Daily

Do you want to get people’s attention? Start by talking about them.

There’s a series of park benches and garbage receptacles around where I live that says, “You just proved these signs work”.

The goal of these signs is to try to sell ad space on public benches, garbage receptacles, and wherever else these kinds of billboards are sold.

And for whatever reason, they’re impossible to ignore when you walk or drive by. They make you think, ‘wow, these ads much actually do a great job if I seem to read them everywhere I go.‘

But the odd thing is, when there are actual ads on them, I almost never notice them. It’s like they become invisible.

Billboard advertising can be a tough place to get results. And I’m not going to go into detail—nor am I an expert—on all the factors that might make them successful.

But there is one element of this specific ad example that makes it work in some cases and invincible in others: the use of you-centric language.

When you use the word “you” in your headlines and ad copy, you naturally perk people’s ears up.

Subconsciously, we read the word “you” and think, “this is about me, I better listen up”.

There are all kinds of reasons for this. But I think it stems from our biological need to look after our own best interests, either by avoiding threats or capitalizing on opportunities.

If you want to get people to read your marketing copy, talk about them and use the word “you” as early and often as you can.

Yours,

—k

The other day, my wife and I stopped at Wendy’s on our way home. We couldn’t resist.

After we ordered, they asked if we would like to donate a dollar to a charity for kids. Of course, we said yes. Who doesn’t want to contribute to kids’ charities?

Then, as they were giving me the food, they also gave me a $1 coupon for my next order as a “thanks” for my donation.

Brilliant.

Not only do they demonstrate socially responsible values, which reflects well on their brand and makes me feel good at the same time as a donor, but they also gave me an incentive to come back.

I had the double satisfaction of knowing I contributed to a good cause AND it theoretically “cost” me nothing— assuming I apply the coupon to my next order—since the $1 I gave is offset in savings on my next order.

I realize this second part about “costing” me nothing is crazy. It would end up costing me more to go back and redeem it because I don’t regularly eat fast food. But as a marketer, I pay close attention to my thoughts and feelings when I buy, especially the subtle and subconscious ones.

After all, we all buy emotionally, so it’s worth studying these things.

What a brilliant three-sided initiative they’re running. It helps their brand equity, it feels good to me on multiple levels, and it brings me back to buy more (when I probably wouldn’t even go again for a long time).

Can you do something good that might also increase your brand equity while also increasing your sales?

Can you do it with three layers like Wendy’s did?

There is a slow (but growing) trend of people who write and publish a blog post every day. Truthfully, I wish I was one of them.

No, let me clarify: I will be one of them.

It takes a lot of discipline to show up publish every day. It’s not that writing is hard, it’s the resistance, a term coined by Steven Pressfield, that makes it hard.

Fear, uncertainty, imposter syndrome, writer’s block, and the feeling that you should be doing something more important are all forms of the resistance.

Deep inside my bones, I believe writing and publishing ideas is the best way a person can grow professionally and serve others.

And I’m not saying just write and publish ideas anywhere. I specifically mean publishing content on a platform you own (i.e. your website, not just LinkedIn or Twitter).

In my heart, my mind, and my guts, I know writing every will bring out a person’s best ideas and create the most opportunities overall.

So, I’m going to do that. I’m going to write every day. For at least a month. But, I’m going to do it with constraints.

I’m arbitrarily picking a 280-word limit for each blog post. Just like Twitter has a 280-character limit, I’m picking 280 words for each post.

This sets the bar low enough that I can’t not do it. It also forces me to be concise while giving room to explore a topic.

That’s my task. I challenge you to do the same.

Are you in for the #280words challenge? Let me know on Twitter.

Yours,

—K

P.S. This post has exactly 280 words. H/T to Seth Godin for inspiring the daily bloggers out there.