost.

The work you’ve done so far on who and what was the heavy lifting of the how. But to refine your content marketing strategy even further, here are four essential elements of a winning story concept.

1. Be unpredictable

The first thing you absolutely must have is attention. Without initial attention, nothing else you’ve done matters.

And nothing kills attention faster than if your prospective reader, listener, or viewer thinks they already know where you’re going. Beyond curiosity, a great premise delivers an unpredictable and unexpected element that makes it irresistible.

It all comes back to knowing who you’re talking to at an intimate level and what they are used to seeing in the market.

What messages are they getting from your competition? This is what you must use as the benchmark to create your own unique and unexpected angle that forms the foundation of your premise.

In this day and age, you might have to dig deeper for a new and unexpected message that startles or downright fascinates people. A creative imagination combined with solid research skills help you see the nugget of gold no one else sees.

Part of why people tune things out is a lack of novelty, which makes even a previously desirable subject matter mundane.

Taking an approach that differs from the crowd can help you stand out, and that’s why unpredictability is crucial for a strong premise.

Just remember that things change. What was once unpredictable can become not only predictable, but trite. This is why being able to come up with a fresh premise is a valuable skill for anyone who creates content or markets anything.

2. Be simple

One of the fundamental rules of effective content marketing is to be clear and simple. Because a premise by definition is an unprecedented and grand idea, sometimes boiling it down to its essence is difficult, or worse, neglected.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying to water down your big idea to the point of stupidity.

That defeats the purpose.

What I’m saying is you’ve got to make it so simple and clear that it travels directly into the mind of your prospect, so he begins to tell himself the story. Your copy must guide him and inspire him, not beat him over the head.

So, you’ve got a grand premise that’s unpredictable and destined to shake up your market. Reduce it to a paragraph.

Now, take it down to two sentences.

Get it even shorter.

Just do it.

At this point, you may find yourself with a great tagline. At a minimum, you’ve now got the substance for the bold promise contained in your primary headline.

3. Be real

You’ve heard that in this day of social media, you’ve got to keep it real. Speak with a human voice. Be authentic.

Be you.

You also hopefully know that social media hasn’t changed the fact that it’s about them, not you. In fact, it’s more about them than ever.

How do you make that work? What makes a premise real to the right people?

First of all, your premise must be highly relevant to your intended audience, while also being directly in line with your core values. Without relevance, you can’t inspire meaning. And it’s meaningful messages that inspire action.

Meaning is a function of what people believe before you find them. As we discussed earlier, what your ideal customers believe reflects how they view the world, and your content has to frame that view appropriately to be effective.

As a function of belief, meaning is derived from the context in which your desired audience perceives your message. That context is the heroic journey of the prospect, with your brand serving as a guide.

There’s another aspect of being “real” with your content. Your messages must communicate meaningful benefits that are also tangible. This is the second important aspect of an authentic premise, and it’s critical to help your prospects understand and connect with your message.

In this sense, tangible means real or actual, rather than imaginary or visionary. This is the aspect of your premise that is express, meaning the part where you tell the story in a way that concretely injects certain information into the prospect’s mind in a specific way.

Remember the Total cereal ad from the late 1980s?

“How many bowls of YOUR cereal equal one bowl of Total?”

You then saw stacks of cereal bowls filled with various competing brands, with one case reaching 12 bowls high.

Powerful, right?

Instead of saying something pedestrian like, “Total has 12 times the nutrition of the leading brand,” they showed you a tangible expression of the benefit. But it doesn’t need to be done with visuals to work.

Words alone are plenty powerful to paint a picture in the mind. Look at the opening of this article and the way Art Silverman explained the saturated fat content in a bag of popcorn. He took a dry statistic and brought it to life.

You’ll note that both examples contain the element of unpredictability and simplicity. But it’s the relevant and tangible expression of the premise that creates instant understanding.

Make your messages as real to people as possible, and you’ll create the kind of instant understanding that all truly great premises contain. But there’s one more critical element to a premise that works.

4. Be credible

If you’re writing to persuade, you have to hit the gut before you get anywhere near the brain. The part that decides “I want that” is emotional and often subconscious. If your premise doesn’t work emotionally, logic will never get a chance to weigh in.

If you flip that emotional switch, the sale (or other action) is yours to lose. And I mean that literally. Because our logical minds do eventually step in (usually in a way that makes us think we’re actually driven by logic in the first place). If your premise is not credible (as in it’s too good to be true), you fail.

That doesn’t mean hyperbole never works, as long as the prospect wants to believe you badly enough. That’s how some desperate people in certain markets are taken advantage of.

But belief is critical in any market and with any promotion, so credibility is the final key to a winning premise — people must believe you just as your premise must match their beliefs.

Remember, the more innovative your idea or exceptional your offer, the more you’re going to have to prove it. This brings us right back to an unexpected, simple, and tangible expression of the benefit in a way that’s credible.

Every box of Total cereal contains the cold, hard data about the nutritional content. Art Silverman’s popcorn claims were backed up by solid scientific facts about saturated fat.

The kind of proof any particular premise requires will vary, but the more credibility that can be baked into the premise itself, the better.

Now … put it out there

“I’m looking California, and feeling Minnesota …”

That metaphor is from the 1991 Soundgarden song Outshined, written by frontman Chris Cornell. He shared an interesting anecdote about writing those very personal words in a magazine interview:

“I came up with that line — ‘I’m looking California / And feeling Minnesota,’ from the song ‘Outshined’ — and as soon as I wrote it down, I thought it was the dumbest thing. But after the record came out and we went on tour, everybody would be screaming along with that particular line when it came up in the song. That was a shock.”

Instead of the “dumbest thing,” those are the most famous six words Cornell has ever written. In addition to being a fan favorite, the line inspired both a movie title and an ESPN catch phrase whenever Minnesota Timberwolves player Kevin Garnett was in the news.

Why did it work? Because with those six words, Soundgarden’s audience understood instantly what Cornell was trying to convey. He spoke to them.

And yet, what if Cornell had cut the line because “it was the dumbest thing?” I suppose that would have been unfortunate, because he would have missed out on a level of engagement with his audience that the rest of us would kill for.

The content marketing strategy we’ve been working through is putting you in the position to get things right the first time. You smartly spent a ton of time on your who, and then you outlined the critical points of your story by mapping the buyer’s journey and the customer experience.

The who and the what inform the how.

You might even be surprised at how easily the fresh ideas are coming to you now.

But ultimately, we as content marketers don’t know for sure what will resonate. Only the audience can determine that, so you’ve got to put it out there.

When the audience magic happens, you’ll know it.

For the rest of February, we’re going to be sharing our favorite tips and tactics for the how. You’ll be telling better stories, creating better analogies, and connecting with your audience at a deeper level than ever before.

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