[Story Sells] How a “Ticking Time Bomb” Helps Capture Attention
Nothing motivates action like a time limit. It’s why sales and coupons don’t last forever. Deadlines seem to be hard-wired into our brains. It goes back to caveman days: “We get home before sun [...]
[Story Sells] The Booster Rocket Tactic to launching a product’s Big Idea
We live in the “golden age of television”, we are told. First premium cable, and now streaming, unshackled us from the constraints of storytelling dominated by commercial breaks. Now we [...]
[Story Sells] Boring Story? Play This Silly Kid’s Game
Now Christmas is a distant memory, how sad does winter look without the pretty lights and decoration? At the height of the holidays, you barely notice the inclement weather. Now, without the [...]
[Story Sells] The ‘Miracle” of Long Copy
Over the holidays, I was watching one particular Santa-based movie with my family which delivered a powerful lesson about story and reveals what we need to make the sale. So before [...]
[Story Sells] How Factoid Copy Can Be Fun, A-TEAM Style
You know the game is on when B.A. grabs the welding torch. I’m talking about the scene late in an A-TEAM episode when the gang needs to build something superfast to save the day. Usually involves [...]
[Story Sells] How to Name Your Products So They Stick
Han Solo. Gilderoy Lockhart. Benjamin Grimm. These names of fictional characters are easy to remember. Why? For one thing, they are all examples of “sympathetic naming”. That’s where you name a [...]
The 1-Sentence “RAD” Trick That Transforms a Commodity into a Brand
We live in the age of Branded Characters. Leave no lunchbox unclaimed by a caped crusader or a spiffy cartoon. Thank goodness. Who wants a boring blue box when you can have a universe of [...]
How to use the “Doctors Dumbfounded” effect to Build Credibility & Desire: From Shyamalan to Schwartz
There’s a simple story technique you can use to quickly build credibility and desire for your product. The best novelists and filmmakers use it, as so do the best ad-slingers. In fact, Eugene [...]
Unleashing Your Inner Lazy B*stard – How Freelance Copywriters Can Get More Done By Working Less
As freelance copywriters, we’re at this weird intersection between ‘creatives’ and ‘craftspeople’… Because our working practices need to draw from both areas. Creatively, copywriters must [...]
[Story Sells] The Joy of Bob Ross: the hidden selling technique used by this mild-mannered painter in nearly every episode
When I feel stressed out at the end of the day, and I need to relax, I’ve got something better than single malt scotch. I tune in to an artist with a big ‘fro named Bob Ross, and step in his [...]