Want to grab someone's attention?
Write about the things people like to talk about. Guy Kawasaki has a list of the “Nine Best Story Lines for Marketing,” (distilled from Lois Kelly’s Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing), but they’re not just great for marketing. These are great ways to draw people into any kind of content:
- Aspirations and beliefs
- David vs. Goliath
- Avalanche about to roll
- Contrarian/counterintuitive/challenging assumptions
- Anxieties
- Personalities and personal stories
- How-to stories and advice
- Glitz and glam
- Seasonal/event related
(Check out Guy’s blog for a bit more detail on these.)
For example, I think that one of the compelling aspects of the Harry Potter books (and there are several) is the David vs. Goliath angle: Here’s Harry, a school kid, up against someone that everyone says is one of the greatest wizards ever, Lord Voldemort. He keeps going up against these overwhelming odds, and manages through grit, determination, and a good dose of good fortune, to come out the winner. People love those kinds of stories.
Another example: Many successful bloggers will tell you that some of their most popular posts fit into the “How to” mold. Giving people some practical ideas that they can take home and put to use right away will grab their attention.
And then there’s the popularity of books like The Secret, which promises to teach people “life-transforming” revelations. That’s tapping into people’s aspirations, pure and simple.
What do you think about this list? Are there other things people love to talk about? How can you blend these ideas into your writing?
Roy Jacobsen
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Reader Comments (2)
I blog about horrible things that have happened to me, turning them into humor.
It is amazing how many people will say, "I thought I was the only one". They love seeing a bad situation diffused with laughter.
Or they feel better that it didn't happen to them - LOL
That falls into the "personal stories" bucket, I think. From the looks of your blog, it seems like you tell about things that most people can relate to, and that helps establish a connection with them.
The fact that you're able to take those personal disasters and look at them with humor makes them that much more appealing.