Bringing Lift to Working Professionals
How do you measure the success of your content and storytelling?
Here’s a metric: How many thank yous did you get from your customers yesterday?
Do they thank you when you email them?
Do they thank you when you call them?
Do they thank you for your articles and speeches?
Before you make your next sales pitch or try your next marketing tactic, look at it and ask yourself: “Will they thank me for this?”
Have a look at this brief video with Ann Handley:
The subject line of your email introduces a story. Your article headline does too.
And that story either engages your reader or it doesn’t.
Every story has essential ingredients: a core character, an object of desire, an inciting incident, etc.
And every subject line and headline has essential ingredients too:
There are few other ingredients you can introduce into your subject lines and headlines:
Be careful with these last three ingredients. Done the wrong way, they can make your content sound cliche: “Have you been injured in an accident?” Or spammy: “Unbeatable value from Acme.”
Next time you craft a marketing or sales email to prospects, see if you can check off that it contains the first four ingredients listed above, at least.
Your open rates will improve. Which means the number of prospects you engage will too.
What job are you hiring your headlines and subject lines to do?
Are you hiring them to summarize or “capture” what you’ve written? Or are you hiring them to get your next sentence read?
Your headline has one job to do: To get me to read the first sentence of your article or post.
Your email subject line has one job too: To get me to read the first sentence of your email.
I’m guilty as charged. I’m a professional marketer and writer who, to this day, catches myself crafting subject lines and headlines that capture the essence of what I’ve written. But that’s not their job.
The job of a headline and subject line is to get the first sentence read.
Starting with your next email to a prospect or client, craft your subject line to do that job. And only that job.
The same goes for the next blog post or article you write.
Did you know the root word of “inspiration” is “spir”. It means “breath,” or “to breathe.”
Here are three resources I hope breathe new ideas into you:
Shane Snow is Chief Content Officer of Contently. In this piece, he argues that — despite its buzzwordiness (yes, I just made that up) — storytelling is a powerful, effective tool for organizations. Read on…
“Managing your personal brand requires you to be a great role model, mentor and/or a voice that others can depend on.” This is a terrific article I hope shifts your mindset about your image and reputation. Read on…
“Should I quit my job and go out on my own?”
“Should I start that business?”
“Are there enough readers out there to justify writing a blog?”
“Should I start giving talks on this topic?”
“Should I buy a list of emails and blast them with my offer?”
“Should I start that ministry?”
“What book or article should I write to grow my consulting practice?”
The list could go on.
Before you begin anything, you need to figure out if there is a there there.
Is there is a future place that will satisfy and sustain you? What sacrifices and risks will it require to achieve it?
Is there a model already working out there you can adopt and adapt?
Are there enough people spending time and money on something similar to what you will offer?
Are you doing a job for them they’ll pay attention and money to you to do?
Wherever you’re heading. Whatever you’re planning. You’re telling yourself a story about a there out there.
Be very clear about where there is. What it will take to get there. And how you’ll know when you’ve arrived.